4.5.05
This week, Bob Cushing is
placed in a most uncomfortable position, the Lost Dog Arroyo lives up to its
name, Alexandro Lozano discovers the planet “Plite San,” and Sid goes hunting
for Bear.
It
was a short meeting, but there’s lots of post-meeting action to discuss.
Read
on!
News Flash: Bully Boys Create Crime Victims
My friends, I rarely care
about or pay much attention to the Mayor’s Proclamations, although I have, on a
few occasions, remarked on them (like my excitement during Crime Stoppers Week,
when I foolishly thought someone would rush the podium to tattle on Cobos,
Cushing and Wardy). This week, however,
it was just too much for me to handle.
I almost fell out of my chair when a certain proclamation was read.
3. NATIONAL
CRIME VICTIMS RIGHTS WEEK
Vivian Rojas read this one
into the record:
“Whereas
crime victims play an indispensable role in bringing offenders to justice…and
whereas victims of crime deserve respect, resources, restoration and justice,
and as a nation devoted to liberty and justice for all, America must increase
its efforts to protect, restore, and expand crime victims rights and services.”
I looked around after Rojas
finished all the “Whereases” and had to suppress a loud, “What?” I wanted to rush the podium and say, “Ms.
Rojas, can you repeat all of that? But
this time, look directly into the eyes of evil—your colleague, Mr. Cushing, the
man whose victim never received that respect or those resources, restoration or
justice.”
Police Chief Robert Wiles
stood at the podium and said he felt “pleased” to be representing the
group. Here’s what Wiles had to say:
“When
a crime occurs, many times a victim is left behind, and dependent upon the type
of crime, many times the victim and their family are severely affected. We have an obligation to take care of those
victims. The police department, the
sheriff’s department, the District Attorney’s office, the Attorney General’s
office and many other organizations such as STARS work very close together to
help victims of crime. And we certainly
appreciate this proclamation because we need to keep this at the forefront; we
need to let people know that we are concerned with victims of crime, that we’re
willing to work with them to help them overcome the unfortunate situation that
occurred to them.”
I couldn’t help but gasp out
loud when he was done (if those of you watching at home heard a gasp, that was
me). Cushing sat through the
discussion, and when everyone applauded at the end, he didn’t flinch but he also
didn’t clap. Why would he? I’m sure he couldn’t wait for the whole,
painful thing to end.
Dear reader, could there
have been a proclamation more a propos given recent revelations regarding the
City Representative from District 2?
The fact that the police
chief was representing the group was even more ironic. In case you didn’t know, the El Paso
Municipal Police Officer’s Association has made its political
endorsements. Not surprisingly, it
endorsed key members of the Crony Crew:
Wardy and Cobos. What should surprise
you is that they also endorsed Robert Cushing.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Police Association endorsed a man who
brutalized a woman (how many more have there been?), viciously killed a dog,
and failed to pay a court-ordered judgment secured by the poor woman he beat
with his bare hands.
And Wiles has the gall to
stand there and say that “we need to let people know that we are concerned with
victims of crime”? Concerned,
indeed! Are you concerned, Mr. Police Chief,
when your police organization endorses someone who not only brutalized a woman
and created one of those victims, but also an individual who ignored a judge’s
order that he make financial reparations for his crime?
Fortunately, however, that
the Cushing abuse story was finally picked up by a local TV station. If Cushing won’t come clean with the
community, the media has an obligation to tell us the truth.
KVIA Channel 7 ran a story
on Wednesday evening about the events and got Cushing on camera essentially
dismissing the issue by saying it happened 30 years ago (“City Rep Answers
Questions Regarding 30-Year Old Charges” http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?s=3177404
video included!). Cushing also stated that
a judge ruled in that proceeding and that the criminal case against him was
dismissed.
There
are two interesting points to make about this KVIA report.
The first interesting issue
has to do with the various stages of Cushing’s lies. First, when he was initially confronted with the civil judgment,
Cushing told a Newspapertree reporter that the case “didn’t ring a bell” (http://www.newspapertree.com/view_article.sstg?c=f65d2cf6a6164fa1&mc=cee7100862f3420f). Then when the El Paso Times followed-up, he denied ever assaulting the victim
(the headline to that article was “Cushing says he didn’t beat woman, doesn’t
owe her money”). In fact, here’s what
he said:
“Cushing
said he was ‘guilty of nothing.’ He said he dated Salinas but never attacked
her.
’If I had done what I've been accused of doing, the remedy would have been to
file criminal charges,’ he said.” (http://www.borderlandnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050324/NEWS/50324004/1001)
Well, Bob, KVIA’s
investigation revealed that criminal charges were indeed filed, so I guess that
lie just won’t work any more.
When KVIA confronted him
with the evidence that criminal charges had been filed against him, Cushing of
course couldn’t deny it; instead, he was reduced to dismissing the charges’
significance.
The second interesting point
was that the KVIA reporter, Bob Harp, pointed out that in the criminal
complaint, the police officer documenting the complaint corroborated the fact
that Salinas was transported to Providence Hospital, had bruises on both sides
of her face, and had several teeth missing.
Let me guess, Bob, those injuries were self-inflicted, right?
Kudos
to KVIA for finally reporting more of the chilling facts of this story.
Unfortunately, they got one
important fact wrong. Harp claimed that
Salinas didn’t file her abstract of judgment in 1998 (a document that must be
filed every seven years in order to keep the judgment alive and
collectible). According to the Times story, however, she did.
“Cushing said he checked with the El Paso County clerk's
office on Wednesday and
documents there showed he didn't owe Salinas any money because she hadn't filed an "abstract of
judgment," required to collect
the debt, since 1991.
