The Lion Star Blog by Jaime Abeytia

Texas Primary Date Set...Sorta...

2012-02-15T15:55:00.003-07:00

The San Antonio Courts have tentatively set a date for the primary election. It is tentatively set for May 29th. That is the TENTATIVE date, but I don't think its going to change.

That's a long time from now if that date sticks.

The Courts told the Democratic and Republican Parties to prepare for an election on that date and so far it looks like they are both going to keep their conventions as scheduled, which is just two weeks after the election. Somewhere along the way they are supposed to have county conventions as well.

That is going to be tricky.

That means the run-off elections will be after the convention.

The courts stated that they would finalize the date based on how the maps conversation goes.

I wouldn't start printing the date on campaign materials yet, but I would start my walking, phone-banking, and mailing plan based on that date.

The courts have not indicated a filing deadline as of yet.

I'll keep you posted.

Congressional Candidates at Eastside Civic Association Forum

2012-02-15T15:16:00.002-07:00

Here is video of the candidates running for Congress at the Eastside Civic Association Meeting.

Quick highlights - I asked Ben Mendoza to elaborate on his Mexican commonwealth argument.

I asked Jerome Tilghman to name a specific new policy he would advocate for.

I asked Beto O'Rourke about comments he made last year about not being able to do the Mayor's job and running for Congress.

Super PAC Money & Beto O'Rourke

2012-02-15T09:07:00.001-07:00

I wrote a long time ago about how Beto O'Rourke would benefit from the Citizen's United decision. I think as far back as around the time of his announcement.

I might have even asked him about it on camera, I'm going to have to check it out, but I recall talking with him about it because he kept talking about how he was going to be out-spent in this race. I knew that wasn't going to the case.

Before we go any further, lets get one thing straight. Both candidates for the race (I'm referring to the serious candidates, Beto O'Rourke and Silvestre Reyes) are getting PAC money. Both of them, so wrap your head around that fact because I also wrote a long time ago about how we were going to hear the most senseless argument in the history of stupid things to argue about...who's money is worse.

The point is, if you believe money is an influence on candidates, them both candidates have outside influences working on them. And point of fact, Congressman Reyes has received much more PAC money.

Let's also stipulate something else. They both have received Republican money. If either of them tells you they haven't, they are lying to you because they both have. I've written about the fact that the big money Republicans have been supportive of Congressman Reyes in the past going back a long time. Hell, he was the business candidate when he first ran.

Bottom line - both candidates take PAC money, both candidates take Republican money. And they are happy to do it.

Understood? Good, moving right along...

O'Rourke's support from the Super PAC Campaign for Primary Accountability is very problematic for O'Rourke. People have been critical of some of his campaign positions that sound like Republican ideas (means testing, term limits, etc) since he started articulating positions.

The Super PAC isn't necessarily partisan but there is a BIG connection to the GOP. Let's not kid ourselves about that. Its like the Texans for Lawsuit Reform. They don't donate to Republicans exclusively, but the vast majority of their work is for the GOP.

Most of the big-money donors locally to the Super PAC are Republicans. The Times' points out that they have given to both parties, but to be more accurate they only give to Democrats when there isn't a Republican in the picture, like in the case of most local elected officials. So yes, they have given to Democrats, but only because there wasn't a viable Republican to donate the money to, so they are solidly Republican donors.

That is very problematic for O'Rourke given some of his positions. So now a lot of hard-core Democrats will start questioning his Democratic Party values. But I'm still not convinced Republicans are all that excited about Beto either. I know that there has been at least one fundraiser that was pretty much a GOP-only event, but most rank and file Republicans in town look at O'Rourke as the most liberal member of the previous city council.

And some of his more progressive positions undermine support from the GOP as well.

Now Reyes can go to his much deeper connections with PACs and raise more money now that he is being targeted. The support of the Super PAC is going to galvanize support for the Congressman among Democrats now because of their connection to the GOP.

This support opens a big can of worms for O'Rourke. So now, in addition to all the questions he gets about weed, he will now be getting questions about weed and Democratic Party values and Republican money.

One quick note - its a lose/lose situation for O'Rourke. He has to take the money. He doesn't have a choice really. In order to get his message out and be competitive he has to have the resources to do it. Resources cost money. You can't win if you don't have money. Its that simple.

State Representative Naomi Gonzalez found herself in a similar situation. She needed Republican money to win.

And she did. In one of the bluest of blue districts in the County, if not the state of Texas.

Actually, now that I think about it, I don't think I know of a single candidate or elected official that has never taken ANY Republican money.

But no matter how you look at this, its bad for Beto.

This is Pandora's box and he opened it.

Regional Human Rights Convention

2012-02-14T18:25:00.002-07:00

RHRC Poster

Breaking News: EPYD President Getting Haircut...Finally!

2012-02-14T13:42:00.002-07:00

In a stunning development, El Paso Young Democrats President Alfredo Longoria finally got a haircut. Sources on the scene indicate it is actually being done at a barber shop and not with a stylist, although that information is still unconfirmed.

This may actually be the scene of the alleged haircut.

When contacted for comment on the hair cut, Longoria stated, "Pues, its Valentine's Day guey..."

Longoria's hair released a statement saying, "We've been thinking about relocating for quite some time. People were starting to think we were fans of reggae or that we belonged to an Occupier. We had to make the decision to move on. It wasn't personal, but we are thinking of starting a commune or moving to Butch Maya's scalp - where we will be appreciated."

Butch Maya could not be reached for comment.

Socorro Bulldog Statue Update

2012-02-14T12:10:00.001-07:00

Quick update:

Here is the picture of the Socorro High School Baseball team celebrating their win of the State Championship.

And here is the statue in progress.

El Paso Young Democrats February Meeting

2012-02-14T11:30:00.002-07:00

February 2012

What's New in Socorro

2012-02-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

I went on a little expedition in Socorro last night and there are some new things happening down there that most people don't hear about.

I was there a few months ago and saw some projects that looked like there were going to be getting off the ground soon.

Under the current majority on city council in Socorro the city has converted an old fire station in to a community center with an emphasis on technology. Sources say its one of the most-utilized facilities in the city with neighborhood kids packing the place on a regular basis.

There is a park being built that is supposed to be a top of the line facility that will honor the State Champion Socorro High School Bulldogs. I'm working on getting some artist renditions for you guys but I hear that the main attraction of the park will be a 1.5x bronze statue of the players when the dog piled after their historic victory in the State Championship Baseball Game. I hear the facilities will be top notch.

And the project in the works that El Paso should be most excited about is a part honoring Veterans that is being built on the Mission Trail. Finally some improvements along the Mission Trail! The park is going to be anchored by a scaled-down replica of of the Vietnam Memorial that will feature the names of all the people from El Paso County that have died in combat. That's not something that is even present in the city of El Paso.

There will also be a splash park feature in the new park. The Bulldog Park is coming along nicely and I think the statue will be selected soon followed by the casting. I'm sure there will be a grand opening or unveiling ceremony upon completion, so I will follow up with that information.

I was thinking about this last night, it might be the first big statue in this town that didn't piss somebody off.

This is a big deal because Socorro isn't exactly known for their progressive city. Their basically known for political infighting that is the stuff of legend. But its good to see an element within the City of Socorro trying to make improvements.

In fact, do you know when the last new city structure was built in Socorro before the recent projects? Nearest I can tell, it was a city building, built in 1983.

To put that in context, Jim Palmer was a pitcher for the World Series Champions, the Baltimore Oriels. Terms of Endearment won Best Picture that year, and Return of the Jedi was the highest Grossing movie that year. Michael Jackson's Thriller was still burning up the music charts back then and these are the songs that spent time on the top of the charts back then.

Burges High Forum Performance Analysis Part 1

2012-02-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

Some quick thoughts on some of the performances at the Burges High School Forum sponsored by City Rep Emma Acosta.

Tax Assessor/Collector:

Yawn! Both candidates should have a disclaimer before they start speaking. WARNING - WE ARE BOTH SO BORING AND MONO-TONED THAT YOU SHOULD NOT LISTEN TO US AND THEN OPERATE HEAVY MACHINERY. PROLONGED EXPOSURE MAY CAUSE DROWSINESS.

But there is actually a pretty interesting conversation going on if you can get past their bad speaking abilities. I finally figured out what Rodriguez is trying to say at the forum hosted by the Eastside Civic Association. Let me see if I can lay this out for you.

Rodriguez is basically saying that Flores has out-sourced a big chunk of the work his office was responsible for to private companies that were more efficient. It sounds like he is saying that he wanted to know if Flores reduced his staff in accordance with the reduced workload but had to put in an open records request to get that and some other information. Rodriguez is alleging that he was charged almost $400 for the open records request. Rodriguez basically says that if he is being charged that much for the open record request, that Flores is either incompetent or hiding something.

His words, not mine.

The Congressional race was interesting because the Republicans were included. We Democrats have a huge problem that the Republicans could take advantage of if they could ever get their butts in gear.

We are eating our own in the Congressional race. Its unnecessary, but the Congressional race has gotten so out of hand that there is little likelihood that the supporters of the candidate that loses will support the winner.

If the Republicans had some real numbers, and candidates that were actually credible, they could conceivably steal the seat. Lucky for us Democrats, they don't.

But Democrats need to watch the video and listen to the Republican candidates. Listen to their rhetoric and you will see why its stupid for us Democrats to keep acting the way we have in the primary.

The Republican candidates will scare the crap out of the average El Pasoan.

Anyway...back to the candidates

I'll try to make this quick. Jerome Tilghman and Ben Mendoza just aren't serious candidates for Congress. Jerome doesn't really say anything, though is actually getting closer to having some substance. But he still has a tendency to TALK but not SAY anything. Ben Mendoza should consider NOT saying anything because he makes a fool of himself.

He is usually some sort of character when he runs. This time he looks and sounds like the product of a marriage between Porky Pig and Indiana Jones.

He is a major player in the El Pasoans for Traditional Family Values but has the nerve to call himself a Democrat. Listen to him, he doesn't every actually say anything that looks like the values of a Democrats. He actually sounds like a religious conservative Republican. He called himself a Baptist Catholic.

I have no freakin' clue what that is. If you watch the video he doesn't respect the rules of the forum and keeps talking after he was stopped by one of the students. Rather than stopping, he kept trying to talk over the student. He basically got in to a shouting match with a high school kid.

Nice. Way to go Ben.

Beto O'Rourke is the only person on the stage that actually looked and sounded like a member of Congress other than Luis Torres, the Congressman's Legislative Director.

Of the Republicans, Barbara Carrasco sounded like the more polished Republican of the two candidates. For whatever that is worth.

The state rep race evaluations are next. HD 75 only had one candidate in attendance and HD 77 was the most interesting race and I have a lot to say in terms of breaking down their performance in that race. I'll have to replay some video of specific answers to questions. Should be very interesting.

County Commissioner's Court Precinct 1 Candidates @ Eastside Civic Association Forum

2012-02-14T07:00:00.002-07:00

Here is video of the candidates for County Commissioner's Court Precinct #1 at the Eastside Civic Association's Forum last Thursday.

I am including their question and answer periods instead of the opening and closing statements because they are mostly just pre-fabricated messages. I think were you get the most insight on to which candidate is the best is during the question and answer period.

Specific policy questions is where you will find out who knows policy and who has no clue.

I thought Jaime Romo had a rough time with policy questions. I thought Danny Anchondo improved a lot over his performance earlier in the week but still has to bone up on policy and offer more specificity on issues and Montelongo seemed to be the most comfortable with policy discussions. But some people have taken issue with a question asked by a member of the audience about corruption. You can see her answer in the video that follows (hers is last), judge for yourself:

The question from the audience that seems to have drawn a reaction from a few was about corruption. They person (I'm paraphrasing) asked why we keep seeing corruption year in and year out. Montelongo said its the voters fault.

I'm not sure why people have their chones in a wad over that statement. We have crappy voter turnout. There are only an embarrassingly few people that go out and vote regularly. If it happens once, shame on them. But if it keeps happening, shame on us for not voting better people in to office. What exactly is the issue with that sentiment. Ask the candidates the tough questions. Make them earn your vote. Be an engaged community.

I guarantee that crap will stop once we start acting like a community who gives a damn about their community by voting on a regular basis.

Announcement from Tom Stanton Campaign

2012-02-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

Fund Raiser Notice Campaign

Guest Post: The Case for Ron Paul

2012-02-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

By Isabel J. Gonzalez

Ashumans, it is wise to master the art of self-defense. Therefore, itis reasonable that we expect our government to protect us fromforeign and domestic threat. However, wise individuals do not pickfights nor are aggressive. There is a more successful way to addressproblems: words. That being said, why should it be any different forour government? In the past several decades, the United States hasmostly engaged in unconstitutional wars, neglecting the processoutlined in the Constitution of the United States [1]. If the warswere “just,” why would government officials ignore Checks andBalances [2]? Why is our government quick to engage in preemptivewars instead of first taking a diplomatic approach? But even so, ourgovernment must have an excellent reason for risking innocent lives,right? These are only a few of the many questions anyone shouldposit.

Ihave found that minding my own business is an effective way to avoidconflict. However, our country has taken a different approach ataddressing conflict. It seems that our government strongly embracesmilitarism [3]. Could this be a contributing factor to the animosityfelt by other nations? Could our sense of entitlement for naturalresources from other countries also be a problem? Might our foreignpolicy actually lead us to initiate unconstitutional wars? Is itpossible that some of our foreign interventions bring about“blowback”[4]? If you think about the grand scale of things, itmakes sense that the consequences of our foreign policy would causeretaliation from individuals living in the very countries we occupy.

Somemight disagree and proclaim that freedom is not free and we mustremain on the offense to protect our country. Even so, let us take astep back and analyze the situation. Does having numerous militarybases around the world make us freer? Do these unconstitutional warsmake us safer? Perception will undoubtedly garner different answers.However, since the 9/11 attacks, our liberty has become more limited.Consequences of the 9/11 attacks have resulted in the Patriot Act [5]and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Why should wehave to comply with legislation and programs that directly violateour liberty? The Patriot Act is controversial because it is said toundermine our liberties by allowing the government to access privateinformation otherwise deemed unconstitutional. The TSA allows forfull body scans and pat downs. These travel procedures might seemjustified because it provides a sense of security during airplaneflights. But what is actually at stake here? Where do we draw theline?

Asrecent as December 16, 2011, Congress passed a provision to theNational Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and President Obama signedthis new provision into law on December 31, 2011. Essentially, thisnew provision robs U.S. citizens of a trial and does not require foractual charges to be filed against them to proceed with indefinitedetention. Once indefinitely detained, citizens may be transported toprisons overseas for as long as they are deemed a threat. This newprovision to the NDAA is disregarding the basic principle of habeascorpus [6] and due process of law [7]. The aforementioned revisionsare arguably a recipe for a plot straight out of a dystopian novel[8]. Benjamin Franklin once said, “Those who would give upessential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserveneither Liberty nor Safety.” So are we allowing ourselves to befearful to the point that we are effortlessly giving up our liberty?

Regardlessof whether you agree or disagree with the United States’ foreignpolicy, it is indisputable that innocent lives are being lost. As thewise statesman, Dr. Ron Paul, once said, “Unless we… understandthat life is precious and we must protect life, we can’t protectliberty.” It appears the government feels justified in limiting ourliberty while simultaneously risking lives. Does that sound like asour deal? So, at the end of the day, we should take a step back andreally consider whether our government is correct in suggesting thatthe pros of our foreign policy outweigh the cons. You decide.

[1]Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution providesCongress the power “to declare War,” whereas Article II, Section2 says the President “shall be Commander in Chief of the Army andNavy of the United States, and the Militia of the several States,when called into the actual Service of the United States.” Thus,every time the President declares war without getting a majority votein Congress it is unconstitutional.

[2]Checks and Balances is the “Separation of Powers” aimed atpreventing any of the branches from gaining too much power. Ourgovernment consists of three branches: Legislative Branch, ExecutiveBranch, and Judicial Branch.

[3]Militarism is the belief or desire of a government or people that acountry should maintain a strong military capability and be preparedto use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests.[4]Blowback is the unintended consequences of foreign operations.

[5]H.R. 3162, the USA Patriot Act is a law passed as a result of the9/11 attacks with the intended purpose of enhancing domestic securityagainst terrorism. Details about this legislation can be found viathe Library of Congress http://tiny.cc/w7jc8

[6]Habeas corpus is a writ requiring a person under arrest to be broughtbefore a judge or into court. This is done to secure the person’srelease unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention.

[7]Due process of law highlights a citizen’s entitlement for fairtreatment through the normal judicial system.

[8]Dystopian society is an imagined place or state in which everythingis unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentallydegraded one. An example of a dystopian novel is Nineteen Eighty-Fourby George Orwell (1949). This is compared with utopia, which is animagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect. Thenovel, Utopia (1516) was written by Sir Thomas More.

Coming Up Next...

2012-02-13T13:43:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow's edition of The Lion Star Blog will feature analysis of the debate performances of the Burges High and Eastside Civic Association.

I know I am a little late on it, but I am working on a lot of stuff for my blog.

But I will be focusing on the Congressional candidates, HD 75 & 77, and County Commissioner Candidates the most.

Also, expect more video from the Eastside Civic Association Forum from last Thrusday night since people seem to be so interested in the Epic Failure guest post.

Which reminds me, the views and opinions expressed in guest posts may or may not be those of The Lion Star Blog. Also, in case you guys were wondering, purchasing an ad on my blog doesn't entitle anyone to special treatment or immunize them from criticism on my blog. You have probably already noticed that, but I make it clear to people when they purchase ad space and I just wanted my legion of haters to know that...

Announcement from Lizarraga Campaign

2012-02-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

FR Leo's 8th Court of Appeals

Candidates Endorsing Other Candidates

2012-02-13T09:30:00.000-07:00

There have been at least four candidates that have been telling voters that they were endorsed by another candidate.

A lot of this stuff has been circulating around the Congressional race. So I took some time to contact all four candidates that are competing for the position to ask them on the record, whom, if anyone, they are endorsing for other offices.

So far I have heard back from Ben Mendoza, Beto O'Rourke, and Congressman Reyes. Jerome Tilghman did not respond by the time of publication.

But in order to clear up any doubt, here are quotes from Ben Mendoza, Beto O'Rourke, and Congressman Reyes about endorsing other candidates.

This is the reply from Ben Mendorza's campaign, "BenMendoza For Congress Is Not Endorsing Any Candidates. That's It!"

This is the response tfrom Beto O'Rourke: "Jaime,I'm not endorsing anyone .. sounds official and I haven't spoken toany of the campaigns about whether they'd want or accept myendorsement."

And this is the reply from Congressman Reyes, "TheCongressman is focused on working for El Paso and while he won't bemaking any official endorsements this cycle, he wishes all candidateswell as they go about making their case to El Paso voters."

Guest Post: Eastside Civic Association Forum - Epic Failures

2012-02-13T08:30:00.000-07:00

By Mirian Spencer

I attended my first Candidates’ Forumfor the 2012 political season. It is early February, and at thispoint on the campaign trail, I anticipated polished, ready to takeoffice candidates. Unfortunately, because of the uncertainty of theprimary elections, I feel candidates have been taking it easy. I saythis because it appears that campaign signage, logos, and push cardshave been the focus, while knowledge of issues, platform and debatinghave taken a back seat. As a Precinct chair, I’m offering someadvice to the 2012 candidates. I am hoping the advice is taken forwhat it is… advice, rather than an attack. As a precinct chair, Ihave taken an oath to work with whomever is the Democratic Nominee.

Tonight’s forum offered severalopportunities for candidates to separate themselves. If you are in acrowded field of opponents, this was your chance to shine and takecenter stage. I can say a slim few took the opportunity to reallyknock it out of the ballpark. For the most part, I was saddened tosay, it was a battle for Epic Failure tonight. So, I figured I wouldtake an opportunity to help everyone learn from some of the trulyEpic Failures tonight, so that in the future, we have much morepolished candidates who can truly explain why they deserve our votes.

I’m going to attempt to be brief, andbreak it down to 10 failures.

