2.21.06
My dear, not-forgotten readers, while I have missed my weekly
correspondence with you, I must confess that I have thoroughly enjoyed my
retirement. I have enjoyed focusing on battling wits with my scaly
friends. The stress I would go through to deliver those weekly columns is
now a distant, bitter-sweet memory. But not so distant that I’m not afraid
to reconnect every now and then.
Exercising the Franchise
I know you’re out there, and I know you’re hungry for
information. At some point, I’d like to follow-up with a more in-depth
column, but for now I am writing to remind you that an important time is upon
us again…election time.
I know you, my patient, loyal readers, are not only aware of the
fact that it’s election time, you’ve probably already decided whom you’ll vote
for and many of you have probably already even voted. However, I am
compelled to ask you to go beyond that and to actively work to get as many of
your family members, friends and neighbors as you can to the polls in this very
important election.
I must tell you that what temporarily jolted me out of my
blissful retirement was the nauseating image of Anthony Cobos and Luis Sariñana
sitting on County Commissioner’s Court. This bad daydream, which occurred
as I sat patiently waiting for the fish to bite, was like one of the
thunderbolts you get when you’re passing a kidney stone. For those of you
who have passed one, you know it’s unpleasant to say the least. Cobos is
my kidney stone.
Minority Report
Like many of you, I have received Cobos’s mailers and have seen
his commercials. My friends, I have not forgotten his slimy, venomous,
utterly corrupt ways while on City Council—how could any of us forget that?—and
I hope that memory will motivate my loyal readers to get out the vote to keep
ol’ Tony off County Commissioner’s Court. The problem is, while you and I
remember what Cobos was like while on Council, we are in a minority (albeit an
exceptionally sagacious and well-informed minority), and there are some
seriously uninformed voters in our community who buy into his easy “no new
taxes” promises and his other cheap rhetoric. The other problem is that
Cobos, who has been unemployed since his blessed ouster from City Council, has
had plenty of time to knock on voters’ doors, and voters are impressed by
that. Little do they know he had nothing else to do with his time.
The Return of the Nincompoop
Many of you may not know about Luis Sariñana, who is running for
County Commissioner, east side precinct (formerly Barbara Perez’s seat). I
wasn’t writing my column during his shameful tenure on City Council, but I was
watching. He was often horribly misinformed and almost always thoroughly
chuckleheaded and laughably inarticulate. Sound like someone we
know? He was, if you can imagine this, a meaner version of Alexandro
Lozano. He certainly has no business being an elected official.
The fact that the El Paso Times has done a miserable job
of looking into these recycled candidates’ backgrounds, voting records and
histories is disappointing but not surprising. Cobos has a long, shameful
voting and public record, as does Sariñana, as do other candidates for
Commissioners’ Court, such as the sadly ineffectual and downright criminal
Betti Flores. But to hear the Times tell it, their slates are washed
clean and they have no past. I am reborn! The Times has simply
done a terrible job of informing the community. In fact, reading the Times,
one might even conclude that this is not an important election. But that
could not be more wrong, folks.
The voters of this community ousted most, though not all, of the
Luther candidates in the last municipal election. But I assure you, that’s
okay with Luther. He will just parade his next slate of candidates on over
to the County and then the school district. He’ll let go of the City (for
now—he never gives up for good), let his minions (like Melina) chip away at the
credibility of the good folks on City Council, and bide his time until the next
election. In the meantime, he is poised to take over the County completely
because he’s running multiple candidates (sometimes in the same race) and the
media has been asleep at the wheel.
It’s up to people like you and me to
prevent that from happening.
Get Thee Behind Me, Luther
I can tell you who the main Luther candidates at the County
are: Anthony Cobos, Luis Sariñana, and Betti Flores. I was also
informed that Luther was in attendance at Larry Medina’s recent fundraiser,
although I was not there to verify that. There is also the District Clerk,
Gilbert Sanchez, and there are probably more (I’m sure I’ve left many of them
out).
And then there’s the state representative race pitting Lorraine
O’Donnell against incumbent Pat Haggerty. Haggerty has drawn an opponent
because he has had the temerity to defend this community against the predations
of his fellow Republicans. O’Donnell (like Cobos) has claimed, over and
over again, that she is no longer of the Luther persuasion. What does it
say about our dear Luther that everyone who is or who has ever been a Luther
candidate disavows him at every opportunity?
My friends, the tragedy in all of this would be—if the Luther
candidates were to win—that we would have passed on good options available to
us, especially those in this County election. Imagine
that! OPTIONS…genuine, good (and in some cases excellent)
options! How often does that happen, especially at the County?
There’s also the judicial races, which are also
critical. Unfortunately, they rarely get the attention they deserve, and
there’s one race in particular—the 120th District Court—that
features an incumbent judge who desperately needs to be replaced. Luis
Aguilar, the incumbent, has been publicly reprimanded as an attorney and as a
judge. He has no business being on the bench. If you need more information,
please be sure to visit the El Paso Judge Watch website, which is www.epjudgewatch.org,
and for specific information on Aguilar, visit http://www.epjudgewatch.org/judges/dc/aguilar/ag.htm.
So my recommendation is that we each commit to ensuring that 20
people go out and vote. Let these be neighbors, friends, relatives, I
don’t care—just let them be registered voters, and please, tell them whom they
should NOT vote for.
We can’t leave this one to chance, my friends. It would be
a sad day for all of us if people like Anthony Cobos, Lorraine O’Donnell, Betti
Flores, Luis Sariñana, Gilbert Sanchez, Luis Aguilar, etc. were awarded with
elected office despite the better options.