Online district court records
show that Salinas filed an abstract of judgment
as recently as 1998, but that record could not be found in county clerk files, where abstracts are
supposed to be filed.”
http://www.borderlandnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050324 /NEWS/50324004/1001
I looked online in the
county records, and the abstract of judgment is listed on the records: http://www.epcounty.com/JimsSearch/CivilRecordSearch.htm?action%253Dview%26track%253D237145.
So the original document has
disappeared from the file. Hmmm. Wonder who has an interest in seeing that
document disappear?
The reason this is important
is because this shows that he has not only evaded paying for his crime all
these years, but now there’s an important document missing from the courthouse
that proves he still owes her that
money.
If this liar and criminal
had any decency, he would resign his post immediately. He is not worthy to represent the good and
law-abiding citizens of El Paso.
I still don’t believe the
full story has been revealed; we certainly will never hear the truth from
Robert Cushing, who has lied to this community and the media over and over. But with every new revelation, it goes from
bad to worse for Bob the Bully Boy Cushing.
And it makes it harder to defend this misogynist (and possible
sociopath.) And that, in turn, just
makes Cushing’s defenders look all the more despicable. But I’m sure Cobos—and some others, the
Bowlings come to mind—will do their level best to play down Cushing’s history
of violence. After all, certain people
have a lot invested in keeping Cushing on Council (see below). Who knows what people like Luther Jones, David
Escobar and the Bowlings will do to keep his guy at City Hall.
Minutemen
Approved on the consent
agenda with no discussion:
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: [Municipal Clerk,
Richarda Duffy Momsen, (915)
541-4127] Approval of Minutes for the Regular City Council Meeting of March 29, 2005. (Attachment)
A Dog of an Ordinance
The following item is
another example of why this Council couldn’t be less “pro business” if they
tried:
15C. Discussion and action to direct the City Manager
to direct staff to create a land use regulation for animal crematories
including review of current applicable ordinances. [Representative Jose Alexandro Lozano, (915) 541-4515]
This is an issue that was
first brought up by Alexandro Lozano.
He is determined to prevent a local animal clinic (in his district) from
operating a crematorium; the owner of the clinic wants pets to be cremated instead
of just dumped in a landfill. Sounds
humane and sensible to me. But we can’t
underestimate the power of NIMBY, can we?
As we learned later in the
meeting, Lozano placed this particular item on the agenda to prevent any veterinarian or small businessman
from trying to offer these services anywhere within the City limits.
George Sarmiento, Director
of Planning, Research and Development, explained that a crematorium wasn’t a
specific use defined in the zoning ordinance.
He said that he had met with staff and the City Attorney’s office, and
they have decided to change the code to add a specific definition for animal
crematoria that will allow them in R-F (Ranch Farm), C-2 (commercial), or C-4
(also commercial) with a special permit.
When a special permit is required, he explained, a detailed site plan is
required and it must come before the City Plan Commission and the City Council
(which means that it’s ultimately up to Council to approve or deny the special
permit). Sarmiento said the new
ordinance would be introduced next week, and before it comes back to Council
(in three weeks), it will be taken before the Department Coordinating Committee
and the City Plan Commission.
Wardy asked what the City’s
previous policy was, and Sarmiento said there was no distinction between human
crematoria or animal crematoria, but human crematoria are allowed under all
commercial zoning.
Vivian Rojas wondered what
the zoning is for the Humane Society and Sarmiento said he didn’t know.
Then
Lozano launched himself into space.
“My question was, Mayor,
that, uh, we did not have anything in place, and that was my concern, and I
thank you very much for what you’re doin’.
And now we have something in place that, you know, I know that, uh, any
place, it’s, uh, as long as we have a plite san [yes, he really said this—I
presume he meant to say “site plan”] approved by City Council, that’s all, so
thank you for your work.”
Huh? I wanted to call out, “Ground Control to
Major Al, your circuit's dead,
there's something wrong. Can you hear
me Major Al?” But I knew he couldn’t
hear me. And he did seem to be floating
in a most peculiar way (towards planet Plite San?).
I think Major Al’s been at
it again, folks. Talk about lighting
the flag! He must have had a humongous
one before Council.
Anyway, after Lozano’s . . .
utterance, if you will, Anna Dueńas, President of the El Paso Lower Valley
Association, came to the podium. She
said, “This is the second time we have tried stopping a rendering plant; we
stopped Valley By Products…”
Okay. Hold the phone!
Did she say “A RENDERING
PLANT”? My friends, what was being
proposed was NOT a rendering plant; it was a veterinary hospital with a
crematorium. It’s not adjacent to any
neighborhoods, and it’s a small business with every right to operate under the
law. But of course, no one bothered to
correct her.
I could feel my blood
beginning to boil (these days, it doesn’t take much for that to
happen…sometimes it may just be the strong coffee I have before every Council
meeting). I quickly figured out what
was going on. (Not, you understand,
from Lozano’s free-floating gibberish, but from Ms. Dueńas’s comment.) It became very clear that someone had
misrepresented and/or exaggerated what this small businessman and veterinarian
wants to do for that area.
My friends, this is totally
true to form. You see, the way that
Lozano, Cobos and their allies operate is that they use misinformation and
create crises. Of course, the Crisis
Crew already has a ready-made solution for the crisis they create. What is that solution? Well, it almost always involves demonizing
the opponent (be it a veterinarian, a business competitor, a non-profit wanting
to help us create more affordable housing, or that favorite tool of the devil,
Certificates of Obligation).
Dueńas said that this is a
health and safety issue, and she and her group went door to door to get over
700 people to sign petitions to stop this pet hospital. She said that while they don’t oppose the
clinic, her group is opposed to the crematory.
Aurelia Roque, who
identified herself as a woman from the area, spoke about all the health issues
they were facing in the lower valley.