EPIC FAILURE #10: Introductions

This failure was prevalent. I say thisbecause each candidate was given one minute to tell everyone aboutthemselves. Being that no one in the room was still in high school,and one of the qualifications to be a judge is that you are a lawyer,it isn’t that big of a deal to outline your education. I say thisbecause, again, you have a minute. People want to know the followingabout you in this minute: (1) Why are you particularly qualified tohave the position you are seeking (2) what makes you different fromyour opponents and (3) what will you do when you get the job. If youspend your minute telling everyone what high school and college youwent to, you limit your three minutes of question and answer toquestions like “What is your judicial experience?” Each candidatecan look at video of tonight and say, we wasted that minute. No onereally opened with the meat and potatoes of their argument.

EPIC FAILURE #9: Posture

This failure was also evident inmultiple candidates. People are watching your body language as youspeak. People should never be able to tell when you are mostuncomfortable. As a candidate, you should never appear to beintimidating, aggressive, passive or unknowledgeable. If people getthis from your posture, they aren’t going to vote for you. If youknow what you are going to say, say it with confidence. Forumattendees can smell blood. If you are uncomfortable, they know it andits open season.

EPIC FAILURE #8: Absentee Challengers

New blood is fabulous. Its magicalwhen it facilitates change. If you are a newcomer going after anincumbent, you should make sure you have solid arguments against yourpredecessor. In fact, make sure you are in attendance. There were afew newcomers not in attendance. This gives people the idea you arebeing “puppet mastered” and your master said not to go. If yourpeople are telling you not to go, it’s a sign they are saving youfrom Rick Perry style of debate savvy.

Epic Failures Part II

The first three failures were prevalentacross the board; the remaining failures are specific to individualsat the forum.

EPIC FAILURE #7: Armando Rodriguez

Your failure is simple. Despitecurrently being seated as a School Board Trustee, you struggle inarticulating the reasons for running for Tax Assessor Collector. This is a job that 99% of the public doesn’t really pay muchattention to. In fact, most people think Juan Sandoval of the Cityis the Tax Assessor Collector. Your platform is improved training,accountability and customer service. You didn’t really offer anyideas for improvement, but you discuss an open records request youmade that cost $435.00 as your primary issue. This is only an issueif you are not versed in the Open Records Act. FYI, you can becharged for the information an agency provides. In fact, the agencyis allowed to recoup the costs for gathering information for openrecords. Not knowing this, shows some issues especially since youare seeking to be the Tax Assessor Collector.

EPIC FAILURE #6: Jerome Tillman

While most would call it posture(Failure #9), it has been a long-term failure for you. You come offvery abrasive. In fact, your first policy being related to fundingof Special Operations; and the long winded discussion of yourparticular special operations experience doesn’t help this. Noticehow no one asked any questions after you said this. People arescared of you. You may want to bring a cuddly bunny every time yougo to a forum so people can see you are gentile. However, youmentioned a five-point platform, but you only got through point #5Restoration. FYI, if you are going to go with the five-pointplatform, you should at least list the five points.

EPIC FAILURE #5: Danny Anchondo

As the current Democratic PartyChairman, you should have the most command knowledge of the issueswithin the county. However, your first policy initiative of gettinglocal, thriving businesses to contribute to the county for investmentin the arts doesn’t make sense. As a County Commissioner, peoplewant to know that their needs are being taken care of. Thisparticular policy seems incomplete. Also, since there are enoughissues with corruption at the county, this begins to teeter on thatgray area of asking people for money. You may want to rework thisargument.

EPIC FAILURE #4: Dolores Reyes

While you seem well qualified to be ajudge, you had a couple of failures. You are currently a SeniorDistrict Attorney with an active case load of over 300 cases. Youdidn’t really articulate what happens with the cases should youbecome the judge. Also, out of all the candidates last night, youwere the only one to throw jabs at your opponents. For one thing,indirectly calling one of your opponents old isn’t really becomingof a judicial candidate. You may want to redo this argument.

EPIC FAILURE #3: Ben Mendoza

I am glad to know you have abandonedthe “blow the whistle on corruption,” from last election season. However, it is most unfortunate that you haven’t really developed aplatform as this is your second time running for Congress. You seemto go around in circles when asked questions. In fact, you only gottwo questions asked because it took so much time for you to develop ayes or no answer to whether you support the Dream Act, and you neverreally explained the position of Mexico becoming a Commonwealth ofthe US.

EPIC FAILURE #2: Jaime Romo

You are young, passionate and well youlook like a candidate. This will bode well for you when you are atSenior Centers. Unfortunately, you fell for the most commoncandidate trap… using a single buzzword as your platform, but notreally having in depth knowledge of the issues behind it. Youselected Economic Development. I will tell you, out of all thebuzzwords to use, this one is not great because Economic Developmentisn’t really clearly defined in general. When people use it, iteasily becomes a trap because (1) it generally means spending moneywithout really making money (2) granting tax abatements (3) back doordeals. Well, the back door deals don’t really happen, but that isthe general perception. Also you used the other buzzword du jour…Quality of Life. Again broad by definition, but you have to makethese words your own.

EPIC FAILURE #1: Hector Enriquez

Mr. Enriquez, you were by far thebiggest failure of the evening. I say this for two reasons: (1) Youwere the first to file for the office you seek (2) you’ve had themost time to truly develop as a candidate. Your failure is actuallypretty tragic because it is February. At this point in the politicalworld, you should have clear knowledge of the inner workings of thejob you seek. You know why you want the job and most importantly, asa candidate for State Representative, you should have clear knowledgeof what you want to fight for at the state level.

Knowing this speaks straight to yourfailure.

Not only did you not know whatcommittee you want to be on as Representative, you have no knowledgeof the committees that exist. This particular question should be theEASIEST question to answer. If you are passionate about animals, yousimply say I want to be on the Animal Welfare Committee because Ifeel we need additional funding for stray animals within El PasoCounty. If libraries are your thing, you say, I want to be on theLibrary committee because we need to improve literacy rates within ElPaso County. See how easy that is? If you can’t answer thisfundamental question, you need to ask yourself… WHY DO I WANT THIS$8,000 per year job?

This fundamental failure is tragicbecause even if you have a bad idea, at least you have one. BenMendoza’s idea about Mexico becoming a Commonwealth of the US is aterrible idea that will never happen; but he beats you for threereasons (1) his idea is germane to the office he is seeking(Congressman) (2) Something like this would fall within the purviewof the collective body he seeks to join (House of Representatives)and (3) there’s a committee that would look into it (InternationalAffairs).

See, even a ridiculous idea can soundgood when you can break it down through relevance. With a month and ahalf to go, you need to develop something, ANYTHING!!!

I couldn’t talk about failureswithout mentioning the one failure that came from the audience. Ingeneral, audiences are stacked with people who are working forparticular candidates and generally are political by nature. Everyonce in a while, something happens in the audience that makes forcampaign fodder. Last night was no exception…

BONUS EPIC FAILURE : Jorge Artalejo

Jorge Artalejo asked two questions. His first question was for Lisa Aceves Hayes, a candidate for the383^rd District Court. He asked something about theintimidation of judges due to long judicial tenures. I amparaphrasing because despite sitting across the aisle from him, Icouldn’t hear nor comprehend what he said. When asked to repeatthe question because the candidate didn’t hear, he got offended andsat down. He asked a question of Judge Arditti regarding the recentdevelopments at her home, but again, no one captured exactly what hesaid, and again got offended when asked to repeat it. Judge Ardittishould receive a medal of valor as she made a true effort to hearwhat he was asking her, she stepped away from the podium and washeading over to him to hear him better.

If you want to be heard, speak up.

If people can’t hear you, they won’tanswer your question.

HD 75: Enriquez and Gonzalez

2012-02-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

Here are two of the candidates for HD 75, out in the Lower Valley, Hector Enriquez and Mary Gonzalez. The other two candidates Art Fierro and Willie Gandra didn't show up.

Again.

Hey, here's a revolutionary idea Art and Willie....look like you really want the job by actually campaigning! Thats free advice, you don't have to pay a high-priced consultant for it.

For most of you, this is the first time you probably will have seen Hector Enriquez. He is light-years better than he was the day he announced. But he still isn't impressive at all. He still doesn't know the answer to a question I asked him MONTHS ago. He didn't know the answer then, and as you can see in the video, he stalls to buy himself some time and then takes a stab in the dark.

There is a guest piece coming up later today that really nails a solid critique about Enriquez, so clearly I am not the only one who has noticed his short-comings as a candidate.

On the positive side, he's good at written pre-fabricated remarks, probably from his Austin-based consulting firm.

In stark contrast to Enriquez's short-comings is Mary Gonzalez. She improves every time she's in front of an audience. She's made a huge amount of progress from her performances on the Westside earlier in the campaign season.

She's out-working everyone. And she should be. She doesn't have children or anything else to do right now but focus on her campaigning.

And she is.

She's a whirlwind of campaign activity and has been walking and meeting with voters for quite some time now while her male counter-parts are sitting on their rear-ends taking way too much time to make basic campaign decisions.

A month ago she was a long shot to even make a run-off. But after some successful fundraising and flat-out out-working her opponents, Gonzalez now finds herself in a position she probably wasn't expecting to find herself in...that of a front-runner.

At this stage in the game, despite the fact that Hector Enriquez was the first candidate out of the gate, despite the fact that Art Fierro has campaign experience and the ability to raise money, and despite Gandara's name ID and wealth, Mary Gonzalez is the front-runner.

The race is hers to lose.

Watch the video of her speech and you will see a political lesson. If you are going to do a negative attack on the only female in the race, do so with some care. If its done without savvy, and if the candidate that is your target is good, it can be turned around on you quickly and you can actually generate support for the target.

It actually happened in this video when Gonzalez was asked a question about leaving El Paso and coming back to run for office. She did such a good job, I would be surprised if the attack was attempted a second time. The room wasn't filled with her supporters. In fact, her entourage consisted only of a campaign volunteer and her consultants Getsemani Yanez and his wife Diana Ramirez. But after her answer to the question about leaving El Paso and coming back, she's actually applauded by the audience.

This race looks much different than it did in December...

El Paso Stonewall Young Democrats Endorsement Results

2012-02-13T00:40:00.000-07:00

Here are the endorsements of the El Paso Stonewall Young Democrats. I am a member of the organization but didn't get a chance to vote in the endorsement (my fault, not anyone else's. I forgot to go online and fill out my ballot, which sucks because there was a tie for the 41st Judicial District Court. My bad. Here are the endorsements:

USCongress TX-16: Beto O'Rourke

388th Judicial District Court:Laura Strathmann

8th Circuit Court of Appeals: TomStanton

State Representative HD 75: MaryGonzalez

State Representative HD 77: AaronBarraza

State Representative HD 78: Joe Moody

ElPaso County Commissioner Precinct #1: Liza Montelongo

ElPaso County Commissioner Precinct #3: Vince Perez

ElPaso County Criminal Court at Law #1: Diana Navarrete

41stJudicial District Court: Dolores Reyes & Anna Perez (due to anexact Tie)

ElPaso County Tax Assessor: Armando Rodriguez

ElPaso County Democratic Party Chair: Glenn "Butch" Maya

383rdJudicial District Court: Mike Herrera

ConstablePrecinct #1: Robert White

ConstablePrecinct #4: Louie Aguilar

ElPaso County Court at Law #1: Jesus Herrera

243rdJudicial District Court: Richard Contreras

NOTE*- The Ballot for the 448th Judicial District Court will close at11:59pm tomorrow and results will be announced shortly after.

HD 77 Campaign Fundraisers

2012-02-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

As you know, I post everyone's campaign announcements if they send them to me. I was the announcement below for a fundraiser for Representative Marquez that is coming up next week.

I heard some talk of a fundraiser for her opponent Aaron Barraza but I don't have too many details and the person who told me about it said it was a private fundraiser. Generally they are not private affairs because the whole point is to maximize attendance, but they may have gotten that part of the information wrong because it doesn't really make sense.

Just a reminder candidates, I'll post it, but ya gotta get it to me.

Eastside Civic Association Forum - Quick Hits

2012-02-10T09:34:00.001-07:00

Some quick thoughts on the Eastside Civic Association Forum last night. I will follow with some more analysis and video later.

First things first - shame on the Eastside Civic Association for two reasons. #1 - They didn't let the candidates for the 8th Court of Appeals speak despite the fact that they were all in attendance. What is worse is that the membership can't seem to get their story straight as to why they weren't allowed to speak. The master of ceremonies gave me three different stories as to why they didn't speak. I spoke with the President of the Eastside Civic Association BEFORE the end of the forum and let her know that they were all in attendance and that they were wondering if they were going to be allowed to speak.

One of the the other organizers, I think his last name was Gray, was a total jerk about it. I think he's also the genius that pushed forward the other reason they should be ashamed of themselves. They tried to strong-arm candidates in to showing up to the forum by giving their opponent a chance to ask the absent candidate a question and answer for them. Bush league move.

Attendance isn't mandatory. If they chose to miss a chance to speak to voters, thats their fault. No reason to pull that dogpile routine. I hope they fix that. It was stupid.

And now for the candidates.

Two of the candidates that performed poorly at Monday's meeting of the Eastside Democrats did better. First, Danny Anchondo did a little better. He still appears to be searching for a solid platform, but he did do noticeably better than Monday.

Liza Montelongo did a lot better than Monday. Much, much better. She's not the type to stand and deliver a speech, but where she did really well was when questions from the audience came. She showed a deep and strong command of the issues. She was the opposite of the other candidates that seemed to do okay delivering their pre-planned remarks, but fell apart once questions started coming their way. That is great for her because most of interaction with voters will be in the form of fielding their specific questions.

Ben Mendoza didn't try to light anything on fire.

Jerome Tilghman had on okay showing. Nothing to write home about, but he didn't mess up either. I asked him a question about what specific new policy he would advocate for if he was sent to Congress. It took him a moment to get his legs under him, but he rebounded okay.

Beto O'Rourke owned the room. He needs to improve on just two things. #1 - He needs to work the room more. He tends to be a little reactive as opposed to proactive on that end. #2 - He needs to bring a posse with him to events. He usually goes with his wing man and no one else. Having a posse might put him in a better place in terms of confidence.

However, it doesn't look like he really needs all the help. He OWNED the debate. He had two hostiles in the crowd, one of which is a Republican, who seemed to make it their personal mission to mess with him. They have no business messing with O'Rourke. He pimp-slapped 'em with his answer. I don't agree with his legalization position, but he has been asked that question so many times, in so many ways, that he has command of the issue. Although there is one are where he is very vulnerable on that issue, but we'll see if the Reyes' catch it.

I did.

I threw him a rough one myself but he seemed to mostly answer the question. Pretty impressive.

Diana Navarrete showed a strong and sharper side of her stump speech last night. She actually went on offense against her opponent Theresa Caballero who was not in attendance. Word on the street is that Caballero had Precinct Chairs over for an event last night.

Richard Contreras, who so far seems to be the most negative candidate I have seen on the campaign trail so far, behaved himself last night. I think someone might have told him how bad things went over on Monday night. I'll post the video of that one too. People didn't like his tactic.

And finally HD 75. Hector Enriquez actually showed up.

He probably shouldn't have. It didn't go well for him at all.

Art Fierro didn't show up...AGAIN! I realize he's trying to get a gold star for freakin' perfect attendance at Community College meetings, but he is going to have to make some tough choices that actually benefit his campaign. People are starting to talk.

Willie Gandara didn't show up....again.

Mary Gonzalez showed up and knocked it out of the park. She was asked, in the sharpest way I've seen so far, about moving back to El Paso from Austin. Ironically she was asked the question by a SISD Trustee. Its ironic because Gonzalez has been out of town for the most part because she has been pursuing higher education.

Patton is very tall. Taller than O'Rourke actually. Gonzalez is short in stature.

David slew Goliath. I'm told Patton is buddies with Enriquez, but it was a fair question. Too bad Patton was much better than Enriquez.

Gonzalez gave the best answer I've heard her give on the issue of returning to El Paso. In fact, I think she finally put that issue to bed last night.

Enriquez is Hall of Fame weak as a candidate. Months after my first interview with him, he still doesn't appear to know much about issues. You'll see the video later but I asked him a question and I was pretty loud about it. I think he didn't know the answer and wanted to buy some time so he said he couldn't hear and asked me to repeat the question. He then took a stab in the dark.

Sad thing is, I've asked him the question before!

Then he was asked a pretty pedestrian question about committee assignments.

Another train wreck.

Gonzalez and O'Rourke had the performances of the night.

Reyes benefited by not being in attendance. That crowd was not a pro-Reyes crowd but I don't think the congressional candidates really capitalized on that at all.

More later.

Ron Paul Event

2012-02-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

The Ron Paul campaign is having an event here in El Paso for people to learn a little more about the Ron Paul candidacy.

The UTEP Youth for Ron Paul invites the public to attend and Q & A Public Forum on Wednesday, February 22nd at 7pm at the Percolator.

That's in the downtown area, 217 North Stanton Street.

A Little Reminder of Dinner Tonight

2012-02-09T23:52:00.001-07:00

Had dinner with some friends last night. Hilarious.

Its a long story but it involves an out-of-town candidate, $500, a little person, AppleBee's, tarter sauce, and this great song...wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle...

Congressional Candidates at the Eastside Democrats Meeting

2012-02-09T14:38:00.001-07:00

This is video of the Congressional candidates that were in attendance at the Eastside Democrats meeting. The candidates in attendance were Beto O'Rourke and Ben Mendoza.

Congressman Reyes sent Luis Torres to speak on his behalf but in fairness to the candidates that were in attendance I am only posting video of their speeches.

Mendoza's speech is priceless! He talked about all of his opponents and referred to Beto O'Rourke as "a tall man". He also attempts to end his show with bang, but it took him 5 tries to get it right.

El Paso Times Fact-Checks Congressman's Super Bowl Ad

2012-02-09T11:01:00.002-07:00

If anyone would've told me that 4 or 5 days after the Super Bowl that the commercial in El Paso that people would still be talking about is the Congressman's ad I would've said they are out of their mind.

But, a few days later and its still getting ink. If you are an advertising person, then you have to score one for Morris Pittle.

The El Paso Times did a fact-checking piece on the claims made in the commercial. O'Rourke supporters were predictably pretty upset when the piece came out because they said that it was inaccurate and that the Congressman was taking credit for stuff that he shouldn't take credit for.

News flash, all politicians do that.

But a friend of mine, who is NOT a fan of the Congressman by any stretch of the imagination was the one who told me it was done. He said he was glad that they were doing it, but he questioned why they were fact checking the Congressman's spot and not other claims in political advertising and he's hoping that the El Paso Times sticks with the idea.

Me too. Maybe will start seeing a little less BS in what candidates say if they know that the real media will call them out on it.

Anyway, here is my take away from the Times piece. They said 2 of the 11 things that they fact checked were "MISLEADING". They didn't rate any of what was asserted in the commercial as "FALSE" or "LIE" or "THEY ARE FULL OF IT". (okay, I have no idea what they would rate it if they found something to be completely untrue, but my vote is for "THEY ARE FULL OF IT".)

One of the two that they said were misleading was about the impact to Fort Bliss and I think it could also easily be rated MOSTLY TRUE because they were quoting REDco, so that one isn't so bad.

The levee claim is one that I would've said THEY ARE FULL OF IT, but thats just me. That one seems downright false in the amount they claim went to El Paso.

But all the other claims in the commercial were rated TRUE, MOSTLY TRUE, or PROBABLY TRUE. So my take away from it was that the commercial was overwhelmingly accurate, with the exception of one statement in which they are basically full of it.

The headline of the article itself is a little MISLEADING if you ask me. I think it would probably be just as accurate to say that REYES' CAMPAIGN AD MOSTLY TRUE.

SIDE NOTE: Kudos to Bob Moore for having the fact checking done. Good for him. I don't think I've ever seen that done by the Times before and I hope they stick with it. Lots of positive changes over there at the Times since he took the helm.

Source: Del Sol Pediatric Center to Close

2012-02-09T10:27:00.001-07:00

Sources at Del Sol Medical Center indicate that they will be closing the pediatric services at Del Sol Medical Center.

Not sure how many people they actually serve, but it appears the hospital wants to keep it hush-hush. Pretty sure the media will be on this story so I'll bet it ends up in the paper or on TV soon.

Dora Oaxaca at the Eastside Democrats

2012-02-09T09:12:00.001-07:00

Dora Oaxaca, candidate for County Commissioner Precinct 3 also spoke on Monday night. It wasn't one of her stronger performances. She came across angry for the second performance in a row. And yes, if she were a man, she would still have come across angry.