She said she lives near Western Refinery and the railroad (which, by the
way, is a pretty long distance from Airway Boulevard, the commercial area where
this clinic was going to be situated).
She said all of the semi-trailer trucks that regularly travel in that
area were large sources of pollutants (this to a trucking mayor!). Then she began to complain of her ailments
as they relate to Western Refinery.
As a reminder, Western
Refinery is owned by The Crony Crew’s good buddy, Paul Foster, the recent
recipient of a nice chunk of property on Clark Street that this administration
practically gave away, after lying about the reason the property was purchased
by the previous mayor (in an effort to make that mayor—who in their minds is
Beelzebub himself—look bad). Not
interested in hearing complaints about his buddy, Wardy asked Ms. Roque to stay
on topic. I wanted to slip Ms. Roque a
note to let her know that the owner of that refinery is A-OK with this crew,
and he can do whatever he wants. He’s a
friend, don’t you know.
Because Roque spoke in
Spanish, Lozano responded in Spanish.
He informed her that Council was in the process of preventing those
types of businesses from operating within
the City. That’s right! He actually said he wants to prevent them
from operating within the City limits altogether. That’s not how the agenda item read! But because no one interpreted what Lozano said into English, I’m
not sure if staff understood that Lozano was promising this woman that no more
crematoria would be allowed within the City limits.
The
item was approved unanimously.
And
again I say, so much for this “business friendly” Council!
Where’s the Beef?
Board appointments are
usually approved with no dissension.
Not the next two:
8A. Tedd F.
Richardson to the Building and Standards Commission by Representative John F.
Cook, District 4. (Attachment) [Representative
John F. Cook, (915) 541-4140]
8B.
Audrey R. (Bear) Walters to the
Building and Standards Commission by Representative John F. Cook, District 4. (Attachment) [Representative
John F. Cook, (915) 541-4140
Anthony Cobos voted against
both appointments with a very definitive “NO!”
Hmmm. Recall, if you will, that
it was Bear Walters who filed an ethics complaint against Joe Wardy because of
serious omissions and misstatements in his campaign finance reports. Anthony Cobos thus proves himself a loyal
Wardy-ite to the end. Ojala you and
your buddy are going down together come May.
As an interesting side note,
before the item was read into the record, Wardy became very irritated by a cell
phone that was ringing (it belonged to one of the Council members…I couldn’t
tell which one). Bobby? Bobby?
Is that you? Why are you calling
again? You got what you wanted last
week. Are you calling Tony again to
tell him how to vote on these board appointments? Or are you calling to let Tony and Viv know that it’s okay for
them to go to the bathroom?
So…Wardy is irritated by
cell phones but not by his fellow crony-meister Bob Cushing’s SPITTING or GUN
CHOMPING or GASEOUS ERUPTIONS? If he
were truly interested in decorum our mayor would tell his City Attorney, Lisa
Elizondo, and the resident woman abuser, Robert Cushing, that gum and tobacco
aren’t allowed at Council meetings.
Maybe he should consult with Joann Wardy, local etiquette guru.
Parks are Not Perks, Part Deux
The following item would
change park policy at the City and was something that I did not support:
17. PUBLIC
HEARING - PARKS & RECREATION: An
Ordinance to amend Title 19 (Subdivisions), Chapter 19.12 (Parkland Dedication), Section 19.12.050 (Standards for Deeded Parkland), Subsection
19.12.050.A.1 (General
Characteristics) of the El Paso Municipal Code to increase the size of parkland
sites that require an affirmative recommendation by Director of Parks
and Recreation before approval of such by the City Plan Commission. (Attachment) [Parks &
Recreation, Norman Merrifield, (915) 541-4331]
Dr. Norman Merrifield,
Director of the City’s Parks & Recreation Department, stated that “This
amendment to our parkland dedication ordinance will allow an increase in our
parkland sites that currently require an affirmative recommendation by the
Parks & Recreation Director. The
amendment would, just on an interim basis between now and December 31st,
2005, the current land fee provision from under one acre to under two
acres. This interim period will allow
the parks department and community to review our entire park system,
specifically our program in terms of our comprehensive planning process,
looking at the park types, the park sizes, the public interest and needs in the
community…our primary goal for our park system is to have a balanced system.”
He
listed examples of existing parks, many of which are smaller than two acres.
Representative Lozano
quickly made a motion to approve, and Robert Cushing seconded it. Whenever these two jump on something, I
become immediately suspicious.
Matt Watson, Assistant City
Attorney, explained that the ordinance will expire at the end of the year,
unless extended by City Council.
Ester Perez, the community
activist who placed a public item on last week’s agenda regarding parks, was
there to speak. She had questions about
the parkland dedication fees, e.g. how they are determined and how they are
used.
Matt Watson explained that
the amount of fees depends on the kind of unit and gross acreage involved, and
said that they are used for capital expenditures. But whether or not to accept the fees in lieu of an actual park
is up to Council. He also said that the
Parks Director will now be able to veto any parks under one acre.
Ms. Perez said that the
bottom line remains that if developers choose to pay parkland dedication fees
instead of building a park, “the people who move into those new homes are still
left without any place for recreation…I believe that every development should
have some kind of park…and those [parkland dedication] fees are spent somewhere
else.”
She’s
absolutely right.
Austin explained that “If we
do accept money in lieu of land, park land, we have to spend that money within
a certain area that’s close to that neighborhood, and we’re not allowed to
spend it outside.”
When Cobos began to praise
the ordinance, I grew even more suspicious.
“We have an abundance of small parks,” he said, “and we need to start
looking at larger regional parks; we have one on the west side, and we have one
in Central.”