Here's the thing about Dora, she is a gifted public speaker. She's had lots of practice filling in for her boss when he doesn't make it to an event, which if you notice, happens on the regular.

Dora is a passionate speaker. She goes for the emotional hook. It almost always works and many people remember your more prominent speakers for that very reason. But occasionally...it goes wrong. Remember Phil Davison? He personifies the idea of too much of a good thing...

Now compare Dora's first speech at her announcement where she was surrounded by supporters, friends, and family to the other two videos featuring Dora on my YouTube channel and you will see there is a big difference in the emotion. In her first speech, I was blown away. Just the right amount of emotion and passion.

In the other two speeches, well, I was afraid she was gonna go all Phil Davison on us.

She has to get back to passionate, effective Dora. It works for her.

Angry Dora, not so much. Mary Gonzalez fixed her speech in 48 hours, lets see if the other female candidate from the valley can do the same tonight at the Eastside Civic Association. (Actually, I'm not sure if they are going to be included but I think they are. If they are going to be included, Dora has to change her game plan. The Eastside Civic Association is older and conservative. They aren't particularly found of emotion. So to be effective, Dora is going to have to tone it down a lot, which is difficult.

Here is Dora's speech from Monday:

1/2 of the County Commissioner Precinct 1 Candidates

2012-02-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

I was able to get video of Danny Anchondo and Jaime Romo at the Eastside Democrats meeting on Monday night. Liza Montelongo was there as well, but I only recorded part of her speech so I won't include it since I have the other candidates entire speeches. But there is another forum tonight and I'll make sure I get video to share.

Interestingly Carlos Leon was not present on Monday night, although is campaign manager Mayela Mejia was in attendance. But since he has not filed candidacy yet he may not be attending forums until he is able to file. Interestingly tonight is a forum co-sponsored by the Eastside Civic Association and the Eastside Democrats. Leon's campaign manager is the head of the Eastside Civic Association so I assume he will be in attendance.

Here is video of Jaime Romo and Danny Anchondo. People within the party have been asking me since they started seeing him at a couple of Democratic Party events, yes Red is his dad. Romo has some major hills to climb if he wants to be elected, but he exceeded my expectations and did pretty well in his speech. Chairman Anchondo needs some work. He has to have a more organized message. He needs to draw a straight line between his experience and the requirements of the office in order to make the case to voters. He also has to remember he is a candidate now, so he has to "work the room" now. Here's the video:

Judge Regina Arditti at Eastside Democrats

2012-02-09T08:34:00.003-07:00

I've talked about how despite a huge amount of adversity Judge Regina Arditti has performed well in her campaign appearances. Regardless of what anyone thinks, she has a grace about her when she speaks and is very poised.

Monday night was a weird collection of people that did really well and people who did really bad. She's one of the people that did really well.

Dora Oaxaca Campaign Fundraiser

2012-02-08T22:59:00.002-07:00

Fund Invite

HD 75: Art Fierro at the Eastside Democrats

2012-02-08T17:07:00.003-07:00

Here is video of Art Fierro's remarks at the Eastside Democrats meeting.

Reyes Campaign Launches New Website

2012-02-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

Saw the announcement of a new website for the Reyes Campaign on Facebook today.

Robust website but has a clean look with an intuitive layout.

Here is the URL: http://www.reyesforcongress.com/

I was a little surprised that they didn't secure the URL ReyesWorks.com though. Looks like it was secured by one of O'Rourke's supporters.

Gandara & The Eastside Democrats Meeting

2012-02-08T09:12:00.003-07:00

When I linked to a piece a few days about written by my friend Joe Olvera about the HD 75 race, a lot of people contacted me about the rumor written about that alleged Gandara might be dropping out of the race.

They were wanting to know if I had heard the same thing. I haven't. And I've seen his campaign have more visibility in the valley over the last couple of weeks. So I've been digging around and I can't find anything that confirms Gandara is considering dropping out.

Until Monday night.

Its not much, but it was interesting to note and I certainly wasn't the only one who noticed. Gandara showed up to the Eastside Democrats candidate meet and greet event. He was there along with two of his opponents, Mary Gonzalez and Art Fierro.

The weird thing is that Gonzalez and Fierro spoke, but Gandara didn't. He wasn't announced either. It seemed like he was there to support his assistant, Dora Oaxaca's bid for County Commissioner to replace him. He wasn't dressed like a candidate. In fact, some of the ladies in attendance seemed to be disappointed that he wasn't dressed like someone who was running for office.

It wasn't that big of deal to me because Gandara is generally a pretty casual dresser, but a lot of other people in attendance kept mentioning it.

He didn't have any buttons, stickers, push cards, or anything. But he was cordial, even to Vince Perez who was in attendance.

Bottom line is this - Gandara showed up, didn't speak, wasn't announced, and didn't have any campaign materials. If he's not dropping out, he really missed a significant campaign opportunity. Eastside Democrats have membership in HD 75.

Gonzalez & Strathmann - Most Improved Speeches

2012-02-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

There were a lot of bad speeches the other night at the Eastside Democrats meeting. There were some entertaining ones as well. And yes, a couple of good ones.

I saw a couple of the candidates that had particularly poor performances previously turn around and improve dramatically in less than a week. Actually, in a matter of days.

First, Laura Strathmann. Truthfully, for some reason most of the candidates in that race have been pretty boring even for judicial candidates. I expected her to knock it over the fence last Thursday at the EPSYD meeting but it didn't really work out.

But she hit her groove on Monday and did MUCH better. She understood an important thing about running for a judicial seat...most people don't care too much about them. All the candidates go up and give their resume, as if voters actually vote for the most qualified person. They should, but they don't. They vote for the person that tells the best story. She explained in layman's terms what the court does and why its important. That is harder to do than it sounds, but she did much better Monday night. She just needs to stick with that as her stump speech.

The other example is Mary Gonzalez and I want to use video to explain this one.

She didn't do very well Saturday. She had a very disorganized message, sounded more like a cheerleader and less like a qualified professional that is just a few classes away from a PhD and she freaked out about how much time she had left. Actually, that is a bit of a habit for her because she's done it in almost every speech I've seen her make.

But these videos illustrate what a difference a campaign manager can make. In the first speech she hadn't been worked with in terms of presentation. In the next video, shot just two days later, you can see a big difference. The first speech was disorganized, all over the place and she looked like a nervous teenager in over her head. She answered every question with something like "What a great question?..." Those are nerves. People do that to buy themselves time to formulate an answer. Clearly she needed some work.

In the second video, well you can see for yourself. Its like a before and after picture of a make-over show. In the first video, which is much longer, she doesn't convey a message nearly as well as she does here in 1/10th the amount of time. She gives people a reason to take her seriously and she is more economical with her message. That illustrates the importance of having someone help you in a campaign better than anuthing else I can think of.

41st Court Candidates

2012-02-07T23:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, here is a look at the candidates for the 41st Something or Other Court.

I messed up on Dolores Reyes' video and put the wrong court, so for the record it is the 41st Court. By the time I realized the mistake I had already rendered the video and didn't want to start all over.

My bad Ms. Reyes. I'll get it right next time.

I have no idea what kind of cases they hear but I think its just criminal.

Ms. Reyes' opponent is County Commissioner Anna Perez.

Some Advice for Family Members of Candidates...

2012-02-07T22:03:00.000-07:00

I was little kid the first time I wandered in to a boxing gym on Buckeye Road and the Black Canyon Freeway after getting my ass kicked at the park on day.

Somewhere between 8 and 10 years old.

But my mother didn't see me fight until was I was boxing in the Army as an adult. Even then, she only went to a couple of matches.

When we were little my dad had us playing Pop Warner football and my mom went to a few games to watch her boys play. In one of the games my brother got hurt. It was the kind of injury that you tell your friends about in bars when you are older. His team was behind, he was the shortest kid on the field, they threw a Hail Mary in to the endzone and my brother came down with it. Scored the touchdown and they won the game.

My brother still talks about it to this day.

But he got hurt on the play. My mom freaked out and ran on to the field screaming "mijo, mijo...". Some bruised ribs and the wind was knocked out of him. If my mother wasn't there my dad would've told him stop being a sissy and to walk it off.

It was a great moment and an embarrassing one at the same time for him.

The point is, mamma's don't like to see their children get hurt. Its a parent's duty to protect their child and that instinct never goes away.

Well, we never stop being our mamma's little boy. Trust me, my mom sees some of the crap people say about me and she has some choice words for some people out there.

But...my mom learned a valuable lesson that day on the Pop Warner field which explains why she never saw me fight until I was grown. If you can't stand to see your kid get hurt, don't go to the damn game.

I was talking to the parent of a candidate the other day and somehow the conversation of being a mom and having a kid run for office came up and it reminded me of my mom. So I thought I would pass on the advice I gave her.

Family is a strong bond. Strongest on earth. Which is why family should know their limitations. People are going to dislike your offspring. People are going to vote for the other person. People are going to be critical of your family member. Get used to and comfortable with that idea or you are going to be in for a long ride.

I'm not going to lie to you and tell you its an easy thing to deal with because it isn't. Its very hard. Which is why you need to know your limitations. If you can't handle it, then do yourself and the candidate a favor...stay home.

A lot of dust ups at polling places happen because family members get in to altercations. Nothing good comes out of the family hot-head getting in to it with the other candidates' family hot-head.

So this advice is for husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, extended family, etc, not just for moms and dads of candidates. Its tough, but if you can't handle it, don't go there.

Understand that most criticism isn't personal, its just politics. In fact, since I cover politics the most around here I might write something critical of your candidate. I assure you that its almost always issue-based. Not always, because I do tend to play around from time to time, but almost always.

Politics can be a rough gig. I'm not going to like to hear people criticize one of my daughters when they run for President one bit, but I know what I can and cannot handle.

But the best things my parents ever did for me in sports was this. It was always good to look up in the stands and see my dad there (or hear him yelling at me in most cases), and it was always good to come home and tell my mom all about it after the game.

Its hard, but sometimes you just have to smile for the sake of your family member's campaign. Once they win, you can have fun talking smack about everyone that pissed you off along the way at your victory party. If your candidate loses, well, your instincts kick in and suddenly none of that stuff will matter.

Burges Forum: Congressional Candidates

2012-02-07T17:54:00.000-07:00

Here is video of the candidate forum at Burges High School with the candidates competing for the Congressional seat.

What was really cool about this particular forum is the fact that it featured all the candidates, except the Congressman, that were seeking the office. With the Republicans seeking the seat included in the debate people could get a good look at the entire spectrum of candidates running for the position.

Congressman Reyes' absence was a big deal this time. He chose to attend another event in which he recorded a message for troops. That probably didn't take very long so he could've attended the forum. But the organizers allowed him to have a representative speak on his behalf.

Some highlights were the fact that with the absence of the Congressman, O'Rourke looks even better as a candidate, especially with the Republicans in the room. Another highlight was the presence of the Republicans.

Its the first time in a long time that I can remember them even having an actual primary race to see who gets their butt kicked in the general election.

Another highlight was Ben Mendoza. He was actually a bit of a highlight real all by himself. I'll explain in a separate piece later, but he did say he was a Baptist Catholic. I have no freakin' clue what that means. He also crystallized for me, what character he is this election. (Quick background, when he ran for Congress 4 years ago he looked like El Paso's answer to Yosemite Sam. When he ran for County Commissioner 2 years ago he had a whistle he would blow all the time.)

He wears a fedora and finished almost every answer to questions by saying "that's all folks". So with the fedora and the closing line, his new character is apparently something like if Indiana Jones and Porky Pig had a baby.

Here's the video:

Getting Fisted....

2012-02-07T14:39:00.001-07:00

I know, sounds dirty right?

It was hilarious! It was at the EPSYD meeting last Thursday and Robert White he was one of the last speakers. As I've said before, Constables in El Paso are characters. There's the Cowgirl character, the slightly-overly-tactical character, etc.

Constable White is pretty much just a normal dude. Not really a character. But he is engaging as a speaker. He usually goes last at forums and he wakes people up after hearing the judicial candidates.

So he provided the laugh of the night on Thursday when he spoke.

Each of the speakers was given a certain amount of time to speak. At the end of their time, one of the members who was keeping time, Elizabeth Hapsburg-Kelley would hold up a fist to let them know that they would have to finish their thought and then their time was up.

Line of the night was when Robert White said something like I will be brief, I want to finish "before I get the fist".

Took a second to register with some people, but eventually everyone laughed.

Sources close to his campaign state that he may be adding a raised fist to his campaign logo. Not really. But it would be funny.

O'Rourke's Contribution Dilemma

2012-02-07T10:59:00.001-07:00

I hate writing about family and it makes me uncomfortable to do it, but it seems like today is the day to do it. I was reading in yesterday's edition of the El Paso Times about O'Rourke keeping the contribution from his mother.

It puts into perspective the point that O'Rourke is in a damned if you do, damned if you don't position right now with his mom's contribution.

First lets start with O'Rourke's quote in the article that I found most interesting. "The first point is that my mom was never charged, implicated or in any way personally tied to the Charlotte's pleading".

That might be factually accurate, but I'm not sure it will ring true with voters. It was his mom's company. And she was the one who actually entered the guilty plea. So the company pleaded to wrong-doing. I don't think that quote gives him much cover. He's going to have to rework that one.

Its never good when you have to defend a contribution. He went after Reyes for contributions, so he has to take his medicine for this one.

But, its not like he can create a whole hell of a lot of distance either. After all, it is his mother. No son that is worth a damn would ever throw his mom under the bus, I don't care who you are.

So he's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

The Congressman's office issued a non-statement statement. Here's what part of it said, "Whileit definitely raises eyebrows given the investigations regardingcorruption at the county, I will not comment on his judgment to keepmoney from his relative who plead guilty in 2010 to charges ofstructuring transactions to evade the IRS, as that is hisprerogative," Reyes said in an email.

Burges Debate: House District 77

2012-02-07T10:33:00.001-07:00

Here is video of the candidates for House District 77 at the Burges High School Debate. There are some interesting moments in the video that I will point out.

But I won't do analysis until later. Just draw your own conclusions for now.

First, there was an exchange between one of the students asking a question and Rep Marquez. The student asked about a specific bill that she had authored. Marquez was unfamiliar with the bill and the student gave kind of sharp reply to her. I don't think he meant it the way it came across. The student didn't realize that the bill was in fact authored by State Rep Naomi Gonzalez and not Marquez, which is why she wasn't familiar with the specific question.

The other interesting moment in the video for me was their answer to a question from the audience about who they were most proud to have voted for. There are some other interesting things, but I will save it for some analysis later.

Crybabies to Cocksuckers

2012-02-07T09:53:00.001-07:00

Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice there is a catch-all clause that is used to punish just about anything a chain-of-command feels like punishing.

Its called Conduct Unbecoming.

I have to apologize for the title of this piece, I know its my New Year's Resolution to go without using bad language, but in my defense, I'm quoting a definition of a word used by someone else.

There have been a lot of complaints, going on for months now, about the conduct of the Reyes campaign. People have alleged that they participated in the so-called Black Ops that I've written about previously.

I've defended the Congressman when I thought he was right and when I felt that County Judge Escobar and City Reps Byrd and Ortega were ganging up and coordinating an attack through their offices against the Congressman, I called them out on it.

In fact, I still think they did and I'm not the only who feels that way.

Well, this time the Congressman's campaign is in the wrong. Specifically, Jesus "Chuy" Reyes, who is not only the Congressman's brother and campaign manager, but probably the person that has his ear more than anyone else.

I've written about how rough things have been getting in social media in this town. Well its not surprising that some of the Congressman's supporters have earned the reputation they have when they see the campaign manager for the Congressman engage in behavior that is at the very least questionable.

Here is an example of what I mean. I wrote a piece last week about the blunder by the Reyes camp of sending emails to the employees of the El Paso ISD. That story isn't going away either. I think that will blossom in to a full-on headache for the campaign at some point. When I post something on my blog, it automatically populates on my Facebook page. That usually leads to some conversation between people in my social network.

So a few Republicans started a conversation about it and they were critical of Reyes and his campaign staff. Where I felt they were wrong, I defended the Congressman and his staff.

Then, out of nowhere, Chuy Reyes drops in and leaves this comment:

One word: "Mamones"

I was watching a documentary on 50 Cent, so it was about an hour before I noticed it. When I did notice it, I took offense and left my reply, as you can clearly see. Yes, it was a strong reply on my behalf. Well, there is a perfectly good reason. Its because what the word means.

It can mean anything from "crybabies" to "cocksuckers". Classy huh?

The campaign manager jumps in to a conversation on Facebook and rather than defending on the issue, drops the word "mamones". And people wonder why some of the Reyes supporters act even worse on Facebook?

But the meaning of the word depends on the context in which its being used. I've been friendly with Chuy, but not friendly enough to call me a mamon in jest, which is when the word is used between close male friends. Like a lot of words in Spanish, they can be used jokingly without offense or used in a way that would start a fist fight. Guey or cabron are other words that would fit that characterization of being okay between friends, but not okay in other circumstances.

Unless you are talking to a Puerto Rican. Then never, and I mean NEVER, call them a cabron. And maybe its a generational difference. But people under 50 hear the word mamon, especially when used between men, and well, its not very nice.

Especially in the valley.

But no matter what definition of the word, crybabies or cocksuckers, its not language one would use around their mother or their children. Well, maybe their children.

Chuy never answered me by the way, although I was unfriended after the event. But lets just pretend that the comment wasn't aimed specifically at me for a moment. Then who was it aimed at? Wanna know who the Republicans were in the conversation we were having? Because if it wasn't aimed at me, it must have been aimed at them right?

Becky Hermosillo, who is the immediate past President of the Greater El Paso Republican Women and currently an officer with the organization, Tim Collins, a former Reyes opponent in the last election, and Louie Southard, previously an officer (and I believe still is) in the College Republicans.

Once again, really classy move by the Campaign Manager for the sitting Congressman of the 16th District of Texas.

Even if he was talking about the Republicans, its still not okay! Thats not conduct you should be seeing from the Campaign Manager of the sitting Congressman of the 16th District. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

And this isn't an isolated event either. The Congressman's campaign and official staff have been informed about some of the stuff that he's done online before. Apparently no one listened.

Here's an example of something posted under a picture of the Congressman filing papers to be a candidate back in December:

"Kick some drug Pushing, drunk driving, Burglarizing ass."

Once again...classy. On the Feast of the Virgen de Guadalupe no less.

Instead of something like, "We are going to go out in to the community and speak with voters about their concerns and remind voters of our track record of service to this community and their families..." we get "We are going to kick some drug Pushing, drunk driving, Burglarizing ass."

Its just not conduct becoming of a Campaign Manager of multi-term incumbent. Thats not language of a campaign manager for a high profile seat for Congress. It sounds more like a campaign running for a seat on the Socorro City Council.

Actually, for as much grief as I give elected officials and candidates in Socorro, I don't think I've heard them do anything like that before and that is saying a lot because, well, it is Socorro.

There are plenty of other examples but I think those two illustrate my point.

To me, all of this stuff that has been going on is a sign of a campaign in turmoil. Last week was a really bad week for them. They look like they are panicking.

Newsflash Reyes campaign, trash-talking isn't campaigning. Your candidate has a record he can run on. Why the hell are you people acting the way you are acting instead of acting like dignified, stately, multi-term incumbents? Seriously, what the hell is going on over there?

The numbers and make-up of the district aren't in O'Rourke's favor. Tilghman and Mendoza aren't serious candidates. What are you people panicking about? Did you think the other candidates were just going to roll over and play dead like the Republicans do in the general election? Hell no.

For the first time, you guys are in a fight. But its not a street fight. The race was yours to lose, and it looks like you guys are doing a good job of it. And don't give me the 10 year olds' defense of "They started it!" or "Oh yeah, look what they are doing!"

Incumbents don't act like that.

Just my two cents. But you guys won't listen. You haven't before. Just realize your campaigns actions are chasing supporters away. Fix it now before it reaches a critical mass.

Attitude is everything and its a reflection of leadership.

Is It Just Me?

2012-02-07T08:44:00.002-07:00

Or have all the candidates/elected officials go to just a handful of high schools in El Paso?

I notice when they introduce themselves they mention what high school they went to. It seems like there are only a handful of high schools that have produced this generation of leaders.