Yep. My suspicions confirmed. My fear with this new policy, my friends, is
that new developments won’t get any open space or park space at all unless it’s
two acres. I also fear that developers
will simply pay the fees and we won’t get any new parks. I’d rather have a small park than no park at
all. I do not believe that we should
only focus on regional parks. I believe
that we need more parks of all sizes everywhere, PERIOD.
Gary Sperbeck, speaking on
behalf of Save the Valley, said that the organization wanted to remind Council
and the Parks Department that “We really need to take a look at the biking,
walking and horse trails in the upper and lower valley…we’re interested in the
concept of a balanced approach.”
He’s right (albeit a little
valley-centric). Those bike trails need
to be placed throughout the community, not just in the valleys. They need to be on the south side, in the
northeast, in central, and on the east side.
Stuart Mitchell, another
west-side activist, also spoke and said he, too, was concerned about this. He reminded Council that the arroyo
committee was evaluating using small parcels near and around arroyos for open
space, and was concerned that “this action is completely inconsistent with the
discussions that have been ongoing in the ad-hoc committee for the preservation
of arroyos.” He said he was also
concerned that there is a shortage of parks in northwest El Paso.
“People are asking for more
open space,” said Mitchell, “and what we’re looking at in this situation
is…because our parks have been deemed playground areas…and we put huge emphasis
into turning it into a turf park instead of using natural wildscape…we’ve ended
up with a situation…now we say it’s too expensive to have small parks in our
neighborhoods…so now we have it’s ‘too much trouble to maintain small
parks.’” He said that other cities are
preserving “natural wildscape” and small pockets of open space all over their
communities, and said “Please defeat this motion.” He asked them to look for ways to preserve open space, not
reduce it.
Wardy denied that anyone
ever said there were “too many” small parks, and Mitchell suggested replaying
the tape of the meeting because, he said, both the Parks Director and Representative
Cobos stated that there are too many small parks (actually in my notes, it was
only Cobos).
Mitchell also said that he
understood that Cobos wanted to do away with small pockets of open space within
the City and Cobos, who was quite irritated by that, told Mitchell not to
misrepresent what he had said. What I
heard Cobos say was that we have enough small parks and don’t need any
more. I wrote it down, too. But shall we go to the videotape there,
Tony?
Cushing, who seemed to brush
off the community concerns, told Mitchell that we have a huge park in the city
limits already: Franklin Mountain State
Park. Mitchell pointed out that that it
is a state park, not a city park, and that the City shouldn’t take credit for
the creation of that state park.
The
motion to approve the ordinance passed unanimously.
We’ve Lost the Lost Dog Trail and We
Just Can’t Get it Back
The following ordinance was
yet another step in determining how the City will grow, in this case, to the
west. The decisions made in the master
plan (the item below) would help create plans that would guide the development:
18A. An
ordinance incorporating the El Paso Water Utilities Public Service Board
Westside Master Plan as a specific study area plan into the city's
comprehensive plan, The Plan for El Paso, and which plan shall amend the Plan
For El Paso and the Year 2025 General Land Use Map incorporated therein.
(District 1) (Attachment) [Planning Research
and Development, Frank Delgado, (915) 541-4730]
George Sarmiento, Director
of Planning, Research & Development, explained that Council had approved
making changes to the northwest master plan (the undeveloped area off of
Transmountain on the west side near the Franklin Mountain State Park).
Sarmiento described the type
of development that was planned for the area and the public hearing process
that the department had gone through.
Dr. Rick Bonart, a member of
the public who has been a part of the process and the dialogue from the
beginning, had the following two concerns:
He explained that during the
various development phases, amendments have been proposed that have eaten away
at the scenic corridor. He was asking
that Council reinstate at least a small portion of the scenic corridor.
Cushing complained that it
looked to be a much smaller piece of developable property (of course he would;
when you’re owned by the developers, you gotta make sure you cover their
interests).
There was quite an extensive
back and forth between Austin and Bonart, who were arguing over the scenic
corridor details.
“What we are trying to do
here, and what I think is very important,” said Bonart, “I’m not asking for
something that wasn’t proposed in 1999 as a provision of the Comprehensive Plan
that is being modified all the time. At
this point in time, I think that it’s very important that we set this [land]
aside. And I would ask you this: Who benefits from deleting this scenic
corridor? Is it a small-term economic
gain for the City? I don’t see how this
benefits the citizens of El Paso to delete this scenic corridor.”
Austin said she didn’t
believe that Council was doing anything inconsistent with the Plan, and she
said that what the City was doing was based on something “negotiated at great
length.”
Bonart said he respectfully
disagreed and said that the Public Service Board (PSB) had been critical of his
request to preserve the scenic corridor, telling him that they had already
given up enough land for open space.
Bonart rightfully pointed out that the PSB holds our land in trust, but
that the land belongs to the citizens of El Paso.
He also said that under
Council agreement, the Lost Dog arroyo was to be preserved as open space and
undisturbed. Bonart said that he had a
copy of the meeting and the promise on DVD and he asked Wardy if he should play
it; Wardy said he didn’t need to.
Development was now a part of the new plan, which Bonart repeated, was
not part of the agreement.
Susan Austin claimed to
remember the discussion differently, and Bonart again offered to play the DVD
that documented the meeting where the agreement was reached.
Planning and PSB staff had
their turn, and argued that they thought they had done a good job “balancing”
the two sides of the communities.
Bonart said this is an
example of what would be happening in the future: Citizens asking their representative to preserve arroyos. Wardy told Bonart that Council would follow
what was approved at the previous Council meeting that determined what the plan
would look like, and Bonart again asked to be allowed to show the DVD.
Cobos
made a motion to postpone the item for four weeks.
Wardy said that the debate
had gone on for too long, and asked the Utility to have a “sit down” with the
groups involved one more time where they would either they reach an agreement
or not, but that Council would make the ultimate decision on the issue in a
month.