It seems like they either went to:

Cathedral (The ones that want to sound 'hood call it La Cate. But its an all-boys private school...its not 'hood.)
Lorretto Academy
La Bowie
Burgess

I think a few of them have mentioned Coronado as well. Just thought it was interesting how despite how many candidates and elected officials we have, it seems like those schools are over-represented in the field of candidates and elected officials. I bet their government teachers are pretty proud.

Burges High School Debate: Tax Assessor/Collector

2012-02-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

I will be posting a series of videos from the Burges High School Debate last Saturday. The debate was run by students from Burgess High School and was sponsored by City Representative Emma Acosta.

The first debate to be featured is the candidates for El Paso County Tax Assessor/Collector. The challenger, Armando Rodriguez, raised a few interesting points that if he sharpened and honed his message, could ultimately be effective.

He was much better in this performance than on the night of the Westside Democrats, which was the first time I saw him perform as a candidate.

Congressman Reyes' Super Bowl Ad

2012-02-07T00:45:00.001-07:00

The Congressman's Super Bowl commercial has been a buzz around Facebook and political events since I wrote about it last week.

Reyes supporters think its as good at the Doritos ad.

Beto supporters hate it.

Here are a few quick thoughts. First of all, I thought it was a clean and creative ad. So from a technical aspect I thought it was well done. Shot well, well lit, edited well. Good messaging behind it.

The O'Rourke people won't like it and as I wrote previously, they have released a statement on the spot disputing the representations of the commercial. In fact, there is now a website that popped up that tries to debunk the message of the campaign. But mostly its just a website to trash Congressman Reyes. But it doesn't pretend to be anything else. (SIDEBAR - This wasn't a good idea if it came from O'Rourke's campaign. Its not like the Reyes campaign actually needs encouragement to trash O'Rourke using the internet. They seem to have that one down pretty well already. The website actually uses the Reyes campaign motto, Reyes Works as the URL. It wouldn't surprise me if there was an anti-Beto site that popped up. I'll bet they use something like I Heart Beto if the URL is available. One of the Reyes staffers was crying foul about website characterizing it as slinging mud, which is funny because coming from the Reyes, thats sort of like me calling somebody heavy. Even if its true, its still sounds pretty damn stupid.)

Bad strategy. All they are doing is getting people curious about it and making them want to see it. As if enough people haven't seen it already.

Which is another reason why the commercial is a big deal. In one shot, they were able to reach a HUGE audience that will not be duplicated again until the next Super Bowl. That along makes it a big deal.

Former Mayor Wardy ran an add during the Super Bowl a while back and that was pretty much the beginning of the end for him, but its a different political dynamic for the Congressman.

There was a pant-load of people that saw the ad. In the end, that is all that really matters. It was an effective ad for a lot of reasons, but primarily because of the number of people who say the commercial.

The commercial was a big deal for the Congressman and certainly was a positive development for the campaign.

Morris Pittle is certainly making one hell of a name for himself in this campaign. That much is for sure.

Oaxaca and Perez at EPSYD Endorsement Roundtable

2012-02-07T00:03:00.000-07:00

Two of the candidates for El Paso County Commissioner Precinct 3 squared off at the El Paso Stonewall Young Democrats Candidate Roundtable last week.

I was only able to get part of Oaxaca's speech because I was speaking with Pee Wee Mier for a few minutes, but I was able to catch the last minute of her speech. Here it is:

From what I recall, she was the only candidate who received applause in the middle of her speech. But frankly, it wasn't her strongest performance. I'm not sure she was so angry about.

And no, its not because she's a woman. Listen to the other women that spoke that they didn't come off angry.

But I had a chance to interview Oaxaca after her speech so that I could catch up on what I missed and she had some interesting things to say.

She mentioned support for Domestic Partner benefits at the county and her boss, Willie Gandara, Jr. voted against them. When asked about her support for Domestic Partner benefits at the county, Oaxaca stated, "Its one of the first issues I will bring forth. We at the County have to set the example if we want to recoup business (back to El Paso)".

She stated that not having Domestic Partner benefits at the County "is discriminatory beyond the LGBT community...I should be able to live in a committed relationship and not be force in to a marriage."

Oaxaca went on to state that she didn't like the characterization of Domestic Partner benefits because "its about families."

Her opponent Vince Perez also spoke and here are his remarks.

Pay attention candidates...Perez gives a clinic on how to message a campaign. In terms of candidates with opponents, Perez gave the speech of the night based on content and messaging. In the same speech he explained why voters should vote for him and why they should vote against his opponents.

Strong. Organized. Effective.

O'Rourke Speaks to Opposition

2012-02-06T22:22:00.000-07:00

At a previous congressional debate, Beto O'Rourke was protested by some members of the disabled community over a vote he took on city council dealing with accessibly to rental units for the disabled.

This occurred at the debate at Coronado High School. Many of those same people showed up to the Burgess debate and held up signs in protest of O'Rourke whenever he spoke or was mentioned. They also handed out material that said things like "DEFEAT BETO O'ROURKE" and "WEE NEEDED ACCESSIBLE APARTMENTS, O'ROURKE TOOK THEM AWAY!"

But after the debate at Burgess High School this weekend those folks had a chance to speak with O'Rourke, something they didn't get a chance to do at Coronado. I ran over and started rolling with video as soon as I noticed.

It was a civil conversation and all parties were respectful.

I stopped recording after a while because the conversation turned to something else. Later as I was leaving, they were still speaking with O'Rourke and this time there were talking drug policy and O'Rourke clearly appeared to have won over a few of them on that policy position.

O'Rourke didn't realize he was being recorded until near the end of the video.

HD 75: Fierro is MIA

2012-02-06T22:10:00.001-07:00

Time for Art Fierro to start showing up to forums.

He hasn't been a single one.

He should be owning them right now because Gandara won't go, Enriquez won't go and if he does he will perform poorly, and Gonzalez has been going but not performing exceptionally well.

But she's been doing something the rest of the candidates aren't doing...showing up. When you are the only candidate that people see, you are automatically going to be better positioned. She was an unknown when she moved back to the area to run for the office. No one knew here because she hasn't lived here during her adult lifetime.

Normally that is the kind of thing that makes a campaign in this town dead on arrival. This town, especially the valley, is very tribal and it takes a while for voters to trust a candidate. But its almost like her opponents are conspiring together to help her out. They don't show up, she does.

Again, she isn't doing exceptionally well when she shows up. She gets nervous, freaks out about the amount of time she has to answer the questions and at times can sound more like a cheerleader than someone who is just 6 classes away from a PhD.

But she's the only one who shows up, so there is no one to take advantage of her shaky performances. Guess what? She can fix that pretty easy. And now that she has a campaign manager, I'll bet its half-fixed already.

Art Fierro in particular needs to get off his ass and get in the game. People are already whispering about him possibly dropping out. I spoke with him Saturday and he stated he was not even entertaining the idea of dropping out.

The fact that this rumor goes around despite the fact that Fierro is a regular attendee at a lot of campaign events. In his defense, he was at a EPCC meeting during the Westside Demos Endorsement Meeting.

Fierro lost the endorsement of that organization by 1 vote, despite the fact that he wasn't at the meeting. He did not speak at the EPSYD meeting on Thursday and did not show up to the debate at Burgess High School on Saturday.

At this point, Mary Gonzalez has up'ed her profile and is basically running all by herself at this point. Sources in the district indicate that they have been visited by two of the candidates in the race, Mary Gonzalez and Hector Enriquez.

Beto O'Rourke Statement: Congressman Reyes Needs to Check His Facts

2012-02-06T16:11:00.000-07:00

This is a statement from Beto O'Rourke's Campaign regarding Congressman Reyes' Super Bowl Ad. I will follow up with analysis of the Super Bowl Ad later. Been sorta busy today. Lots coming. Here is the statement from O'Rourke:

Congressman Reyes Needs to Check His Facts

CongressmanSilvestre Reyes' new campaign ad needs to be fact checked. "Thiscampaign should be about ideas grounded in fact, not fiction. IfCongressman Reyes' wants to be judged on what he has brought to ElPaso then he needs to present the information truthfully," sayschallenger Beto O'Rourke.

Reyesclaims: "TheMedical Center of the Americas. Almost $7 Million."

Fact: TheCity, County and State have invested several hundreds of millions ofdollars in the building of the Medical Center of the Americas campus,and Reyes has provided zero dollars into direct appropriations forthe Medical Center of the Americas. How about at least fulfilling the$3 million shortfall at University Medical Center caused byuncompensated costs related to trauma victims of the drug war?

Reyesclaims: "Rebuildingour Levees. Over $220 Million."

Fact: $220million was appropriated to the U.S. International Boundary and WaterCommission on February 17, 2009 as part of the Recovery Act. Only$27.2 million of those funds are being spent in CongressionalDistrict 16. This allocation was long overdue: breached levees inStorm 2006 were the result of deferred maintenance. The $220 millionwas allocated for the whole region along the Rio Grande, not just inEl Paso as Congressman Reyes would have you believe. [Source,see slide 3]

Reyesclaims: "Over$4.6 Billion Annually."

Fact: Annually?The $4.6 billion is new construction projects started in 2006 and dueto be completed by 2013. The fact is that the expansion at Fort Blisswas due to a community wide effort by elected leaders from the City,the County, the State and the Federal government and by civic andbusiness leaders at the Greater Chamber and the Hispanic Chamber.

ButEl Pasoans are not capturing all of the economic activity from FortBliss and this is where Congressman Reyes could have made all thedifference to El Paso businesses and El Paso employees. He chose notto go to bat for El Paso businesses to make sure they got a share ofthe contracts being awarded at Fort Bliss. In 2009, an Army Corps ofEngineer review indicated that only 20% of all Fort Blissconstruction contracting was done with El Paso businesses [Source].Local architects, engineers and contractors wanted a congressman whowould fight for them to be able to compete for more of the work.

Reyesclaims: "EastsideSpaghetti Bowl. Over $128 Million."

Fact: TheCamino Real Regional Mobility Authority (RMA) deserves the credit forfinancing the local share and for applying for the competitivestimulus funds. Without the RMA, we'd have no eastside spaghettibowl. Congressman Reyes opposed the creation of the RMA, but he wasdelighted to attend the ribbon cutting and take the credit. [Source]

Reyesclaims: "PaisanoGreen Community. Over $8 Million," and "Sun Metro BusTransit. Over $125 Million," and "Plaza Theatre. Over $1.2Million."

Fact: Mostof these federal dollars that Reyes claims as his victory are theresult of agencies competing with other communities for grants. Theyare not earmarks, directed by Reyes' influence. For example, thePaisano Green community fund came as a result of the HousingAuthority applying for the Capital Funds Recovery Competition with a$500,000 pledged loan from the City of El Paso. HACEP was awardedthat grant based on merit, not their congressman's influence. (Seepress released titled: "HACEP Receives $8.25 Million inCompetitive Stimulus Funds for Green Communities: [Source]and [Source]

Youhave only to search congressional earmarks to see that theCongressman directed precious few dollars to these importantcommunity initiatives. [Source]

Reyesclaims: "NewBeaumont Hospital. Over $1 Billion."

Fact: Unfortunatelyfor El Paso veterans, this will not be a full-fledged Veteran'sHospital and many of our wounded warriors will still have to travelto Albuquerque or Big Springs to get the care they need. El Paso isone of only a handful of veteran's facilities in the United Statesthat do not offer acute care services. Even Big Springs, Texas with apopulation of only 25,000 people has a veteran's hospital. In 2008,El Paso's VA was rated the worst in the nation - not in Texas or theregion, the NATION - by its patients. It's 2012 and we still don'teven have a plan for a full-fledged VA hospital.

Reyesclaims: "Withover 10,000 votes having voted more than 10,000 times and with over70 bills resulting in billions of dollars for El Paso, Reyes works."

Fact: Accordingto Govtrack.us, Silvestre Reyes missed 805 (8%) of 10,344 roll callvotes since Jan 7, 1997. That means he only voted 9,539 times. Italso means that Reyes has one of the worst voting and attendancerecords in Congress, with 95% of Congress coming to work more oftenthan he does. [Source]and [Source].In this 16 years in congress, he has only sponsored and passed sixbills and two of those successful bills were to rename federalbuildings. [Source]

Reyes works?

WhileReyes unfairly takes credit for federal grants, local victories andformula-funded appropriations, he has had some clear victoriesattributable to his work in D.C.:

Theseinclude:

$250,000 non-competitive earmark for Aliviane which is at the heart of El Paso's corruption scandal - [Source]
$1.6 million non-competitive earmark for Raytheon, one of his largest campaign contributors
$239 million to purchase a camera system for the border called Integrated Surveillance Intelligence System (ISIS) through a non-competitive bid from International Microwave Corp. International Microwave Corp. was the subject of a scathing federal audit that showed overcharges and payment for projects that were not performed. Congressman Reyes' daughter and son both worked for International Microwave Corp. [Source]

"ElPaso needs a full-time Congressman who shows up to work, and worksfor El Paso's interests, not special interests. We have too much atstake right now, from lowering our high unemployment rate to gettinga full-service VA hospital for the tens of thousands of veterans wholive here and have served our country. I am running to bring positivechange for El Paso in the U.S. Congress," says Beto O'Rourke.

Guest Post Re Caballero: The Sleeping Giant

2012-02-06T09:51:00.001-07:00

By Jorge B

Inhistory many alliances have been forged and strengthened by twothings: 1. Common cause and 2. The will and unity of people. Withthis said, all political candidates, whether in local, county,regional, state and federal races must be vetted for the good of ourcommunities.

The El Paso gay and lesbian community is currentlydealing with politicking on behalf of individuals who believe thatthe partners of gay and lesbian city employees do not deserve taxpayer sponsored health benefits. For the record, this communitynever asked for this fight. Many individuals who are against therecall effort have voiced their concern and support for our rathersilent community.

Recently, the El Paso Stonewall Young Democratshosted a forum for political candidates to local office to voicetheir positions on issues that affect El Paso and the gay and lesbiancommunity. Nowadays, with a barrage of candidates promising andcounter promising one another we find that politicians “triangulate”or promise one group of individuals or special interests one thing;then turn around and speak to the opposition of that group andpromise them what they want to hear and finally; go before theelectorate and promise something else.

A perfect example oftriangulation was recently videotaped at the El Paso Stonewall YoungDemocrats which was then posted to this blog. As I watched theclips, local lawyer and candidate to County Attorney TheresaCaballero spoke and passionately and candidly voiced her support togay and lesbian issues and the type of work she has been involvedwith in support of people who have no voice in this community,Caballero and Navarrete Address the Gay Community. (2012) andwww.kfoxtv.com (n.d.).Now, I do not know Ms. Caballero personally except for her blog:http://www.theresacaballero.com/and whatever news clips she is featured on showcasing the work shedoes on behalf of her clients, TheTheresa Caballero Blog (2006, 2011) and www.kfoxtv.com. (n.d.).

However, having seen her recent support of the pro-recall efforts myviews of her had somewhat changed and in this forum I watched indisbelief as she passionately voiced her support of the gay andlesbian community fully knowing she is working to defeat her fellowDemocrats, a mayor and two city councilpersons who elected to vote infavor of giving our city employees partners’ health benefits. Candidate Caballero then proceeded to address the proverbial“elephant in the room” by saying that her support of that “pastorwhom we shall not name” (no insult to Lord Voldemort or HarryPotter fans) did not reflect her opinions of the gay and lesbiancommunity and that she did not necessarily believe in his cause.

Shesaid that she took his case because the voter’s rights weretrampled on and she had to take a stand against this type ofoppression, Caballeroand Navarrete Address the Gay Community. (2012.). Now, I am usually one who understands that sometimes we must dothings we do not agree with, like: taking out the trash when it’ssnowing, bailing out our troublesome friends, or even for the sake ofsanity going to Thanksgiving dinner with relatives we may or may notenjoy. However, taking a political stand against allies and fellowDemocrats of the gay community who voted their conscience has neverbeen one of things to do.

The rehashed story that “votes” wereoverturned is as used and old as the world’s oldest profession andcommonly used by so called conservatives who cloak their reasoning asmorally right and correct for the community. As the clip progressedto its ending the audience at this forum asked no questions like: “Candidate Caballero, what have you done in your 20 years ofprofessional services for the gay and lesbian community to positivelymove forward equality for all people”? Or: “Candidate Caballero,will you promise to oppose those who politically and publicly oppressus and those who use bogus quasi-religious arguments against us aspeople”? Or: “Candidate Caballero, as persons we all makemistakes, has there ever been a time in your professional career thatyou would be willing to take back and correct in order to make thatwrong a right”?

Maybe there was a consensus in the group not toask questions of any of the candidates, alas for us in El Paso, nada,zip, nothing, no one, asked those questions of this candidate whoclaims to be on your side however; her actions currently speak muchlouder than her words. If this scenario was the case then the powersthat be in order to avoid contentious scenarios unwillingly endorsethat the electorate and the citizenry practice “informing” by itsforum participants who were allowed no questions, no vetting, nopartaking whatsoever in the participatory process but chose to givethe appearance of “everything is ok”, (you should really look upthis study) Arnstein (1969).

The only thing heard on this clip was: POLITE APPLAUSE.

Nationally the political pundits all claim thatformally stepping in to stop these atrocities is akin to making thisissue a “gay issue” and that to do so is to fall into a politicaltrap for the liberals. Yawn…… I dare digress. Although I am noteven remotely cognizant of who runs these organizations I cannotfathom the fact that this event occurred as it did, no checks andbalances, no actual session that unequivocally left no doubts in theminds of these voters who was and who was not safeguarding theirinterests. The “pastor whom we shall not name” makes no bonesabout what he wishes to do to with the gay community and neithershould the gay and lesbian community hide itself, ElPaso Times. (10-09-2011).

Candidate Caballero makes no bones about recalling her fellowDemocrats and she certainly is not shy about asking for your voteswhile duplicitously working for the other side, TheTheresa Caballero Blog. (2006, 2011) and Caballero and NavarreteAddress the Gay Community. (2012).This town has a sleeping giant in its midst, this giant is gay,lesbian, straight and foremost an El Pasoan and it is time it awokeand spoke. It is true that our community is a family (sometimesdysfunctional) and that blood is thicker than water and it is alsotrue what Harvey Milk said many decades ago: “The fact is that morepeople have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for anyother single reason. That, that my friends, is true perversion”, GayRights Media (2002-2011).

Ironically, in these matters it is also true whatthat troubled United States, President George W. Bush told ourallies: “You are either with us or against us, CNN (2001). Mostimportantly it is also true what the Lord Jesus Christ told hisdisciples and followers: “No man can serve two masters: for eitherhe will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to theone, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon”.

It istrue that in these years an alliance has been forming amongst the gayand lesbian community however, we are not united to defeat a commonfoe and we do not have unity as we are not united in helping themayor or the city council people facing this ludicrous recall, thereare too many private interests in the way.

Dear friends, for our owngood, make a stand, denounce the “wolves in sheep clothing”,leave the special interest behind, I know that I have, won’t youstand up to this farcical façade and question it?

BelowI am including empirical studies as well as newspaper clippings ofpast recall efforts all based on “votes” being overturned andspecifically dealing with health benefits for gay and unmarriedpartners of city employees.

References

Arnstein, S. R.(1969). A ladder of citizen participation. JAIP,35(4),216–224. Retrieved June 8, 2009, from http://lithgow-schmidt.dk/sherry-arnstein/ladder-of-citizen-participation.html

Caballero andNavarrete Address the Gay Community. (2012). Retrieved February 6,2012, from http://networkedblogs.com/tBhyN

CNN.com - “You areeither with us or against us” - November 6, 2001. (2001). RetrievedFebruary 6, 2012, fromhttp://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/11/06/gen.attack.on.terror/

County AttorneyCandidate Teresa Caballero | www.kfoxtv.com. (n.d.). Retrieved February 6, 2012, fromhttp://www.kfoxtv.com/videos/news/county-attorney-candidate-teresa-caballero/vCm6m/

El Paso recallelection: Pastor Tom Brown passionate about his ministry - El PasoTimes. (10-09-2011). Retrieved February 6, 2012, fromhttp://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_19073792?IADID=Search-www.elpasotimes.com-www.elpasotimes.com

Harvey Milk Quotes« Gay Rights Media. (2002-2011). Retrieved February 6, 2012, fromhttp://gayrightsmedia.org/2008/harvey-milk-quotes/

Justice & Reform| The Theresa Caballero Blog. (n.d.). Retrieved February 6, 2012,from http://www.theresacaballero.com/

Caballero and Navarrete Address the Gay Community

2012-02-05T17:03:00.002-07:00

Here is (bad) video of Theresa Caballero and Diana Navarrete addressing the El Paso Stonewall Young Democrats.