The postponement was
approved, and this Council will make final decisions about this plan just
before the May election.
Changing Lanes
Approved unanimously without
much discussion was:
18B. An ordinance amending the 2025 Proposed
Thoroughfare System as detailed in the map atlas of The Plan for El Paso and
its related documents as originally approved by the El Paso City Council in
1999, and as subsequently amended. (District 1) (Attachment) [Planning
Research and Development, Chuck Kooshian, (915) 541-4632]
George Sarmiento explained
that this item removes two thoroughfares from the Plan for El Paso. No one put up a fuss.
Master Plan for Public Art or The Art
of Being Oblivious
19A. Report and Status of Public Art Master
Plan: Presentation by Betty Jaraba,
Interim Director, Arts and Culture Department. (Attachment)
Before the presentation
began, Cobos looked around and stated, “We’ve lost quorum so we cannot ask
questions, we can hear the presentation but we cannot ask questions. Legal, correct me if I’m wrong.”
“That’s
fine,” replied Lisa Elizondo, hardly looking up from her laptop.
“That’s fine”? What’s fine, Lisa? That Anthony Cobos knows the rules better than you; or that there
is such a rule (in which case I’m delighted it has your approval); or that
you’re making $155,000 per year to sit in front of a notebook computer, play
Solitaire, and let others answer legal questions?
Betty Jaraba, Interim
Director of the Arts and Culture Department, explained that the City had
allocated 2% for public art as a result of the Public Art Ordinance (introduced
by former District 3 rep and current candidate Larry Medina and approved by the
Caballero administration). Jaraba
explained that a consultant had been hired in order to create a master plan for
this and the consultant would be presenting the plan next week.
Wardy warmly thanked Jaraba
for all her work on this and she graciously accepted his praise. Disappointingly, not once did Wardy or
Jaraba or anyone else mention or credit the work done by the previous director,
Alexandrina Drew, who paved the way for this plan.
And aside from one other
agenda item (detailing the bond refinancing mentioned in previous notes), that
was that.
Luther Candidate Alert!
Two alert readers have
informed me about District 4 (northeast) candidate Melina Castro. According to these readers, Ms. Castro’s
mailing seems suspiciously like the 2003 mailings written by Martie Jobe and
sent out by Luther Jones on behalf of Wardy, Cushing, Lozano, Rojas and
others. I was also informed by a former
co-worker of Castro’s that she once worked for Luther Jones.
I
went to Ms. Castro’s website, and sure enough…looks like a Luther
candidate!
I wanted Ms. Castro to have
an opportunity to deny or admit this guilt by association, so I sent her an
email asking her whether or not she has ever worked for Luther Jones or has
ever received any support from him or David Escobar. I believe that if she had never worked for Luther, or had never
received help from him, she’d have no problem saying so. You be the judge.
Here’s the communication:
From:
“Sidney Maven” <shmaven@yahoo.com>
Subject:
Question
To:
<melinacastro2004@hotmail.com>
Ms.
Castro,
I
have two questions for you, and I hope you will be so kind as to answer:
1.
I have been told you at one time worked for Luther Jones. Is that true?
2.
Have you received (or are you currently receiving) any
kind of support or assistance (e.g., financial contributions, assistance with
your mailers, website, walking lists, etc.) from either Luther Jones or David
Escobar?
Thank
you kindly,
Sidney
Hall Maven
***
From: "Melina castro"
<melinacastro2004@hotmail.com>
To: <shmaven@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Question
Date: Fri, 08 Apr 2005 04:17:55
Good evening Mr. Maven,
Please identify yourself
and I will be pleased to answer your questions...
Melina Castro
Candidate for the Office of City Representative District No 4.
***
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 08:20:17
From: "Sidney Maven" <shmaven@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Question
To: "Melina castro" <melinacastro2004@hotmail.com>
Ms. Castro,
I
didn't realize that you withhold information depending on who the individual
asking the question is.
I
am a columnist who has been writing about City Hall, City Council and related
issues since 2003. I used to write for newspapertree, but I now send out
my column via a list-serve that goes out to members from all over El Paso.
If you do not want to answer the questions, just
let me know.
Thank
you,
SHM
Still
waiting for a response. Still
waiting. Still waiting. Still waiting.
Little Joe y La Familia
In case you’ve missed them,
Wardy has begun his barrage of lies (otherwise known as “happy crap”) on
television, and joining him in that barrage is his political compadre,
Congressman Silvestre Reyes (who, oddly enough, has “Property of Martie Jobe”
written all over his suit…be sure to see http://www.newspapertree.com/reyes/reyes_committee.pdf
and then re-read http://newspapertree.com/view_article.sstg?c=da86597fcaf8418c).
Silver (as he is known to
his good ol’ boy buddies), made a guest appearance in one of Wardy’s absurd
(and absurdly expensive) commercials, where he can be heard giving Wardy credit
for—don’t laugh—increasing the size of Fort Bliss!
Hi-Yo Silver!
Geez! These people have no shame! And, they must really feel threatened by
Wardy’s worthy opponents and are getting so desperate that Silver is allowing
Wardy to take credit for something that Silver would normally try to hog the
credit for. I guess I have to give
Silver credit for being generous. (On
the other hand, since Silver had precious little to do with the decision, it’s
not as if it’s any skin off his nose. I
guarantee that if Silver had been able to make a legitimate claim to credit, we
wouldn’t have seen that commercial.
It’s easy to be generous with something that’s not yours.)
And, it pleases me to no end
to see that Joe and the boys are making political commercials that are just
so . . . plausible! I mean, really, folks, let’s get real. In Wardyland, the credit for Fort Bliss
expansion has NOTHING to do with what the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)
group considers important (like the limited number of existing bases that have
the space and capacity to handle more troops as Ft. Bliss does); and I’m sure it
has nothing to do with the fact there have been very important military and
federal officials working on this behind the scenes for years.