The visit was controversial for Caballero because she has been very public about her representation of Tom Brown and the El Pasoans for Traditional Family Values.

More analysis on this later, but for now here is the video of both candidates' remarks.

Arditti Made Campaign Appearance Thursday

2012-02-05T15:53:00.002-07:00

Following a headline in the El Paso Times that talked about a 9-1-1 call, Judge Regina Arditti made a campaign appearance on Thursday.

Arditti didn't address the issue but did mention "lies" being spread about her during her speech for the endorsement.

Arditti was accompanied by one of her court staffers and her daughter. I haven't seen her daughter around and I thought she was out of town in law school so she must've been visiting this week because people mentioned seeing her around the courthouse last week as well.

Arditti gracefully made her way through the room introducing herself and saying hello to the people she knew in the room. In fact, if you hadn't read the paper last week, you probably never would've known it was anything but a normal week for incumbent Judge.

Her opponent did not attend the meeting to compete for the nomination.

Report-a-Faker

2012-02-04T21:25:00.003-07:00

Okay, its time to talk about the Dark Arts practice of "Black Ops" in politics. Dark Arts is a nerd reference to bad magic practiced in the Harry Potter series.

It happens in campaigning all the time and people refer to it as "Black Ops". That is a bit of a blanket term but it basically means any campaigning activity that someone does but would rather people not know about it. In other words they are embarrassed by their activities enough to want to keep them a secret, but not so much that it stops them from doing it.

Its the really trashy side of campaigning. It can be anything from destroying or stealing opponents' campaign signs at night, to moving them somewhere they aren't supposed to be and calling in a complaint about it and a whole hosts of other things.

But the most common incarnation of so-called Black Ops is utilizing the internet to start rumors or trash an opponent. I wrote about it before so you know what I mean. Its conducted in a way to that if they people get caught, they can just pretend that it was the action of a few over-zealous supporters. And its often either coordinated, or at the very least, tolerated by the candidate.

Lately things have reached a fever-pitch on Facebook since people have tried to anonymously trash others, or make people believe that there is a larger sentiment towards something in the public than there really is through the creation of fake Facebook profiles. If you take a look around you will see a lot of these avatars floating around out there.

I busted a few already.

I am obviously a big fan of free speech. But this kind of under-handed crap makes a mocker of free speech. A lot of people are really frustrated with it and turned off by how people have been participating in this type of activity.

So I thought I would perform a little public service. If you find one of these fakers, use this blog to report them. Take screen shots. We'll post them here.

Thats the best way to take away their venom. If everyone knows about their fakery, then it is no longer of consequence. They are usually pretty easy to spot. Their profile is probably less than a couple months old and is probably 100% political, probably doesn't have a picture of a person as a profile pic, and they are people that are virtually unknown in political circles, but they always seem to talk like they are people in the know.

You can email the evidence to me and I'll post it.

Trust me, we are going to be hearing a lot about Facebook follies over the next few days...

More on Facebook Follies

2012-02-03T22:56:00.001-07:00

Social media will be a big conversation on my blog next week. Its a big part of our lives now but things have really gotten carried away.

You are going to read about campaign managers engaging in some very unsavory conduct online.

You are going to read about the Dark Arts political practice of so-called "Black-Ops".

Names will be named. Screen shots and pictures will be posted. Fake profiles will be exposed.

No campaign has ever Facebooked or Tweeted their way to victory people. Not a single one.

But a campaign sure can suffer from antics on Facebook and Twitter.

It all starts tomorrow with a public service from your ol' pal The Lion Star...

Stay tuned, you don't want to miss it. Actually, something tells me you won't be able to miss it...

Video: HD 77 Candidates at El Paso Stonewall Young Democrats Endorsement Roundtable

2012-02-03T17:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know, the video quality blows. I didn't have my video camera with me so I had to improvise using the video capture feature of a still camera and its low light and there was no microphones.

So these videos have only slightly more quality than those grainy videos of Big Foot going in to the forest.

My bad. But at least its SOME video of the two candidates side-by-side.

Saturday would've been more of a debate between the two, but Barraza will be on a family trip so he won't be in attendance tomorrow.

I will refrain from comment, critique, or analysis on these videos until next week that way you can come to your own conclusions first.

First, lets hear from the challenger, Aaron Barraza:

And now, this is the incumbent, State Representative Marisa Marquez:

Reyes Super Bowl Ad?

2012-02-03T15:52:00.000-07:00

So I was trolling around the internet today and it looks like I found an ad, not sure if its a draft or the final version, of an ad for Congressman Reyes.

It says Super Bowl Ad in the title, so its a pretty safe bet they are running it during the Super Bowl.

REYES WORKS SUPERBOWL AD from Silvestre Reyes on Vimeo.

Again, not sure if its a draft or the completed spot, but I found it on their Vimeo channel. It's a pretty slick ad. Probably done by Morris Pittle. Probably stole their thunder but it is posted on Vimeo so it's not like I stole the nuclear launch codes or anything.

A New Form of Torture...

2012-02-03T10:22:00.001-07:00

Terrorism is a global problem that has the ability to negatively impact the interests of the United States across the world.

We have pumped billions of dollars in to dealing with the terrorism. Lives have been lost.

An untold amount of time, treasure, and talent has been wasted.

But fear not Dear Readers, I have found a solution to terrorism. We need the ability to safely and accurately extract information from terror suspects so that we can gain valuable intel on their operations, plans, procedures, and funding.

Water-boarding clearly isn't the answer. Not reliable enough. There is a better way.

Much more reliable.

Although it is still a form of torture. In fact, its not only a form of torture, its raising the stakes!

If we truly want to extract important intel from people that won't talk, we have to take extreme measures. History tells us that sometimes its necessary to do so, like when Lincoln suspended Habeus Corpus.

I think we've been going about this all wrong. We have been focusing on physical torture. We need to focus on mental torture!

We need to implement the most extreme and refined form of mental torture available to mankind.

I hereby call upon our government to implement the mental nuclear option. The most extreme form of mental torture is in order because our national security depends on it.

We should send all the candidates for the 388th Court to Guantanamo Bay. I say we lock all the terrorists at Gitmo in a room with the candidates for that Court and make them listen to the candidates' speeches.

Yes, I realize that long-term exposure to the mental torture of hearing those candidates speak could lead to long-term damage, but there is no evidence (yet) that anyone can actually die from sheer boredom.

Although there is the risk that prolonged exposure might make the terrorists look for the nearest bridge to jump off of, but who cares, the are terrorists!

I can think of no form of torture that would be more capable of making even the toughest Al-Qaida Operative weep for his mommy and give up information than to force terrorists to listen to them.

I know its extreme, and quite possibly a violation of the Geneva Convention, but screw it, we can just keep it on the down-low.

President Obama, our nation needs you. Deploy the candidates for the 388th today!

Reyes' Letter to Susan G. Komen Foundation

2012-02-03T10:21:00.001-07:00

I was contacted by the Congressman's Office following the publican of a recent guest posting by Mirian Spencer on my blog. I was forwarded this letter that was sent to the SGK Foundation yesterday.

Susan G Foundation Letter 02 02 12

Guest Post: Komen Sucks

2012-02-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

By: Mirian Spencer

Tuesday when I checked the TexasTribune site while warming up on the treadmill, I was alarmed by theheadline Komen Drops Support of Planned Parenthood. My rageinitially was because both organizations exist to save women’slives. How the hell is halting funding going to save lives? I havepersonal reasons to support both organizations. In 2003, I was apatient of Planned Parenthood because I didn’t have insurance, thatsame year, the doctors there detected the lump in my friend’sbreast that later was discovered to be a tumor. In 2005, my mom’sfriend passed after battling stage three breast cancer. Doctors saidhad they found it sooner, she may have fared better. In 2009, myfriend’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, and is currentlyin remission.

I discoveredthrough the news reports that Planned Parenthood received assistancefrom the Susan G. Komen for the Cure through grants for services thatsaved my friend’s life. My friend is not alone, thousands of womenhave benefitted from these services. The partnership makes sense, oneorganization’s mission is to encourage early detection to increasethe rates of survival; the other’s mission is to ensure all womenhave access to medical care to prevent the spread of diseases andeducate women and families about responsible family planning. Withincreased rates of breast and cervical cancer among poor andminorities, this is an obvious marriage made in heaven.

Unfortunately, politics got in theway. Yes, politics. In 2009, Planned Parenthood became Public EnemyNumber One. Defunding Planned Parenthood became a rallying cry forthe 2010 mid-term elections. In fact, Karen Handel, Vice Presidentof Public Policy for Komen, ran for Governor of Georgia with aplatform eliminating Planned Parenthood. When Republicans took overnationally and throughout multiple state houses; they swooped in likea tornado and women’s bodies, gays, immigrants, and the poor werethe mobile home parks in the wake of the storm. So, theannouncement from the Foundation shouldn’t have been such asurprise.

What’s surprising, is the lack ofoutcry locally. El Paso is allegedly the Democratic Stronghold ofTexas. I’ve only seen three (THREE) Democrats say anything aboutthe issue. Who were the three… Liza Montelongo (Candidate forCounty Commissioner District 1) Former Representative Norma Chavez,and myself. This is shocking to me, as a Precinct Chair, I expectedmore outrage within the party. Access to affordable healthcare andwomen’s reproductive choice are two fundamental issues within theDemocratic Platform. There was no statement issued by the PartyChair, NOTHING.

See, the Race forthe Cure is in two weeks. My best friends and I had formed a niceteam of 20 this year to do the race in their mother’s honor. Wewere planning shirts and everything… until the news broke. Wedecided to show our support of Planned Parenthood by withdrawing ourteam, and instead, donating our entry fees to Planned Parenthood. Sofar locally, I know of two other teams that have done the same. Someof my college friends in other cities have also joined us in ourprotest.

I am challengingother Democrats to do the same. I am especially calling ALL femalecandidates to join us and stand together as women. After all, thebattle is over women’s bodies. If Planned Parenthood receivesenough funding, they won’t need Komen grants. If enough peoplewithdraw support, Komen will get the message and rethink theirposition. Maybe then, both organizations can get back to savinglives.

Rep Acosta to Host Candidate Information Meeting

2012-02-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

El Paso,Texas: City Representative Emma Acosta & Principal Dr. RandalWoods of Burges High School are hosting a joint community meeting forDistrict 3 Constituents and the general public. The informationalcommunity meeting will feature Congressional, State, and localcandidates.

The BurgesHigh School Senior Government class under the direction of EducatorJohn Seymour will moderate the session. The Burges Governmentstudents have researched the questions that will be asked of thecandidates as well as moderate the sessions and keep time. The publicmay have an opportunity to ask questions as time permits. Thecommunity is being asked to participate, learn about the candidates,have an opportunity to meet the candidates, and appreciate Burgeshigh school students involved in conducting a public forum.

The BurgesHigh School students are enthused about participating in this processand in meeting all candidates.

CongressionalSeat for District 16 candidates:

(Dems) U. S.Representative Silvestre Reyes, Robert "Beto" O'Rourke,Jerome Tilghman, Ben Mendoza, (Reps) Corey Roen, Barbara Carrasco

StateRepresentative District 75 candidates:

(Dems) HectorEnriquez, Art Fierro, Mary E. Gonzalez, Guillermo Gandara

StateRepresentative District 77 candidate:

(Dems) MarisaMarquez, Aaron Barraza

CountyTax Assessor-Collector:

(Dems) VictorFlores, Armando Rodriguez

Saturday,February 4, 2012

Burges HighSchool

Gymnasium (located east of the main building next to the student parking lot)

7800 Edgemere

10 a.m. - 1p.m.

The public isencouraged to attend and become informed on the upcoming election of2012.

###

Foradditional information about this topic, please call Martha Silva@ (915)541-4572 oremail: district3@elpasotexas.gov

**Onlythose Candidates that filed in December 2011 for officeand have challengers

wereinvited**

Bear With Me...

2012-02-02T10:00:00.002-07:00

I know, its already late morning and I haven't posted anything yet. Please bear with me folks, I normally have a couple of pieces posted by now, but I am working on a piece that is not only extensive, but requires me to collect some information first before I make my point.

Its taking longer that I thought, but sit tight.

Take This Poll

2012-02-01T16:28:00.000-07:00

<p>Quipol</p>

Gandara Dropping Out? Interesting Take on HD 75 Race by Joe Olvera

2012-02-01T15:56:00.003-07:00

El Paso legend Joe Olvera wrote a piece on the HD 75 race that is very interesting.

You can find the piece here.

There is some great historical background on who has previously represented the district, one part in particular caught my attention.

Olvera mentions a rumor that Willie Gandara Jr. may drop out of the race. I haven't heard that rumor myself, but it is nonetheless very interesting.

There's lots more in the piece, so go check it out.

Couple of Campaigns Secure a Consultant

2012-02-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Stolen from their Facebook page.

Carlos Leon, who is a candidate for El Paso County Commissioner in El Paso's Eastside, along with Mary Gonzalez, who is a candidate for State Representative in the Far Eastside and Lower Valley, have both signed, or are near singing, a contract with Quixote & Associates, LLC.

That's the firm run by Getsemani Yanez and his wife Diana Ramirez. Yanez works for Congressman Reyes' campaign right now and Diana Ramirez was a key staffer in the early part of Beto O'Rourke's campaign early on.

Yanez previously ran the campaign for Lyda Ness-Garcia and Ramirez is also a campaign veteran.

The firm provides consulting to candidates on messaging, media, strategy and other aspects of a campaign. Yanez had almost signed with Hector Enriquez early on in the campaign but that deal fell through and now finds himself consulting for the candidate Enriquez went after earlier this year in a story that aired on ABC 7.

Enriquez' logo was done by Morris Pittle, who is also working with Yanez on the Reyes campaign in addition to the Vince Perez campaign. Perez is a candidate for County Commissioner in Precinct #3 in the Lower Valley.

Leon's current campaign manager is Mayela Mejia, former candidate for city representative on the eastside and she is also the current head of the Eastside Civic Association. They have a MARATHON candidate forum coming up this month, I'll pass on the details as soon as they come available.

Gonzalez currently has no campaign manager but has had a field organizer from Annie's List come in from Austin a couple of times.

Leon is facing Liza Montelongo, Danny Anchondo, and Jaime Romo for the seat that will be vacated by current County Commissioner Anna Perez.

Perez's husband is running for state representative against Mary Gonzalez, Willie Gandara, and Hector Enriquez.

Sorry, I know this one is complicated. I should've made a flow chart.

Vince Perez to Hold Fundraiser

2012-02-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

No Side-by-Side Comparison for HD 77 Candidates Yet

2012-02-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

There is a candidate informational forum being held on Saturday at Burgess High School that is sponsored by City Representative Emma Acosta. I will follow-up with another piece about the details.

But I was looking forward to the event because it was going to be the first time for several of the campaigns to have a side-by-side comparison of the candidates.

If you think debates don't matter, just look at this year's Republican Presidential race. The candidates have been defined by the debates Newt Gingrich, after a bad start to his campaign, got up from the canvass and became a contender in large part because of his debate performance. Rick Perry imploded because he's a horrible debater. Mitt Romney derailed Gingrich's big push at the most recent debate.

So anyone who says debates don't matter is either lying or stupid.

The races I am really interested in seeing a policy debate in are the two county commissioner's races and the two state rep races. But to be honest, the ones I care about the most are County Commissioner Precinct 3 and HD 77. I actually live in the area represented by HD 75 and CC Precinct 1, but those races aren't very exciting. Everyone is uber nice and there is absolutely no contrasts in policy yet.

But PCT 3 and HD 77 are where the elbows are going to be thrown.

HD 77 will be featured in the debate on Saturday, but one of the candidates has backed out of the debate. Aaron Barraza will not be in attendance due to a "scheduling conflict" but added that he was talking with "Burgess to set up an opportunity for me (Barraza) to speak with the kids at Burgess."

Barraza added, "I will be traveling with my family for a personal matter and will not return in time for the event."

I contacted State Representative Marisa Marquez's office and she stated, "I am thrilled at the opportunity to participate in a forum hosted byour local high school students and city Rep. Emma Acosta. Ivalue any chance to meet with constituents of all ages andbackgrounds. Additionally, I regret that my opponent was unable toparticipate and that he missed an opportunity to help me bring thedemocratic process to life for these students and community members."

The only other opportunity for a side-by side comparison of the candidates for HD 77 was earlier this month at the Westside Democrats' endorsement meeting. Mr. Barraza did not attend that event either due to an undisclosed illness at that time.

O'Rourke Out-Raises Reyes

2012-01-31T16:28:00.001-07:00

In a very surprising development, Beto O'Rourke was able to raise more money than Congressman Reyes in the first campaign finance report of the season.

O'Rourke released a statement that says,

"I'mvery grateful for the support from my fellow El Pasoans. We'veout-raised a 16-year incumbent, despite his access to D.C. Specialinterest and PAC money. El Paso is clearly ready for a representativewho will make growing the economy and saving jobs, taking care of ourveterans and standing up to special interests his top priorities."

It's not only surprising, its significant.

Congressman Reyes response was:
“It’sno secret that my opponent comes from deep pockets and is supportedby wealthy development interests in our city. At the end of the day,however, no amount of money in the world can help cover up hisradical agenda of wanting to legalize drugs, raising the retirementage on seniors, cutting housing for disabled people, opposing healthcare reform which provides free preventative services and helpsseniors to pay for prescription drugs.

“Thedifference between my opponents and me is how we see the value ofwork. Everything I have, I have worked for and earned. I wasn't bornwith people owing me anything. Respect and gratitude are earned --and I have worked very hard to earn the trust of the people, andworked even harder to keep it throughout my time in public office.This election is like no other. Money can’t buy it, only hard workwill help win the trust of the people, I will keep working to makesure that every single person is counted and that every person isheard, regardless of how much money my opponents are able to raise,what their income levels are, or which special interest groups arespearheading or backing their campaigns.”

First, here's what's not surprising:

- Its not where he got the money from. The Paso Del Norte Group which was started by his father-in-law according to the El Paso Times has long been tied to O'Rourke. Yes, there were a lot of individual donors on the list, but its also accurate to say that a lot of those individuals were PDNG members. Sure there were a lot of individual contributions (O'Rourke says over 600 individuals) but the big checks came from the big boys.

- Congressman Reyes got a lot of money from PACs. Again, no earth-shattering development there. He is SUPPOSED to have a better relationship with PACs as an incumbent. I'd be surprised if he didn't have that relationship.

- A majority of Reyes' money came from out of town. Again, not a surprise. That probably fits the normal pattern of members of Congress. I doubt very many of them raise more money from in their districts than from outside their district, with the exception of a few honey-holes.

Here's what is surprising:

O'Rourke - $221,704
Reyes - $177,344

O'Rourke got more money than Reyes. ANYTIME a challenger out raises an incumbent, its a big deal. I'm sure the Reyes' will try to downplay it, but it is significant.

But O'Rourke shouldn't count his chickens before they hatch. Its very possible that Reyes hasn't really pushed for the big bucks yet because of redistricting. In fact, it may even be that the PACS are holding off on dishing out cash until after redistricting and election dates are decided.

Thats absolutely what is happening on the state level. The fact that Reyes received more money from out of town also fits the pattern of incumbents in Texas. Ever read a campaign finance report of a member of the Texas legislature? They get more money from Austin than they do from El Paso.

All of them.

Hell, the credible challengers will get more money from Austin than they will from El Paso. Its the nature of the game. You might not like to hear this El Paso, but rich white people in lobbying firms in Austin pretty much pick the winners of campaigns through their contributions.

Don't believe me, follow the money.

So if you cry foul because the money comes from out of town, be consistent with the critique and apply it to members of the delegation, all of whom get more money from out of town than from people in their district.

The 30-day report will be the real indicator of money because they will have to have their resources in the field by then, so that will be the most insightful report.

It appears that Reyes is currently spending more than he is taking in and that's never a healthy sign. No need to panic for Reyes, but they should at the least bit be very concerned.

So now the spin will start from everyone. We are now about to hear the most pointless debate of all time...who's campaign money is worse.

O'Rourke's people will cry foul about PAC money supporting Reyes.

Reyes people will cry foul about rich white business people connected to the PDNG supporting O'Rourke.

Meanwhile Tilghman and Mendoza are going to be sitting on the sidelines wishing they had just one of the big checks Reyes and O'Rourke received.

The tighter this race gets, the uglier its going to be. Mark my words.

TOMORROW...Where did they spend the money?...

Annunciation House

2012-01-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

changedatevov

Trouble for Arditti Campaign

2012-01-31T10:33:00.002-07:00

I honestly feel bad for Judge Regina Arditti. She seems to have had the worst run of luck of any politico I can recall in recent history.

She wasn't on the bench for most of her first term. She had a trial looming over her head. Now there is this story in the El Paso Times.

Trust me, its a big deal. When the details come out, you will see what I mean.

Thats IF they come out. There are privacy issues in this story and lets be honest, she is a judge, so everyone will be more deliberate and careful about how its approached.

So I won't comment on the specifics of the story, but I will comment on the campaign impact.

The article says she couldn't be reached for comment. Well, the media isn't going to go away on this one. Especially if documents, tapes of the 9-1-1 call, or other stuff isn't available. They will ask questions until they get an answer.

That means that she will either have to keep a low profile on the campaign trail, or she will have to take on the issue.

Either way, its not going to go away.

Depending on the details of what happened, it could have a really big impact on how the race turns out. And my guess is that the details will have a huge negative impact for her on the outcome of the election. But that's just a guess.

If I were Arditti, I would do what she does best. Deal with the issue head on. Issue a statement, deal with the initial media storm, and then try to move on with the rest of the campaign. She's handled the issue of her court case remarkably well and with grace and poise. Something I've written about previously.

Otherwise, this is going to hang over her head for the rest of the campaign and it won't be positive for her.

Reyes Camp Makes Blunder

2012-01-31T09:37:00.002-07:00

This happens every election like clockwork. Every election some genius decides they are going to send campaign emails to employees of some government body. Sometimes its city employees, sometimes its county employees, etc. This time it was to employees of EPISD.

For some reason candidates don't understand that you can not do that. I don't really understand what is so hard for them to grasp about that, but it never fails. You could almost set your watch by it.

Every campaign season will have someone that sends emails to a public entity, candidates will have their signs stolen or defaced, someone will do something really stupid and get attention for the wrong reason, someone will forget the word "for" in their campaign signs, and someone will screw up on their campaign finance report. These are just universal truths for El Paso politics.

But the Congressman's campaign sending an email to the EPISD employees is a big deal because of the fact that it tells you something about the campaign.

First thing I would say to watch for is the quote in the El Paso Times for Chuy Reyes, the Congressman's brother and campaign manager. The Times quotes him as saying, "We are looking into it...we have ways of trying to find out if it was one of our workers."

That is the campaign floating the idea of distancing themselves from the person that made the mistake. And thats what it was by the way, a mistake. There's nothing malicious there, probably just an over-zealous campaign staffer that didn't know better, but should.

But here are the things that the blunder point to:

1. Mistakes like this are bound to happen when you haven't had to mount a serious candidate in over a decade. They are out of practice and will stumble a few times. But we are fairly deep in to the campaign now, so this kind of stuff shouldn't be happening.

2. This tells me they are having internal communication problems. Too many chefs spoil the dish people.

3. gmail? Really? For a Congressional campaign?

4. Someone has no idea what the term "targeted messaging" means. Sending emails for a candidate to a huge listserv is like sending a campaign mailer to everyone in a district. Only an idiot would do that. You send things out strategically. With today's technology there is no excuse for using buck shot with a sniper rifle.

5. Once again the focus of the Congressional race is about campaign activities rather than issues or message. That means something is wrong. And not just for the Reyes campaign. The fact that issues aren't being discussed in this race represents a failure on the part of all the candidates. They have failed us. Except Ben Mendoza. That whole Mexican Commonwealth was freakin' hilarious. Something tells me he'll never be able to get away from that campaign message.

The Reyes' have to get it in gear. They are running a campaign for a sitting multi-term Member of Congress. Its time they started looking like it. Stop letting your campaign be hijacked by campaign antics and blunders. The campaign is yours to lose and anything less than winning by two touchdowns will raise eyebrows so get your head in the game.

Mistakes like this one are for rookies. Not for campaign veterans. Its constructive criticism so don't get your chones in a wad.

No Way to Top it, So Just Read it and Laugh...

2012-01-31T09:06:00.003-07:00

Brilliant.

David K nails it.

Go read this post.

How Redistricting Uncertainty Impacts Local Races

2012-01-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

Redistricting is a mess in Texas and since we do things bigger in Texas, redistricting is a big ol' mess in Texas. A lot of people might not understand why thats a big deal in terms of local campaigns, so let me break it down for you on why this has turned out to be a big Texas-sized pain in the nalgas.

Here are the top ____ reasons the redistricting mess is a big pain in the butt to local candidates:

1. You don't know who you are running against. The Texas Courts haven't said when the filing or residency deadline is. Better to err on the side of caution and make sure you live in the district asap. Which leads to the next problem...

2. No one knows what the district lines are going to look like yet. So you have to hold off and getting a place in the district until you find out what the district looks like.

3. You have no idea where it is safe to start walking and who to start calling.

4. If you are already walking and have already cut turf, there's a good chance that you might be walking in areas that might not be in your district when all is said and done.

5. Voter confusion. Voters don't know what district they live in and who to vote for. It costs a lot of money to educate a voter and money is scarce as it is. With voter turnout already pretty low, I'm willing to bet that there will be a pretty big chunk of voters out there that stay home because they are confused about when to vote.

6. Visibility. Campaigns have no clue were to put signs if they already have them. They might have signs up in an area that ends up being outside their district, further confusing voters.

7. Timelines are all screwed up. Campaigns normally have timelines of when they start certain activities and when they start letting voters know when and where they are supposed to vote. Can't do that when you don't know when the election is.

8. Droppin' mail. Again, without knowing election date and early voting dates you can't plan on when to drop your mail. Some stuff never changes like droppin' a negative piece on your opponent's head so that it lands on the Saturday before early voting starts. But introductory pieces, etc are done at different times during a campaign.

So in short, the maps are FUBAR and so are the campaigns...for now.

(BTW FUBAR is an abbreviation, so technically I haven't broken my resolution)

CUNNING...the new WINNING!

2012-01-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

I think CUNNING has officially replaced WINNING as the craziest thing I've heard over the last year that wasn't meant to sound crazy by the person saying it.

But it has a flow don't ya think?

Just substitute it for whatever you were going to use the word WINNING for.

Like this, "Democrats should cross over in Florida and vote for Newt Gingrich to extend the Republican Primary fight...CUNNING!"

See, I told ya it had a nice flow to it...

El Paso Stonewall Young Democrats to Hold Endorsement Roundtable

2012-01-30T19:33:00.003-07:00

DearIncumbents and Candidates for Elected Office:     Onbehalf of El Paso Stonewall Young Democrats (EPSYD), I would like tocordially invite you to participate in our organization's first-everEndorsement Roundtable Meeting and Endorsement Election. ElPaso Stonewall Young Democrats is a progressive new organization thatwas founded last year in September to give voice to and empower youngDemocrats in El Paso who are gay, bisexual, lesbian, ortransgendered, and their straight friends, family, and allies thatshare a common interest in advancing the interests of progress,equality, and justice in El Paso, Texas, at the local, state, andnational level.
     Sincewe began, our organization has achieved extraordinary success in itsformation and has received a great deal of support from many powerfuland influential leaders in the El Paso area who support the gaycommunity in El Paso and their allies. El Paso Stonewall YoungDemocrats is officially recognized by and fully affiliated with theEl Paso County Democratic Party, the Texas Stonewall DemocraticCaucus, and National Stonewall Democrats. Our organization has over40 paid members and over 80 gay and straight allies throughout ElPaso and within our County Democratic Party.
    OurEndorsement Roundtable meeting will be held on February 2, 2012 at501 Bar and Bistro at 6 p.m. Each Incumbent or Candidate forelected office will be given at least 3 minutes to introducethemselves at the beginning of our Endorsement Roundtable and will begiven additional time after their introductions to answer anyquestions our members might have about any of the Incumbents orCandidates that are seeking an endorsement from ourorganization--which is a valuable endorsement in light of the factthat El Paso Stonewall Young Democrats is the largest LGBT DemocraticParty organization in El Paso County and is one of the most powerfulvoices for equality and progress in El Paso County.
    Additionally,in order to be placed on our organization's ballot for endorsement,each candidate for endorsement must provide a written response to thefollowing El Paso Stonewall Young Democrat Endorsement CandidateQuestions:

1) What office are you running for and whyare you running for that office; and

2) If you are elected, what role do you believe you and your officeshould play in advancing the interests of progress and equality in ElPaso County?

No limit will be imposed by our organization onthe length of your responses. Your responses should be e-mailedto:epsyd2012@gmail.com by11:59 p.m. on February 9th 2012 at 11:59. Every Candidatethat answers the aforementioned questions will have their responsespublished on our website for all of our members to read before theyvote for the candidate for endorsement of their choiceat: www.epsyd.org.

Further,every candidate for endorsement that provides a response to EPSYD'sEndorsement Candidate Questions will be allowed to provide a pictureof themselves and their logo to accompany their response on ourwebpage.

OnFebruary 13th, after each paid member of our organization has beengiven an opportunity to cast their ballot online for the candidatesthey endorse, El Paso Stonewall Young Democrats will announce andpublish the results of our Endorsement Election on facebook; as wellas on our webpage. I wish you all the best of luck in yourraces.

Respectfully and very Democraticallyyours,

AntonioWilliams, J.D.

Antonio Williams, J.D.
President of ElPaso Stonewall Young Democratswww.epsyd.org
epsyd2011@gmail.com

More Campaign Crap

2012-01-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

People can say a lot of bad things about me, and I assure you, they do. But one thing no one can ever say is that I don't stand by what I write.

I know that what I write has consequences. I know that it means that a lot of people would like to see me dead. Or at least hospitalized for a period of time.

But I didn't start writing because I wanted to be popular at parties.

So that's why I am writing this piece. I'm pretty sick of the lengths people will go to in order to trash someone. I wouldn't mind it so much if they had the courage to stand by their words. But they don't.

Let me explain what I mean. In the election four years ago, the internet was already a big part of campaigns. David K and I were already blogging. There was always a place that would serve as the cess pool for people's desire to trash people without having to reveal who they are.

Its nothing new. People used to do that on the Strelzin Forum quite a bit, but that died down substantially. Topix was another frequent hunting ground for people to say whatever they wanted without having to stand by their words.

The Times decided to be responsible about how they managed their comment system and now people have to use their Facebook profile to comment. So you can still engage in healthy debate, only now you are forced to own what you say.

I know a former State Rep who used to use fake names when she would comment on my blog. In fact, she threatened me if I ever told anyone about that.

Ooops. Did I write that out loud?

My bad, I guess it slipped.

She would also do it on The Strelz Forum and on Topix. She would also direct minions to do it for her too.

But the tactic has evolved.

Social media is now an integral part of our lives. We use it to keep up with the news. On Sundays Facebook turns in to ESPN. We root for our favorite teams, ask people for movie recommendations, crowd source solutions for our problems and my mother uses it to keep tabs on her children and grand children.

And yes, we use it to keep up with politics and current events. Now she and her henchmen and henchwomen, have created several fake Facebook profiles to trash people and stay anonymous.

I know its juvenile and honestly it can be pretty funny when they comment on something and then jump in and agree with one another. They do it to make it look like a lot of people agree with their position too.

They can't win on the issue, so they would rather pull that kind of crap. Some think its juvenile, meaningless, and a desperate ploy at getting attention.

I think differently.

I think its...what's the word I'm looking for...oh yeah...

CUNNING!

(Not really, I think its stupid and embarrassing.)

But in case you are undecided on who to vote for based on issues, think about the conduct of the respective campaigns. People don't just judge the winner and loser based on the outcome.

People remember how you played the game.

Remember who is tolerating and rewarding this behavior. That should tell you who is desperate and feeling the heat...

Audio: Westside Democrats Endorsement Meeting Part 1

2012-01-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

I've been a little busy so I didn't get a chance to post the audio of the Westside Democrats Endorsement Meeting. I wasn't able to get video because I was invited to be a panelist for this meeting.

Here is audio of State Representative Marisa Marquez, who ultimately won the endorsement of the Westside Democrats.

This clip is audio of Mary Gonzalez, who is seeking the office of State Representative in House District 75.

Organizing for America Phone Bank Event

2012-01-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

Justto remind you, join us tomorrow, Saturday January 28th, for our firstphone banking event of the year, calling into the importantbattleground state NEW MEXICO. We need bilingual speakers, butwe will have a list for English speaking people as well. Everyone,please bring your cell phones; calling is perhaps long distance.

Hostess: Isela Castanon-Williams

Address: 9009 El Dorado, El Paso 79925

Date: January 28, 2012

Time: 10:30 am to 1:30 pm

Contact: Sue Doucette

Telephone: 915584 4366
toRSVP or more info, click here

Wehope to see you there!

Organizing for America - El Paso

Segundo Barrio Futbol Club

2012-01-27T15:13:00.002-07:00

Fundraiser PDF

Reyes Block-Walking Event

2012-01-27T15:11:00.002-07:00

1/28SPECIAL INVITATION: VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION DAY
“VolunteerAppreciation Celebration”
Saturday, January 28, 2012
11:15a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

1/28REMINDER: SILVER SUPER SATURDAY BLOCK WALK
Pleasejoin us this Saturday at campaign headquarters (2004 Montana Ave.)for our next Silver Super Saturday Block Walk. Help usreach out to over 1,000 El Paso households and inform voters whyCongressman Reyes is the best candidate to represent El Paso inCongress.
"SilverSuper Saturday Block Walk!"
Saturday,January 28, 2012
8:30a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

8:30a.m.: Volunteer Orientation
9:00a.m.: Walking Starts

Pleaseconfirm your participation by sending an emailto reyesworksvolunteers@gmail.com orcontact campaign headquarters at (915)222-8091.Please include your t-shirt size in the email.
Wewill provide orientation, breakfast, and a memorable block walkingexperience with other El Pasoans.
Ifyou cannot make it this weekend, please consider signing up to helpin any of the other upcoming Silver Super Saturdays.

Forany additional information, contact campaign manager Chuy Reyes byphone at 915.222.8091 oremail atreyesforcongress@gmail.com.
www.ReyesforCongress.com
www.facebook.com/reyesworks
2004Montana Ave.
ElPaso, Texas 79903

915.222.8091

Haggerty Off the Hook...

2012-01-27T09:16:00.001-07:00

And probably the biggest winner in that development other than Haggerty himself was his lawyer Ray Gutierrez. It was a tremendous gamble to take on that case in the middle of a campaign. That really could've blown up in his face.

But no risk, no reward.

Gutierrez comes out of it looking pretty strong. Gutierrez now has to get on the ball and start some aggressive campaigning because despite her many obvious political vulnerabilities, Judge Arditti is very popular within the El Paso County Democratic Party, particularly with the Old Guard.

The elections seem far off right now, but election day comes around pretty quickly and nobody pays attention to judicial races. Its a name recognition game, but Gutierrez has a real opportunity to send out some strong mailers with recent headlines that would be difficult for Arditti to counter.

Gutierrez also needs to raise his profile in the Party. He has almost no presence within the Party. He came in third in a JP race last go around, so outside of attorneys, he's not really too well-known.

Answering a Comment

2012-01-27T08:52:00.000-07:00

Somebody put an interesting comment on my blog today that I thought was worth having a conversation about because he makes an interesting point.

Mr Rodriguez writes:

Iam an eastsider, taxpayer, and business owner. As time gets closerfor us to select a new County Commissioner for our area, We need toreally research who we want to elect. This is a four year term and weneed to make sure that these candidates are really in it for theright reasons!I see so many recycled polititions and it makes mewonder...."Are they in it to just climb the ladder"? I seefour people on the ballot (Exception Carlos Leon) I have only seentwo others spoken about on your blog. We as voters would like to seea full picture of who and what will represent us on Eastside. Not whohas money or who rubs elbows with the same political circles!! Weneed someone who knows and feels what we have and is truley in it forthe right reasons....Lets not be so bias, report on all thecandidates!!

Okay, so Mr. Rodriguez sees two other names that I've spoken about. He also mentioned voters wanting to see a full picture of who and what will represent us on the Eastside.

Jaime Romo (Left)

That is a very fair critique. One of the reasons I blog is for the Mr. Rodriquez's of the world. The other name I assume that he is talking about is Jaime Romo. He is also a candidate for the Eastside's seat on Commissioner's Court. Not to belabor the point Mr. Rodriguez, but in all fairness to me, I think I'm the ONLY one that has mentioned his name. I did some checking on my blog using the search function and it looks like I have mentioned Romo in at least 6 different pieces. One dedicated specifically to Mr. Romo that was written last month.

Mr. Rodriguez, here are the links to the pieces in which Mr. Romo is mentioned:

http://thelionstarblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/new-candidate-in-comish-1-race.html

http://thelionstarblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/dora-elkabachi-drops-out-of-precinct-1.html

http://thelionstarblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/carlos-leon-to-enter-precinct-1-county.html

http://thelionstarblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/liza-montelongos-announcement-event.html

http://thelionstarblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/candidate-list-for-now.html

http://thelionstarblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/election-day-reschedule-winners-losers.html

But the spirit of what Mr. Rodriguez is saying is that I have devoted far more time to the other candidates in the race and he is right about that. Fair and constructive critique. I'll try harder.

I'd like to explain why there is such a difference though, because there are some very good reasons why I have covered him much less than the rest. The first reason being he doesn't have much of a political history to talk about. The other candidates have all previously run for office or have been in the public sector in some capacity within the last 10 years.

Mr. Romo hasn't. So there is less to comment on. To use the vernacular of my generation, I'm not intentionally trying to dis him. There is just less to comment on.

Second, I do a great deal of my blogging based on the candidates' events. Case in point, Mr. Leon's event earlier this week. I attended and captured some video. Mr. Romo has really had a public campaign event yet, though he did have a campaign announcement on a Saturday night that I had another commitment, so I wasn't able to attend. Quick sidebar - Saturday night is the worst time to have a political event other than Sunday morning at 6 am.

Third, I was only recently able to get in touch with Mr. Romo, who actually took the initiative to contact me. Due to his work schedule (he has a full time job), we just aren't always able to connect. But I did see that he attended the State of the Union Watch Party and that was the first time we met in person. I wanted to get an interview with him but he had to leave before I had a chance to interview him.

I was able to steal a picture of him from Don William's photo slide show, so here he is on the left with who I believe are supporters of his candidacy.

However, Mr. Romo and I will sit down for an interview very soon. He reads my blog and is probably reading this now and will likely contact me sometime today to set it up, if not, I will make sure I contact him. So, Mr. Rodriguez, I will try to have an interview with him posted up on my blog by Monday, si Dios quiere.

Now a couple of other quick notes before I wrap this up. As I have stated many times, I am not a reporter. Reporters are actually highly educated journalists with an education, standards, and credibility. I state that regularly because I think its important that people understand that anyone can be a blogger and no one should confuse a blogger for actual legitimate journalism.

But I do try hard to exercise a little reportage, which is to say a factual representation with a journalistic style. So I see how people sometimes confuse the two, but I am not a reporter. But admittedly information is my currency so I do endeavor to try to cover all the bases, talk to as many people as I can, dot my i's and cross my t's. The point is, although there is reportage in what I do, there is a great deal of opinion and analysis in what I do. Please never take me as a news source because I'm a pretty poor example of one.

So my coverage, or lack of coverage of Mr. Romo doesn't represent a bias (although I am voter and will ultimately vote for whomever I think is the best candidate). Its more a representation of circumstance. The other candidates are making all the noise, Mr. Romo is still in an early stage of his candidacy.

Which brings me to my final point. Its not up to media or bloggers to prop anyone up. Its not bloggers job to go out and speak the message of the candidate. That's the candidates job. The candidate is responsible for developing and delivering a message that voters will, or won't, identify with. So sometimes the fact that a candidate isn't as well known as an opponent is usually the fault of that individual candidate.

In races were there are a lot of candidates you will often see the cases of the haves, and the have-nots. I'll give you some examples. County Commissioner's Court #3 - Vincent Perez, Dora Oaxaca, Chente Quintanilla, and Rudy Loya are all in that race. The ones that make all the noise in terms of visibility in the media, in the community, and in the campaign are Perez, Oaxaca, and Quintanilla. Mr. Loya just doesn't have the same profile as the rest. To the point were I gave him the nickname "The other guy", because I kept forgetting his name.