No,
sir. It’s all about Little Joe!
What’s next? Alexandro Lozano giving credit to Wardy for
our record rainfall over the winter?
(You know, you get a great understanding of weather patterns from
space.)
Maybe Martie Jobe giving
credit to Wardy for the snow on Christmas Eve?
Please, Martie, don’t let the kids in El Paso discover that Santa Claus
is . . . Joe Wardy—I don’t even want to think about the horror. . . . the
horror.
Better yet, if there’s ever
peace in the Middle East, I’m sure Silver will give ol’ Joe the credit for
that, too. Man, that Wardy guy is
amazing! What else? Wait a minute! I know!
The next one will be Bobby
Bowling giving credit to Joe Wardy for agreeing to annex more of our eastside
land, which will benefit his business but cause major headaches for the City
and drive up our taxes. Oh, hold
on. Sorry…that actually may
happen. Never mind.
The Ad That Gave Me Gas and the Lying
Liars Who Made It
Also in that ad is a blatant
misrepresentation of the facts. At the
end of the ad, Wardy, with that moronic mierda-eating
grin—how can anyone take this doofus seriously?—claims that he helped create
REDCO (the Regional Economic Development Corporation)—which he didn’t—and then
he claims that it didn’t cost taxpayers anything (I believe he actually says it
didn’t cost us “a dime”).
Au contraire, mon
frčre! This is simply false, and I have
an alert reader to thank for the reminder (I tell ya…gotta love those alert
readers!).
At the August 31st,
2004 meeting, the Mayor lobbied for and City Council approved an increase in
our gas bills in order to fund REDCO.
In case you don’t remember
that meeting, feel free to re-read my notes on the issue (http://www.thestrelz.com/shm/2004_0831.htm). At that meeting, Lisa Turner, Anita Blair
and Ray Gilbert opposed funding REDCO with taxpayer dollars. I had a link to the article written by David
Crowder on September 1, 2004 entitled, “City approves 9% tax boost, not 16.5%”,
but the link no longer works (the Times revamped
their website, making all my old links obsolete…do I smell a conspiracy?!). Luckily, I kept a hard copy of the article
(we oldsters can be real packrats, you know), and here’s what the Times had to say:
“In other action Tuesday, Council approved an agreement with Texas
Gas Service Co. that will keep the company from filing a case for higher rates
until 2010 but will allow for incremental increases in bills.
One controversial provision that Council approved will allow the utility to
collect $1.08 from each residential customer a year and up to $70 a year from
industrial customers that will generate $330,000 a year.
Texas Gas plans to use the money to help finance the El Paso Regional Economic
Development Corp.
‘This economic development rate increase is nothing more than a tax,’ said
Westsider Lisa Turner, who was one of several to complain.
Richard Fleager, regional vice president of Texas Gas, said the economic
development effort will focus on bringing new companies to El Paso.
San Antonio and other Texas cities are allowing utilities to contribute to such
economic development organizations using money collected from ratepayers.
‘This is working in San Antonio, and I have come to the realization that this
is a good thing for El Paso,’ South-West city Rep. Anthony Cobos said.”
The next time
Wardy claims that REDCO isn’t costing us “a dime,” be sure to throw your gas
bill at him. Or better yet, ask him to
come to your house and share some of that hot air he seems to have such an
abundance of to help offset your increased gas bill every month.
And the “FINALLY! Some REAL Reporters” Award goes to…
Channel 9, KTSM! Congratulations, Channel 9 folks! [genuine
applause…even a standing ovation!]
I was delighted to know that
an enterprising KTSM reporter looked into the way that Cushing, Lozano, Rojas,
Cobos and Wardy killed an affordable housing project in a community that so
badly needs affordable housing. In the
story, which aired on Tuesday night, the link is made between the death of a
good project, which would have brought $8 million worth of renovation to a
building in El Paso, and local monopolist and evil spirit Bobby Bowling.
Thank you, KTSM, for having
the courage and the willingness to expose special interest involvement in this
issue.
Also this past week, KTSM
did a story about superfund money and the threat that Wardy, Silvestre Reyes
and the Chamber have hurled at us about what they claim is the “stigma”
superfund money will bring us.
In the piece, KTSM reports
that Las Cruces has a superfund site, and guess what…there is no stigma! Their report identified other booming and
successful cities that are also superfund sites. In fact, according to the KTSM report, not only has the superfund
designation not hurt Las Cruces, it has helped it. Wardy has said numerous times that our property values would fall
if El Paso received a superfund designation.
We learn, however, through the good work of KTSM, that his claim is
false. In Las Cruces, as they pointed
out, property values have risen; in fact, the city has been designated one of
the most desirable places to live in the United States by “Relocate America” (http://www.relocateamerica.com/).
Excellent work, KTSM! Thank you for sorting through the myths and
smokescreen of ASARCO’s public relations crew (which includes Joe Wardy &
Co., the “Greater”—it really should be the “Lesser”—El Paso Chamber of
Commerce, and good ol’ Silver himself) and getting us the facts instead.
Speaking of facts, I stand
corrected on last week’s ASARCO lawsuit issue.
Council apparently did not authorize a lawsuit against ASARCO; it authorized the legal department to seek outside council to
sue ASARCO. Thank you to the loyal
reader who brought this to my attention.
The Asses…er…Axis of Evil
Campaign finance reports,
those lovely public records, are out, my friends (http://www.elpasotexas.gov/city_clerk/2005election.asp)! Campaign finance reports are a great way to
see who is helping fund campaigns: Is
it the people or the special interests?
If you take a look at the
incumbents, you’ll see it ain’t “the people.”
An amazing amount of money was (and has been) dropped into their laps by
. . . drumroll please!...the Bowling Family.
They must have money to burn!
(But not in a crematorium, I hope, or Lozano will shoot off into space
again! Actually, I think he’s still
there.)
Here
are the highlights for the Crony Crew’s latest campaign finance reports.
Let’s start with the
individual I believe is probably the Luther candidate in District 4, Melina
Castro. She has two contributors. One contributor (IT Solutions, which donated
her website) and the Jobe Pac, with a contribution of $1060.24. Yes, folks, a Luther candidate indeed!
On to Vivan Rojas, who is
now claiming in her campaign materials that she helped work on the medical
school (when she knows damn well she led a PR campaign to kill the plans for a
health-related industry surrounding it).
As evidenced by last week’s vote to kill a worthy affordable housing
project near her district, she is still deeply indebted to certain special
interests (http://www.thestrelz.com/shm/2005_0308.htm).
My friends, on the very day that the San
Antonio Alternative Housing Corporation (SAAHC) came before Council to ask for
their help, March 8th, the Bowling family began their infamous
deposits, giving Vivian Rojas $2,000 in a classic “quid pro quo” (to quote
Anthony Cobos, see below) http://www.elpasotexas.gov/city_clerk/_documents/2005%20Elections/Campaign%20Finance%20Reports/Rojas%20Vivian.pdf. Vivian, a good Bowling soldier, made a motion
to deny the project at that meeting, and it was clear that Cobos and Lozano
were on board, ready to deliver their “no” votes that day. It wasn’t to be because the item was
postponed, but Rojas had already made her objections public and clear, and delivered
her “no” vote when the project came back to Council three weeks later.
I just wonder if Bowling
delivered the check before the meeting began that day, or once it was over.
Space Oddity Alexandro
Lozano is also part of the Crony Crew (like Rojas, Lozano’s “no” vote helped
Bobby kill a good project). On the very
day he, too, made it clear he would deliver a “no” vote on this project, Bobby
delivered a $1,000 check to Major Al.
An interesting thing to note
about Cushing is that he had a big fundraiser sponsored by his host committee
at the El Paso Club in February.
Neither the expenditures nor the in-kind donation (and he should have
had one or the other) is listed on his report.
Tsk, tsk, Mr. Cushing, you know you’re supposed to report that! Also, of the $12,450 he raised, he received
$1,000 from the police union and $2,000 from the Bombach family (owner of
Saratoga Homes). And, yes, as I had
been informed, Theresa Caballero did indeed give to the Bully Boy--$200.
But, my friends, the Bowlings
didn’t give their donations to Cushing on the day of his fundraiser in
February. They waited until the day
Cushing helped start the slow death of the SAAHC project. Then, on that day, they delivered an obscene
amount of money to him. Fully one third
of the money Cushing reported this time around—$4,000—came from the Bowling
family. http://www.elpasotexas.gov/city_clerk/_documents/2005%20Elections/Campaign%20Finance%20Reports/Cushing%20Jr%20Robert%20A.pdf
The risk Bobby Bowling runs
with this “checks for votes” quid pro quo
strategy of his is that he may end up creating a monster…a Pavlovian dog, if
you will. Every time Council votes to
kill off one of Bobby’s competitors or votes in favor of one of Bobby’s
projects, their mouths will begin salivating and they’ll be ready to sit up and
accept their checks. Careful,
Bobby. I hear those dogs a barkin’!
Cobos, who was interviewed
by David Crowder of the El Paso Times,
denied that all the campaign contributions donated by special interests made
any impact on his votes. (At the same
time, on the “weather” section of the paper, the weather guys reported seemingly
unnatural lightening bolts aimed in the direction of City Hall. Interesting.) This is the same guy who defeated Suncrest for Bowling and who
received $4,000 from the Bowlings (nearly 30% of his total contributions this
round), $1,000 from Albert Gamboa (owner of Thermodyn, you know, the guy whom
Wardy helped get a city contract), and $2,000 from the Bombach family:
Speaking of the Bombach
family, it turns out that my readers believe that Nick Bombach works for his
family at Saratoga Homes, not Tropicana Realty, as I had believed (my source
never got a response to her email inquiry).
Nevertheless, Nick Bombach is the individual who sat at a lunch with
Alexandro Lozano and Lozano’s appointee to the City Plan Commission, Ray
Mancera, when they discussed annexation.
Clearly, the Bombachs are interested in the promise this administration
has made to annex plenty of land for them to develop and share with the
Bowlings.
And Wardy…well, I’ll need a
few days to sort through that one (http://www.elpasotexas.gov/city_clerk/_documents/2005%20Elections/Campaign%20Finance%20Reports/Wardy%20Joe.pdf). There are a whopping 91 pages to his report.
Most of the contributors are of the
wealthy west-side Chamber of Commerce persuasion, but David Crowder did some of
the math for me:
"I
have no apologies," he said of raising so much money. "I'm not being
arrogant. I just have no apologies. I think it validates that people think El
Paso is moving forward under my leadership."
Members of the Bowling family, which owns Tropicana Homes and other land
development enterprises, are the largest contributors to his campaign with
$20,703, followed by the Jobe Political Action Committee at $13,000 and the El
Paso Police Officers Association at $11,904.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2005504080371
I think the mayor doth
protest too much. Feeling a little bit
uncomfortable about the source of your campaign funds and the decisions you
make as our “independent” mayor, Mr. Joe?
You should indeed be apologizing!
You should apologize for selling your soul (and our Mayor’s Office) to
the highest bidders and political string pullers: The Bowlings and the Jobes of this town.
However, aside from the fact
that he’s drowning in special interest money, what I find most interesting is
his expenditure list.