In the Congressional race, Congressman Reyes and Beto O'Rourke are the candidates that everyone knows. That's because they are the ones that have built-up credibility and have been working at campaigning. The other candidates, Jerome Tilghman and Ben "Buddy" Mendoza, will likely never get more than single-digits in terms of support because they aren't working hard enough to get their message out or they don't have a clearly defined message. That's problematic for someone like Tilghman who has been a talk radio personality in the past. High efficacy voters know him, they just don't seem to buy-in. Something's not connecting.

Mendoza...well, he wants to make Mexico part of the American commonwealth and he's anti-gay running on a Democratic ticket. No one will take him serious.

When its a two person race, the challenger usually gets a certain amount of attention for no other reason than the fact that they are running. A good example of that is HD 77. That race is between the incumbent State Representative Marisa Marquez and Aaron Barraza. Barraza is the opponent so he will get some attention just because he's the only other person in the race. However Barraza has taken advantage of that fact and has built up some momentum from it so he's now a noteworthy candidate, despite being an incredible long shot.

So the point is, you have to go out there and get attention. Its not the responsibility of media or bloggers to go out and create it for the candidate.

But Mr. Rodriguez, as I state previously, you raise a fair critique and I hope to have something for you in the near future.

Aaron Barraza Interview

2012-01-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

Aaron Barraza is a candidate for House District 77 and is running against the incumbent State Representative Marisa Marquez.

It is tradition for guest speakers at the El Paso Young Democrats Meeting to take questions from the membership following their remarks to the organization. For some reason he wouldn't take questions.

Another curious development at the YD meeting was the presence of former State Representative Norma Chavez. Her presence has hung over his campaign from the beginning and has been controversial because Barraza has been seeking the support of former State Representative Paul Moreno and public knowledge of any association with Chavez is problematic for Barraza who is in the process of trying introduce himself to voters and establish his campaign identity.

Chavez has only been to two other meetings of the El Paso Young Democrats. Next months speaker is State Representative Marisa Marquez, so it will be interesting to see if Chavez attends the meeting.

Nonetheless, Barraza is working on making his own political identity

I had several interviews scheduled with him through his campaign manager but something always seemed to happen that prevented an opportunity to discuss campaign issues and policy questions with the candidate.

Luckily we both happened to be at the State of the Union Watch Party the other day and I had a chance to catch up with Barraza after he grabbed a snack and had a chance to talk about some of the stuff I wanted to ask while he was at our Young Democrats Meeting.

Carlos Leon Announces Candidacy for County Commish PCT #1

2012-01-26T15:02:00.003-07:00

Former El Paso Police Department Chief Carlos Leon formally announced his candidacy last night at an announcement/fundraiser event held in East El Paso.

Notables in attendance (other than candidates) were Former County Judge Alicia Chacon, Former First Lady of El Paso Kenna Ramirez, El Paso County Commissioners Anna Perez and Sergio Lewis, and Enrique Moreno.

So far it looks like the buzz from last night that people are talking about today isn't something about Leon. Its about what Leon said about Enrique Moreno. As you can see in the video, Leon mentions shortly after taking to the mic that he's trying to convince Moreno to run for Mayor after Mayor Cook's term is up.

Here are Leon's remarks:

Ugly Tone Dominates Campaign Season

2012-01-26T12:44:00.001-07:00

The Congressional race has set the tone for other political races in El Paso and its getting really ugly out there. More than usual. Even by El Paso standards.

Hell, even by Lower Valley standards, this year has a sharper-than-normal edge to it.

Cops have been called on one campaign, signs defaced (which always happens), name calling, and then the juvenile Facebook crap that has been going on, which by the way, members of the Congressman's congressional staff actually participated in.

Politicos have been edgy, cranky, and defensive. Hell, I went to a campaign event within the last week and the candidate was rude the minute I walked through the door.

Comes with the territory though.

Last night I saw a judicial candidate hand a document over to a County Commissioner that was trashing the judicial candidates' opponent. Happened right in front of me.

The point is, it seems to be contentious everywhere. In a lot of races.

But its more than just that. Somewhere along the line, we have lost our minds. Things are so ugly that there is a play on a word that is so bad, even I don't use it.

I'm talking about the "C" word. Any woman reading this knows the word and its really bad.

Its no secret that former State Representative Norma Chavez doesn't like County Judge Veronica Escobar. Its also no secret that women's groups across the state of Texas were not happy with the former state representative following her now infamous "lesbian gay woman" remark at a forum in the valley.

Years ago Escobar's campaign motto was Veronica Can or Vero Can or something along those lines. Chavez used to mock it by calling her Veroni-Can't.

Apparently that has now been modified to Veronicuns. So...I get the play on words with Veroni-Can't.

But what could Chavez mean by referring to Escobar, another female leader, as Veronicun?

Hmmm, let's take a look.

C-U-N....

Well, you people aren't stupid and I'm trying not to use profanity but my guess is that there is a letter missing. If you play Wheel of Fortune I bet you won't have to think hard about it, or by a vowel for that matter.

I wonder how other women are going to feel about that reference. At any rate, it certainly isn't stately for a former elected official, who has been telling people she's going to run for another office, to be referring to another woman by the "C" word?

I'm betting a lot of women won't be happy about it.

I've used the word and any honest man will admit that, in the heat of a moment, to have used that word. I'm not proud of it, and I shouldn't have said it. But I'm no saint, I've said it.

However, its a whole other story when you are talking about a former elected official with future political aspirations and wants to be taken seriously, uses it towards a former colleague.

Its not like that kind of stuff doesn't get said in private. I'll bet it does all the time. But interjecting it in to the political climate against a rival at a time when you're considering ramping up a campaign?

Probably not the smartest move.

El Paso politics has always been rough, but its downright nasty out there. In a lot of races. No class at all.

Sad.

Imagine how much better this place would be if we focused on the real problems we have in this town. Poverty, illiteracy, healthcare, etc. Seems like a lot of energy is wasted on getting in to office, but not a lot of energy is placed on fixing our problems.

Father Rodriguez for President

2012-01-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

Why not?

The Republicans need a stronger candidate and Rodriguez is almost as devoutly Catholic as Rick Santorum.

I don't know if you had a chance to check out the editorial in Sunday's Edition of the El Paso Times, but Rodriguez pulled off some political spin better than I've seen GOP Presidential candidates Swift Boat Kerry.

It was masterful.

Rather than make his op-ed an Act of Contrition (pun intended), Father Rodriguez chose the old fashioned Wizard of Oz Defense. Pay-no-attention-to-the-account-with-my-mother-as-the-beneficiary-in-the-event-of-my-death.

So Rodriguez starts to go on offense. Complains that the Diocese isn't following religious dogma closely enough. Funny, I don't remember hearing anything about creating accounts that are left to your mother in the event of your death in the Bible or Vatican II.

Meh, maybe its in the Old Testament.

Back to my point here, Rodriguez took no responsibility for his alleged actions. Instead he attempts to change the subject by focusing on dogma.

Hate to break it to the Right Reverend, pun intended again, but the Pope seems to be okay with Bishop Ochoa. He's actually getting somewhat of a promotion. He's going to a much larger Diocese to lead that flock.

Rodriguez on the other hand, was sent to Texas' answer to Siberia.

God be with you Father Rodriguez...doesn't look like anyone else will be...

Rodriguez just needs to pick one of the four remaining Flying Monkeys as a running mate....

Want to Know Why Republicans Have a Hard Time with Latino Community?

2012-01-25T09:53:00.001-07:00

Even John McCain has expressed the importance for the GOP to start being less of a whites-only club and more inclusive of Latinos, but it falls on deaf ears.

So you want to know what Republicans have a hard time attracting large numbers from the Latino community? Watch this video of a Republican mayor from back east.

Perfect example of what's wrong with the Republican Party...(I didn't make this video up either. This really happened.)

Rebirth of the University Democrats at UTEP

2012-01-25T09:00:00.002-07:00

As I've written about in the past, the real power of the Democratic Party is no longer centralized within the Chair, but now rests with the various Democratic Clubs around town.

Add another club to the list. The University Democrats are being reorganized. I know I have a lot of readers at UTEP, so here is the information that you all will need to know:

UTEPStudents
You'vegot to get involved in the political process. Join us this Wednesday,as University Democrats organize our work plan for 2012.
Wewill talk about issues such as :
*Immigration Reform
*College Tuition*Labor Unions
* Tax Cuts for Wealthy
* Green Energy
*SOPA/PIPA
* Local Interships
* Obama 2012 Campaign

Ifyou are interested in becoming an officer (President, Vice-Presidentor Treasurer), we need you to step up to the plate and let us know atthe meeting.
For more information please contact
Julio Diaz,915-342-3314orat julio.diaz@yahoo.com

HD 75: Enriquez Hires Austin Firm

2012-01-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

Fresh off of an interview with KVIA inwhich he criticized one of his opponents, Mary Gonzalez, for taking acontribution from an Austin-based women's empowerment PAC, HectorEnriquez has hired an Austin-based firm to help with his campaign.

Its a bit of a strange developmentconsidering his previous stance about the contribution to Gonzalez.In a press release, Enriquez says,

“Weare going to run a top notch professional campaign. This team hasyears and years of experience running and winning campaigns in Texas.They are some of the most respected campaign professionals in thebusiness,” Enriquez said.
Theteam consists of Doug Dodson of Fletcher Rowley Media, James AldereteofMessage, Media &Presentation, J.D. Angle of AMM Political, and Jason Stanford ofStanford Campaigns and Campaign Manager Moises Bujanda.

The firm her hired, according tosources in Austin, has a bit of a reputation for going negative incampaigns, so its possible that the original story from KVIA waspitched to the station as part of Enriquez's and the firm's effort togo negative.

Typically negative campaigns are gearedat the perceived front-runner in the campaign, so it is curious thatEnriquez chose Gonzalez for a negative piece when she clearly isn't afront-runner in that race.

But it was a shot in the arm for theEnriquez firm because he has been pretty absent from the campaignover the last few months, except for adding holiday decorations tohis bus-stop campaign signs and then changing the image again byadding not one, but two images of himself to the signs.

Later Enriquez discusses "a long list of local supporters that includes business, political, and community leaders..." that will be released in the near future.

Look for Enriquez's profile to beincreased over the next few weeks now. The firm also does mailers ifmy information is correct, so he will likely start sending those outsoon as well.

State of the Union Watch Party Event

2012-01-24T10:23:00.002-07:00

Hellofellow Obama supporters, volunteers, and/or OFA members.

Wereally hope you can makeour State of the Union watch party.The ElPaso Young Democrats, Black El Paso Democrats and OFA will hosta watch party at the McCall Center (3231 Wyoming Avenue) in centralEl Paso @ 6:00PM

Hope to see you there.

Forcontact information call Alfredo Longoria, Chair of the El Paso YoungDemocrats @ epyd@gmail.com.

Note: This event is also sponsored by Congressman Reyes' Campaign, State Rep Marisa Marquez's campaign, and Aaron Barraza's campaign.

Representative Marquez will not be in attendance because of meetings in Austin. Congressman Reyes is supposed to Skype in to the watch party and no word on Barraza's attendance at the event, though I assume he will be in attendance because he is sponsoring the event.

For those of you on the Westside of Town, you can also attend another event. The other El Paso/NM OFA (Organizing for America) teams State of the Union Watch Party will be Ardivinos (1 Ardivino Dr.) in Sunland Park at 6 p.m.

Aaron Barraza Speaks to El Paso Young Democrats

2012-01-24T10:12:00.003-07:00

Aaron Barraza, candidate for House District 77 addressing the El Paso Young Democrats meeting last night.

Barraza was the guest speaker for the month of January and will be facing State Representative Marisa Marquez in the primary election. Marquez will be the guest speaker at next month's meeting of the El Paso Young Democrats.

The venue for that is going to change, and I will keep you all posted.

Barraza spoke about his background and said Marquez was a failure in terms of Representation. Barraza also spoke about cuts in education, the budget, and characterized Marquez as "micro-managing" school districts with unfunded mandates.

City of El Paso Redistricting

2012-01-24T09:59:00.001-07:00

If you don't like your city rep, most of the time your only recourse is to vote them out. But this year you have a unique opportunity to get involved in drawing the city representative lines.

So you can draw out your rep or vote them out. Your choice.

Here's more information about how to get involved:

District Ing Commission Flyer (1)

Shout Out to Margarita "Maggie" Cordero-Martinez

2012-01-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

Point of personal privilege here.

I wanted to give a shout out to one of my frequent readers, Margarita "Maggie" Cordero-Martinez who is a 77-year old from the Valley that is one of my frequent readers.

Her granddaughter Arlina Palacios is a friend of mine and told me that her grandmother started reading my blog and enjoys it.

I'm not boo-hooing here because I chose to blog on my own, but I do have to put up with a lot of stuff I'd rather not put up with as a blogger. But its abuelitas like Sra. Cordero-Martinez that make it all worth it.

Now I really have to watch my language around here...

The 16th Congressional Campaign - Diary of a Trashy Campaign

2012-01-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

I am so sick of the Congressional campaign and what it has turned in to. It has turned into supporters of the major candidates throwing monkey crap at one another.

This community has real problems. Poverty, illiteracy, drugs, bigotry, lack of health insurance, poverty, obesity, diabetes, poverty, HIV/AIDS, public corruption, low voter turn-out, low voter registration, poverty, etc...

Oh yeah, did I mention poverty?

All of those are real problems. Is that the stuff we are talking about these days?

Hell no. Despite having very real and important issues facing the community we focus on other crap.

The political food fight. The stuff that turns people off to politics.

And yet people are trying to make someone's Facebook friending and unfriending an actual "issue"?

How much more high school can we get around here?

Real leaders talk about issues. Pay attention to who is talking about issues and pay attention to people that are shoveling monkey crap.

I don't think Ghandi, George Washington, Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King or any other transformative leader would be terribly freakin' concerned about who friended and unfriended someone on Facebook.

You know who gives a crap about stuff like that? 13 year old little girls care about that. Grown-ass adults have more important things to worry about than who is and isn't a friend of someone on Facebook.

But while we are on the subject, let me set some things straight here.

We are really supposed to give a crap about who an elected official chooses and chooses not to have as friends on their own personal, non-tax payer funded, private Facebook account?

I mean, we are talking about a personal Facebook page right? That's supposed to be an issue?

Why? Other than some feelings were hurt or some people are just so desperate to remain relevant that they have to create controversy where one doesn't exist?

I mean if she had done something like blocked a constituent from emailing her at the County I think it might be an issue. MIGHT be an issue. I think if the person were engaging in harassing behavior then I think its a totally different conversation. But that's only if that person were engaging in some sort of harassing behavior. If they were just complaining and she blocked someone, THEN I think it would be an issue. But to the best of my knowledge, that hasn't happened.

I could see if they were told they couldn't call El Paso County Commissioner's Court. If that happened, THEN it would be an issue.

If the County Judge banned someone from showing up during public comment, THEN I can see it being an issue.

But its not, so people should stop participating in the monkey poop tossing contest. When you fling monkey crap, you end up smelling like monkey crap.

I pride myself in keeping it real. So lets keep in real for a minute.

The way some people are acting is undignified. Its counter-productive to the messaging of your campaign. You can't call your candidate a statesman and then let staffers or close supporters participate in undignified behavior.

You can't call your candidate someone who wants to do things differently but their supports act like more of the same.

Both candidates want to be a member of Congress. How about having supporters that act like they belong there?

It's called dignity people. Look it up.

And don't give me this crap that it can't be controlled. (My friend Marek Swiderski gave me a very constructive critique about not cursing so much in my blog and I have made it sort of a New Years' Resolution to stop cursing in my blog. So I would normally curse in this sentence, but I'll stick to my resolution.)

Monkey Crap!

If you really were interested in stopping the antics and making the campaign about issues, then you would.

And don't give us the "they did it first" or the "what about them?" defense either. We aren't in kindergarten and we aren't on the playground.

We are dignified adults.

How about acting like it? How about giving people a reason to vote for you because of your ideas or because of your record?

How about having a little more dignity than a forum at Ramona Elementary?

Carlos Leon Announcement / Fundraiser

2012-01-23T22:41:00.001-07:00

Redistricting, Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dumb

2012-01-23T16:02:00.001-07:00

Deeis trying to play dumb.

Letme ask a simple question before I start: Who controls the StateHouse, the State Senate, and every statewide elected office inTexas?

Giveup?

It'sthe Republican Party - and it's been that way since 2003.

Sowho do you think has been controlling the messy Redistricting processthat has been going on for over a year?

I'llgive you a hint - it's the same answer as my first question. So I wasSHOCKED when I read Rep. Margo's testimony that he provided in the DCPreclearance Case. This is going to get a little insider baseballnerdy here, so bear with me. The DC Preclearance case is acase thatwill ultimately decide whether Texas violated Section 5 of the VotingRights Act and discriminated against minorities in our state.We mightbe the majority in El Paso, but we are still minorities in the stateof Texas.

Hereis the link to his written testimony. Careful, its a lot ofinfo:
(https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BxeOfQQnUr_gNzE2MTg3ZDItOWE3Ni00MjgzLThhOTctYWQ5NzUwMWFlZjM4&hl=en_US)
Hisportion begins on Page 17.

Asidefrom using his written testimony to deliver campaign rhetoric - whichis just plain ridiculous - he says he had no major input into how HD78 was drawn.

Infact he points to Chairman Pickett and Rep. Marquez by name as theones that developed what HD 78 would look like.

ReallyDee?

Letme see if I understand what he is trying to peddle to people. Dee hasbeen running around El Paso since 2006 saying that he's the mostconnected guy to the Republican Party in the whole City of El Paso -and those connections meant that he could do more for us than anyDemocrat... allegedly.

Sonow you want us to believe - that you had no role in how yourdistrict was re-drawn? When you not only had a majority in the TexasHouse, but a super-majority.

Giveme a break.

Ido believe that Margo isn't smart enough to understand the ins andouts of Redistricting laws. But I do know he's smart enough to figureout who wants to vote for him and who doesn't, regardless of therecent brown make-over.
Solet's look as some expert testimony in that same Preclearance Casethat might shed some light on who doesn't vote for Dee - and how theyconveniently got cut out of HD 78. Here is the link to Dr. J. MorganKouser'stestimony:
(https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BxeOfQQnUr_gMDcxMWUyYWYtMjk0Zi00NThhLWFlNDUtOTI2NjM3YWJiMGE4&hl=en_US&pli=1)
Theportion about HD 78 is on Pg. 95 in Paragraph # 71. Dr. Kouser makesmention earlier in the document that Rep. Margo was not the candidateof choice for Hispanics in either 2008 or 2010.

Hereare the numbers: 2008- Moody 82.7,Margo 14.2, Collins 3.1; 2010 -Moody 79.3,Margo 20.7 (Tables 12-14).

Sodespite Rep. Margo's new found Hispanic roots - he has no appealwhatsoever to Hispanic voters. Those are the facts.

Well,those darn Hispanics were just too troublesome for Dee's re-electionthoughts - so guess what - he cut out as many as he could.

Checkout the maps on Pg. 121 and Pg. 122 (Figures 9A and 9B) of the experttestimony and you will see why HD 78 looks like what it does underthe Legislative map.

Thatsecond map shows the population density of Hispanic voters - and thenew lines of HD 78 do a pretty good job of carving out the majorportions of Hispanic voters in HD 78. Here's a page with a link towhat the map looked like prior to Redistricting(http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/?district=78)- so now you can see the changes that were made by the Legislature.Looks pretty clear what was going on here...Dee was trying to bootall those pesky Hispanics out of HD 78 because they don't vote forhim! And he tries to blame it on who - Democrats - who controlabsolutely no part of the Legislative process.

GIVEME A BREAK!

Thereis a reason that you haven't heard much from Rep. Margo regardingRedistricting - it's because he doesn't want you to know what's goingon and how he was responsible for carving Hispanics out of HD 78.

Hewants you to think about his Hispanic roots instead - he wants you tobelieve he is an influential Republican - except when it comes toRedistricting of course - in that case he had no say whatsoever.

PersonallyI don't believe either.

Lookslike Dee thinks we are Tweedle Dumb.