Looking for the Bear
On page 70 of his campaign
report, under his expenditures, Wardy lists his City Hall secretary, Delia
Cortinas, for “Reimbursement for facility rental and postage for re-election
campaign announcement.” My friends, it
is my understanding that the employees of City elected officials cannot
participate in their bosses’ campaign activities. Do I smell a potential ethics violation?
Ms. Cortinas is not the only
employee working on her boss’s campaign.
Robert Cushing also had his secretary attend a recent political forum,
and I believe these actions may violate Civil Service Rules.
But what is most disturbing
about Wardy’s expenditures list can be found on pages 80-82 of his expense
report. On that report, he lists
expenses to SBC for “phone service at City Hall,” “Phone and fax service at
City Hall,” and “Long Distance Service for Mayor’s Office at City Hall.”
Is Wardy working his
campaign (at least part of the time) from inside City Hall? I don’t know if that’s legal, but even if it
is, it is clearly not ethical. How can
we taxpayers be guaranteed that our government resources (like computers,
internet service, secretarial staff and conference or meeting rooms to name a
few) are not being used by Wardy & Co. to ensure their re-election?
Bear
Walters…where are you?
When Pro-Business Means Pro-Bowling
(And I Ain’t Talkin’ Fiesta Lanes)
The latest David Crowder
article regarding local campaign fundraising was another gem. (http://www.elpasotimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2005504090335) And the Times also published a compendium of
gifts of $500 or more to each of the City Council candidates. http://www.elpasotimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2005504090333. I urge my readers to read both. The Crowder story is very revealing. Let me quote from it:
“The
Bowling family, which has weighed into the mayor's race with $20,700 in campaign
contributions to Mayor Joe Wardy, has also given $28,500 to six city
representatives seeking re-election, bringing the Bowlings' total donations to
$49,202.
Leading the city representatives in contributions from the family that owns
Tropicana Homes and other development enterprises is South-West city Rep.
Anthony Cobos, who has received $7,000 from the Bowlings since July 2003.”
Mendacity Alert™!
When the Bowlings give this
much money, you know they fear their vice-like grip on Council is being threatened. Here’s how Anthony Cobos tried to explain
away the fact that he is owned lock, stock and barrel by La Familia Bowling.
“Like
Wardy, Cobos denies that the contributions from the Bowlings and other
developers affect his decisions on housing and land development matters. ‘There's never a quid pro quo,’ Cobos
said [emphasis added], using a Latin expression meaning ‘this for that.’”
"I am proud to say I am pro-business," he said. "I think the
building industry appreciates my pro-business attitude.”
“Quid pro quo” is the
perfect phrase, Mr. Cobos! You hit the
nail right on the head.
Mendacity Alert™! Part Deux
And here’s ol’ Bobby Bowling
lying through his teeth about the purpose of his family’s largesse:
“Bobby
Bowling IV, president of Tropicana Homes, said his family has neither sought
nor gotten any favors from City Council.
But their contributions to various political campaigns have a point, he said,
in this election particularly.
He said they had worked to oust the previous mayor, Ray Caballero, whom
developers did not see as a friend.
’We had a sense of duty as business people to work against an anti-business
administration,’ he said. ‘Now, Caballero has a slate, another group of
anti-business folks, and we're working real hard to keep Caballero's slate out
of office.’”
Bobby, my friend, you are
one pathetically bad liar (have you been taking lessons from Robert
Cushing?). You know damn well you have
told several members of Council what to do and when to do it and you know that
we know.
The people on Council who
are owned by the Bowlings can’t run on their records (in fact, they are
frequently running away from their
records), so they (and their puppet masters the Bowlings) are forced to try to
make Ray Caballero, a former mayor who doesn’t even live in El Paso anymore,
the issue in this campaign. How
sad. Beto O’Rourke, Cobos’s opponent in
District 8, had this to say:
“O'Rourke,
who owns his own business and was never part of the Caballero administration,
said such talk is a deliberate mischaracterization of the challengers in
several races.
’It's a terrible thing to say,’ he said. ‘I would never be part of a slate or
be controlled by anyone. The Bowlings realize that's an issue that scares
people. It's like a panic button they keep pushing.’”
My friends, here’s my two
cents. I think Bobby Bowling did a very
stupid thing by talking about a Caballero slate. This was a serious tactical mistake, particularly considering the
incredibly obvious fact that there is a
real slate of candidates in this race.
His! However, having said that,
I don’t believe slates are inherently bad things. They are only bad when they are run by special interests (like
the Bowling family) who want to get their hands on our elected officials in
order to make the decisions for them behind the scenes. They are only bad things when control is the
central issue. When will someone tell
the Times, “You want a slate? How about the Bowling slate? How about the Luther slate? How about the Jobe slate?” Those slates are real slates that do real
damage to this community.
If there is a slate of
ethical candidates, that is something that our community should be excited by
and support.
Let the voters decide. Do they want corrupt cronies on Council
whose allegiance is to one limited and unethical sector of the “business
community” (and to one family in particular within that sector)? Or do they want people on Council who are
ethical and progressive and committed to policies that will benefit the city as
a whole?
My friends, there are only
four more Council meetings (and columns) until election day. As I have mentioned before, I plan on
retiring once we know who the new mayor and Council are (my retirement may be
postponed for a few weeks if there is a runoff).
There is still much work to
be done; this is still in our hands, my friends, and it’s not too late
(yet).
Until
next week.
Comments or questions: shmaven@yahoo.com
My commentaries are posted
weekly at http://www.thestrelz.com/shm/shm.htm
Also, if any of my readers would
like to add their own comments or thoughts, they can do that at
http://strelzbacktalk.proboards19.com/index.cgi?board=shm