Supreme Court Tosses Texas Map; What it Means to El Paso

2012-01-20T10:32:00.001-07:00

By now you've probably heard about the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) tossing the redistricting maps drawn by the San Antonio Court.

Just a few quick thoughts on what it means for the state and what it means for El Paso.

#1 - Say hello to a June Primary. It still has to be decided by the Courts, but I would be very surprised if the elections were still going to be held in April. So I'd expect it to be pushed back...again. Possibly as far back as June, though it could be May.

#2 - Its not a loss for the redistricting plaintiffs.

#3 - The SCOTUS did not compel the lower court to go back to the State Legislature map. So that means they will have to draw new maps using the state legislature maps as a starting point and can adjust the maps if there is "reasonable probability" of a violation of Section 2 or Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

The San Antonio Courts will now have to decide, starting next week or maybe later, about when the election will be. They will also have to decide when the filing window will open again, when it will close, and what the residency requirement will be.

This is something that favors candidates that can raise money and candidates that have a good grass roots operation. This benefits them because it gives them more time to block walk, phone bank, do mail-outs, etc. Essentially it gives them more time to bite in to the lead of the front runner.

This also means money will be an even bigger factor. Campaigns cost money, especially the tightly contested ones. I'm a little concerned about voter fatigue in the back of my mind, but candidates have to get their message out. So now they have to stretch their dollars all the way to May or June, to say nothing of the run-off elections.

I'd expect a few candidates to drop out at this point. I think a lot of them will realize that the money is going to be a major issue for them. Time will tell.

Stay tuned, I'll keep you posted as things develop.

Long Live Ms. Etta James

2012-01-20T10:21:00.001-07:00

Like any self-respecting Chicano vato loco from the barrio, I love oldies. Which is to say, I love me some Etta James.

That woman can sing, is probably the understatement of the century. I know I'm usually pretty focused on policy on this blog, but oldies was part of my upbringing. When my dad was under a car fixing something on the weekend (our cars always needed fixing) and I could only see him from the waist down, we usually had a radio on and were listening either to mariachi or oldies.

I never learned how to fix cars, but I sure as hell picked up a love for Etta James along the way.

Who could forget At Last when the President and the First Lady danced on Inauguration Night? Who could ever forget I'd Rather Go Blind?

But my favorite is My Dearest Darling.

Everytime I hear this song at home, I grab my wife, pull her close to me and dance with her. She sings it to me in my ear and move around the living room and make our kids wanna puke. Listen to the words. If you don't have a woman who feels that way about you, vato you just ain't found love yet.

Etta sings that song like she's singing to the lover her life. Like she's a woman who's been through some rough times with love, like some vato broke her heart, but she's not an amarga. She sings it like she's been hurt but isn't afraid to love again.

Good songs make you feel something. This song does it for me.

Don't get me wrong, Aretha is the Queen of Soul, but I always preferred Etta.

To paraphrase something I once heard my friend Mark Alvarado once say, Aretha's singing is like food at the best Mexican restaurant in town. But Etta, that's like eating food at your Mom's house.

Etta's music was like my Mom's Chile Colorado, my Nana Garcia's tamales, and my Grandma Abeytia's menudo all in one. Tasty, memorable, life-changing, can't be copied, but eventually you will have to live without.

But thanks to my oldies collection and The Fox Jukebox with Mike Guerrero on Sundays, they'll always be plenty of Etta in the 'fridge.

I'm a dee jay and the great thing about oldies, especially in El Paso, is that its music that is safe for everyone. No matter the audience, its always okay to play oldies.

My kids have a healthy appreciation for oldies too. I hear the echo of my dad's voice singing under the car in my daughter's voice when she's singing in her room while I make her clean it.

It means my dad's not really gone.

And Etta never really will be either.

If You Can't Beat'em...

2012-01-20T09:34:00.003-07:00

Stomp your feet, bitch to anyone who will listen, pout, and then try to copy.

I guess its the mantra of some. Although we all know, the copy is never really as good as the original is it? Think about it, Bizarro could never beat Superman, Bad Spock couldn't beat Good Spock and lets not forget Michael Knight and Garth Knight.

David K and I don't usually agree on policy, football, food, novelas, hobbies, or which Republican candidate for President is the lamest. Occasionally we find common ground on El Paso's political landscape or local issues.

We both have an audience that is equal parts fans, equal parts haters. El Paso has had a political blogosphere that has expanded and contracted over the years. There was a time when there were several political bloggers in town like the Avocadoan, the El Paso Fake News, etc.

But for some reason or another we are always the last two standing. There has been a growth of some new blogs lately and I've linked to several of them on my blogroll. They all have their unique take and flavor on things and if some of them stick to it, they will be very successful at it.

And then there are the people who struggle to stay relevant. Who have always wished to be something other than what they are. They fancied having a radio show, but there is a big difference in having a radio program and being an occasional guest. Sometimes they think radio is their medium because they look creepy on television when their beady eyes dart back and forth because of nerves, so having a microphone where no one can see their face is somewhat a better medium (in their mind).

But at the end of the day, its still about content. Anyone can get attention for a short while by streaking across a soccer field naked, standing in a crowded room and cussing, or shooting a gun in the air. The key is, how do you keep an audience?

Thats the part that is difficult. It requires work ethic. It requires talent. It requires being able to give your readers something they can't get somewhere else.

Why do the Juicy one and I have staying power? I think for the most part its work ethic. We are pretty prolific writers. And David K is actually pretty funny. Sometimes he writes stuff to piss people off or get them talking and so do I for that matter.

The blogosphere is the wild west, so everyone is free to jump in and do their thing. Social Darwinism rules the day. The good stuff makes it and the bad stuff doesn't.

But I have a couple of thoughts on one particular new blogger out there. I'll call this blogger the Embarrassment to El Paso Blogger. Maybe just the E2EP Blogger for short. Or maybe Bigot Blogger is better?

I wouldn't be lecturing ANYONE about prostituting politics. I'm not going to be lectured by has-been about prostituting anything. Lobbyists throw big money at state reps and they use the money for living expenses. Why else do you see people fight so hard over jobs that pay so little? Because of lobbyists who frequently drop big cash to state reps to get them to do their bidding. Like say, people interested in gaming.

Por ejemplo, I know an Embarrassment to El Paso/Bigot Blogger who took money from one tribe to legalize gaming, while taking money from another tribe that wanted to kill gaming...during the same session! Didn't Jack Abramoff do something similar, or am I wrong about that?

And one last thing about traffic. I don't have to measure who's is bigger. David K actually gives pretty good analysis about traffic and you should read it here. One thing is for sure, in an effort to try to copy others, the Bigot Blogger is hoping one of us will link to their blog in order to give that person some traffic.

Nice try. Work for it like the rest of us. If you have something people like, it will come. If not, well you can go back to dusting off your old bowling trophies.

Since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I guess I should say thanks.

And I think I speak for David K when I say your welcome. We're glad we could pave the way for others to follow in our digital footsteps...

Gotta go ... {raises wristwatch to mouth..."KITT, I need you...}

Glenn "Butch" Maya's Campaign Fundraiser/Announcement

2012-01-19T20:15:00.002-07:00

Despite not having an opponent, Glenn "Butch" Maya is running his campaign like he does have an opponent. Once again Maya showed he was able to get Democrats from all sectors to support him.

Rumor has it someone else is considering getting in the race but the fact is that person has never been viable countywide. That's why that person chose not to run for senate despite considering the option and thats why the person chose not to run against Congressman Reyes despite talking about the option as recently as the last Presidential election. Interestingly the Congressman is supportive of Maya to be the next Chair.

Maya was introduced by Sheriff Richard Wiles, one of the most popular Democrats in the County at his event on Tuesday.

Here are a few pictures of key people in attendance:

Sheriff Richard Wiles, Jan Engles, Butch Maya

Butch Maya, Kathy Coronado

Butch Maya and Robert Hernandez

Butch Maya & County Attorney JoAnn Bernal

Alejandro "Alex" Guzman & Butch Maya
(U R my friend)

Butch Maya & Jay Desai

Art Fierro & Butch Maya

Veronica Cintron, Butch Maya, & Dr. Joseph Villescas

Hector Enriquez & Mary Gonzalez Dueling Interviews on ABC-7

2012-01-19T14:01:00.001-07:00

Wow, I was pretty blown away by an interview I saw on ABC-7 conducted Maria Garcia. She interviewed both Mary Gonzalez and Hector Enriquez and I think it might have been a story Enriquez might have been trying to pitch.

The story was basically Enriquez going after Gonzalez because she just moved back to the district (which I wrote about earlier today) and because of her contributions from Annie's List. I thought the answer about returning to El Paso that she gave ABC 7 was much better than how she answered it at the Westside Dems Candidate Endorsement meeting.

This story is the reason why people have a hard time trusting people that run for office. Enriquez said he's been serving El Paso for x number of years. If you count his term on SISD school board, then okay, that is certainly serving the community.

But how has he served the community outside of that time? Coaching Tee Ball isn't serving the community. Its coaching tee ball.

Apparently he has a new slogan, 100% El Paso. Which I guess is new because it was previously something like No Job Too Small, which sounded like he was a handy man.

Frankly I thought he actually might be considering dropping out of the race because no one has seen him anywhere over the last few weeks. He hasn't been at any of the major party events.

But the real reason I thought he was dropping out was because HE HASN'T FILED A CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORT, at least electronically. He's certainly had expenditures.

In fact, his reports are now online and get a load of this:

Totals From Report For Hector Enriquez
Filed on: January 13 2012
Covering the Period September 14, 2011 Through January 15, 2012

Total Unitemized Contributions:	$ 0.00
Total Political Contributions:	$ 166.73
Total Unitemized Expenditures:	$ 0.00
Total Expenditures:	$ 166.73
Total Unitemized Pledges (Schedule B1 or B2)	$ 0.00
Total Contributions Maintained As Of The Last Day Of The Reporting Period	$ 0.00
Total Principal Amount Of All Outstanding Loans As Of The Last Day of the Reporting Period	$ 0.00
Total Unitemized Loans:	$ 0.00

The requirement to report Total Contributions Maintained (Cash on Hand) applies to reports due on or after September 1, 2003.
This requirement does not apply to special session reports or telegram reports.

Total contributions and expenditures match. Drive on the Eastside and you will see his bench ads all over the place. That costs more than 166 bucks. What about design fee for his logo? What about printing?

Something isn't adding up here.

So we know now that he's still in the race. That's good to know. But what is really interesting to me is the fact that Enriquez pretends to have an issue with her receiving funding from an Austin group.

Here's the TRUTH: Enriquez made several trips to Austin to get money from Austin groups. He met with TLR and other groups. They were receptive to him at first. Hell I wrote about this a long time ago.

He sought their financial support and then when he didn't get it he has a problem with someone else getting the money? Are you freakin' serious? Give me a break!

And as far as questioning her motives for coming back to El Paso from Austin, how does a former school board trustee have an issue with that? I thought we wanted to encourage higher education for our children? Now we have an issue with it when they come back?

I agree that its something Gonzalez has to address, but from the position Enriquez is taking I find the whole thing suspect.

This is the kind of thing that drives people nuts about politics.

Westside Democrats Endorsement Meeting

2012-01-19T11:58:00.002-07:00

I served on a panel last night for the Westside Democrats' Endorsement Meeting.

Here are the contested results (I'm doing this from memory so if I miss anyone its not intentional)

Congress - Silvestre Reyes by a wide margin.
House District 77 - Marisa Marquez by a wide margin.
House District 75 - Mary Gonzalez by one vote.
District Attorney - Jaime Esparza by a decent margin.
448 - Judge Regina Arditti by a decent margin.
383 - Lisa Aceves-Hayes by a wide margin.
8th Court of Appeals - Tom Stanton in a close vote.
388 - Don Williams in a run-off.
41st - Mike Cervantes by a decent margin.
Tax Assessor Collector - Victor Flores by a wide margin.
County Commissioner Precinct 1 - Danny Anchondo by 11 votes.
NE Constable - Rick Gammon in a close vote.
Westside Constable-Richard White by a wide margin.

So those are the results.

Here are some awards (I'll explain them too) :

Best Speakers of the Night: Luis Torres & Vince Perez.
Worst Speakers of the Night (Non Judicial): Armando Rodriguez & Shane Haggerty
Worst Speakers of the Night (Judicial): Judge Herrera & Laura Strathmann
Most Awkward Moment: Judge Herrera
Most Polished Candidate: Marisa Marquez
Best Answer to a Question: Judge Regina Arditti
Worst Answer to a Question Mary Gonzalez
Blown Opportunity of the Night: Aaron Barraza
Surprise Win of the Night - Tom Stanton
Surprise Loss of the Night - Anna Perez

Best Speakers - Luis Torres for Congressman Reyes did extremely well. The problem is he delivers the Congressman's message better than the Congressman does sometimes. Which is a critique often directed at Reyes for not being a polished speaker. But Torres laid out the argument for the Congressman in a small bite-size message. Vince Perez was relaxed, articulate, on-point, funny and to the point. Masterfully mentioned his experience with Congressman Reyes' office in a room that was decidedly pro-Reyes. Honorable Mention - Constable Robert White. Yeah, that's right, a constable! Pretty good speech.

Worst Speakers - Armando Rodriquez over articulated, got lost in the time frame of the questions and overshot the audience. He seemed extremely nervous, perhaps sensing that he was in a room that his opponent was going to do well in. I've seen him do much better.

Shane Haggerty will always have to live up to his brothers Randy, Tito, Jermaine and Michael. Its almost not fair for him and he is running for Constable and not a major policy decision, so keep that in mind. But he's clearly not the public speaker of the family.

Worst Speakers (Judicial) - Herrera seemed pretty intense from the minute he grabbed the mic. He's an tall intimidating figure, but he seemed to have an edge to him when he was going over all the campaign contributions he's made to candidates, most of which were to two electeds from the lower valley. But that's not why it was a bad speech. It was a bad speech because he made people mad. In his summary he said he didn't want the endorsement and that he didn't think Democratic groups should be endorsing candidates. He never explained why he felt that way, but a lot of people were offended by that assertion. In order to be at the meeting you had to have filled out a questionnaire to be considered for the endorsement. People that weren't interested in the endorsement simply didn't fill one out or return it. The fact that Herrera obviously had and then went through the trouble of speaking only to end by saying he didn't want the endorsement irritated a lot of people. So they gave him what he wanted.

Laura Strathmann came across as too prosecutorial and crossed her message wires a bit. She did such a good job of explaining how much she loved her job that one of the panelists who is an attorney asked her why she was going for a seat on the bench if she loved her job so much. Strathmann's body language was that of a lawyer in court. She paced back and forth while she spoke and looked a lot like she was trying to convince a jury rather than win votes. To be fair to her, that is a common problem with lawyers when they run for judicial posts. They tend to talk like they are talking to lawyers, judges, and juries instead of realizing they are talking to regular people with little to no legal background.

I've said it time and time again. Its not the most-qualified that gets elected, its the person that tells the best story.

Honorable Mention - Ray Gutierrez. He under-performed.

Most Awkward Moment - The Judge Herrera I-don't-want-your-endorsement moment. Although that Lucas guy running for District Attorney was a close second. He went up to the podium and gave the Theresa Caballero stump speech.

Most Polished Candidate - State Rep Marisa Marquez came in ready to fight for her seat. Passionate, articulate, and on-message. She's clearly going to run on her record. Right body language, right message, right delivery, right level of passion. Spot on. No pre-season warm-up needed for Marquez, she seems to be in mid-season shape.

I thought about doing a Least Polished Candidate category but it would've been a tie between too many of them. Especially judicial candidates. Ouch! Some of them could use a quick workshop or two.

Best Answer to a Question - Judge Regina Arditti answered a question that no one asked but I'll bet most people in the room were thinking. It was about her case. Again, it wasn't the question asked but I think she knew that its what people wanted to know about and she mentioned her case and how she felt that justice ultimately prevailed. I was pretty impressed that she had the courage to take it head-on. Saved me the trouble of asking the question myself.

Worst Answer to a Question - Mary Gonzalez needs some help with poise in front of a group. She works a room with skill far beyond her experience and age, but in front of people is where she needs to concentrate some improvement. She was asked (by me) if she really knew the district given the fact that she just moved back to El Paso right before the filing deadline and hasn't actually lived here during her adult life. Rather than put that nagging issue to bed, which she really hasn't done yet, her answer wandered around the lower valley for a while before she finally ran out of time. She was the only candidate in her race to show up to the meeting and only won by one vote, but had she handled that question a little better I think she might have squeezed a few more votes out. But, a win is a win. (Uh, unless you're Romney and Santorum, then its not so clear).

Blown Opportunity of the Night- Aaron Barraza had a real chance to look good in front of a group that might ultimately have some constituents in it. He didn't attend the meeting despite having filled out the form to attend. An announcement (that could've been confused for a "mic check") was made at the end of the meeting by his campaign manager that he wasn't able to attend because he was sick. So in fairness to Barraza, you can't control when you get sick and candidates frequently battle bugs while campaigning because they spend a lot of time shaking hands and in crowded rooms. But there is something to be said for playing hurt. Mary Gonzalez was also sick but drove all the way from Clint to go compete for an endorsement that she was the underdog for to begin with. Gotta play hurt sometimes if you want to win the game.

Surprise Win of the Night - Tom Stanton won the endorsement for the 8th Court of Appeals. Stanton has been pretty close to Republican Chris Antcliff and doesn't have much presence within the local Democratic Party and he still pulled off a surprising win. I think even he was surprised at the win and looked very happy with receiving it.

Surprise Loss of the Night - I was surprised that County Commissioner Anna Perez didn't win the endorsement of the Westside Democrats. She has higher name ID than her two opponents and she has a much stronger presence within the Democratic Party than her opponents. She didn't perform badly in her speech and I was surprised that her presence within the party and high name ID didn't translate in to an endorsement.

Perry's Drops Out of the Race

2012-01-19T10:12:00.001-07:00

Texas Governor Rick Perry ended his bid for the Presidency today and endorsed Newt Gingrich and adding "...he's not perfect" before his endorsement.

Wow, glowing endorsement there Governor.

I have a few thoughts on Perry's exit from the race, and pay attention Texas Republicans.

I've been noticing something about a few local races, but the Perry exit personifies it for me. Sometimes, in our haste to vote AGAINST someone rather than FOR their ideas we latch on to anyone that comes along. Like a bad rebound relationship.

What happens with candidates is that we often build them up in our perception of them and make them more formidable than they really are. Then, when the candidate that was never really all that viable in the first place loses, the person we were voting against is actually legitimized to an extent because of our build-up of the opposition.

Its true of candidates in several local races and its true of Rick Perry. When there was the initial rumors of Perry thinking about the Presidential bid, I was still on the air. I remember saying that I was HOPING Perry would get in the race because I thought he was a Democrats wet-dream of a Republican candidate. I knew he'd be easy to pick apart in an election. Which is why I was hoping he'd be the nominee against President Obama.

Texas Democrats knew Perry, but most Republicans didn't. So they built him up because he was the alternative to Mitt Romney. In fact, I think the height of his poll numbers were probably before he formally jumped in the race or just after. Everyone thought how great it was. Like sex with a new girlfriend or boyfriend. At first you think its the greatest thing in the world. But if its not the real deal, you will quickly be left feeling like it wasn't all that satisfying.

Rick Perry left Republicans feeling like that after his first couple of debate performances. After that speech in New Hampshire they decided they wanted to break up with him. And like all bad relationships, it takes a while to finally end it formally, which happened today.

Let's face facts, Perry was never a good candidate. Now America sees why Perry was duckin' and dodging Bill White in the gubernatorial race. No wonder he never wanted to get on the same stage as Bill White. White would've cleaned his clock.

What I find really interesting about Perry is that his demise came basically scandal-free. There was no major controversy, no philandering, no bad business deal, no nothing. He just didn't turn voters on and died a slow painful death.

And here I go with another boxing analogy - Rick Perry lost the exact same way he beat Hutchison for the gubernatorial nomination, he was out jabbed. When he beat Hutchison it was just a steady flow of jabs from Perry and she never really found her campaign footing. Perry was essentially beat the same way. Sure, he was all-Mike Tyson in the first round, but we was out-pointed every round after that and you just had the sense that you wanted the ref to step in and stop the bleeding.

Fortunately for Republicans, he threw in the towel. Personally I would've like to see him stay in.

I was really looking forward to more New Hampshire speeches.