Clash of the Titans
And, since you are my captive audience, I cannot resist giving
you a quick update on City Councilville. In a phrase: My, oh my, oh
my.
I must say that it’s been very difficult for me stay in
retirement as I watch the goings-on every Tuesday. As I sit and watch the
Council meetings I become strangely distressed and excited at the same time by
what’s going on, sending my blood pressure into the stratosphere.
What I witness week in and week out at Council, my friends, is a
city going through some very serious and some very public growing pains.
You see, my friends, we are finally transforming ourselves from
a town with no aspirations to a community that genuinely wants to be
better. While it is indeed a sight to see, it’s also sometimes,
unfortunately, a war. On the positive end of that tug-of-war we have a
group of five (the notorious “gang of five” according to a former hero of mine
– emphasis on the “former”) who are clearly well-informed, concerned and
committed to making El Paso better. And what we have on the other end is a
trio of small-minded opportunists. So every Tuesday is a clash between
these two forces (sans Harry Hamlin in a loincloth), and let me tell you,
I’m rooting for the five.
I’d Rather Die in the Status Quo Than
Live With Progress
The trio’s mantra, which is as offensive as it is stupid, is
that we must do everything humanly possible to protect the status quo, which in
turn will protect the poor and the elderly. Not only is this a misguided
mantra, I’d argue it’s a manipulative and disingenuous one.
Why is it disingenuous? Because they are only focusing on
stopping progress, not making people’s lives better. In fact, these three
have never once talked about how to increase prosperity, wages and
opportunities for the poor, and their silence on that speaks volumes to me.
Instead, they play to the television cameras and proclaim that
we cannot have parks—because a poor town like El Paso can’t afford
them. We cannot have downtown re-development—because supporting downtown
is elitist. We cannot have a discussion about transportation—because the
poor can’t afford better roads. And, yes, we can’t even have any debate
about these issues because the crafty elitists are much better than the good,
simple champions of the poor at debate and, because, well, debate itself is
elitist. Down with all elites!
It’s become a transparent, tired and ridiculous beating of the
drum, week after week. It’s essentially opportunistic exploitation of the
poor disguised as populism. And, unfortunately, its proponents are getting
away with it. Our five progressive representatives clearly find it
unpleasant to tangle with the three nattering nabobs of negativism, and
unfortunately, two of those bozos (Lozano and Holguin) have had free reign over
El Diario and the El Paso Times op-ed section since they were
elected. You can’t say that Jaime O. didn’t prep them on how to manipulate
the electorate. (Jaime O. Lesson One: Seek to dominate all the
print media in town.)
Affordable Housing Monopoly Good, Parks
Bad
The truth is these guys are in no way protectors of the poor;
I’d call them predators. In fact, they’re worse than that. They’re
pimps…they’re pseudo-populist predatory poverty pimps!
These poverty pimps prey on the uninformed and they exploit
those they claim they are protecting. On the parks issue, Eddie Holguin
and Melina Castro are funded, largely, by the anti-parks guys: Team
Bowling. Team Bowling doesn’t want anyone to eat into their fat profits,
and they couldn’t give a damn about creating a better community. All they
care about is their bottom line. If you peruse the latest campaign finance
reports for Eddie Holguin and Melina Castro, you will see that their financiers
are the “Parks are Bad!” Bowling Boys
(Melina’s reports: http://www.elpasotexas.gov/city_clerk/_documents/Campaign_reports/2006/Castro%20Melina%201-15-06.pdf
Eddie Holguin’s reports:
http://www.elpasotexas.gov/city_clerk/_documents/Campaign_reports/2006/Holguin%20Eddie%201-15-06.pdf).
By the way, Melina also received a contribution from fellow
Luther water boy, Anthony Cobos.
If Lozano’s campaign finance reports were available online, I’d
venture to guess that the same thing goes for him. Unfortunately, I can’t
view them as they’re not available online, so either he never turned one in or
the City hasn’t put it online (I’m guessing he never turned one in).
And while we’re on the subject of campaign finance reports, it
looks like Joe Wardy is still sitting on a hefty sum ($13k!). He used some
of his funding to reimburse Luther (his puppet master) for printing costs and
to donate money to major Republicans and crypto Republicans like Silvestre
Reyes http://www.elpasotexas.gov/city_clerk/_documents/Campaign_reports/2006/Wardy,%20Joe%201-15-06.pdf.
Maybe we can get Wardy to use some of that big money to fund a park or two,
eh? Don’t count on it.
Back to the Bozos. So for the Just Say No trio to claim
they’re fighting parks because they want to protect the poor (and protect them
from what? The great
outdoors? Playgrounds? Exercise? Trees?) is a
farce. They’re nothing but mouthpieces for the Bowlings. They are
also following the strategy of their Buddha, Jaime O. Perez, who sees virtually
every issue through his “poor working class v. the elite” political
prism. The three champions of the status quo—Castro, Lozano and
Holguin—are clearly betting that opposing smart growth is smart politics. (Jaime
O. Lesson Two: Fasten on issues that can be manipulated to pit the poor
against the “elite.”)
Central to this strategy is manufacturing a conflict between
parks and affordable housing. I believe it was Eddie Holguin who argued
that requiring developers to provide greater acreage of green space in new
developments will make new housing prohibitively expensive for low- and
moderate-income El Pasoans. With such arguments, Holguin (and his mentor,
Perez) hope to portray City Council’s smart growth advocates as anti-poor
elitists, to portray Holguin as a champion of the little guy, and, as I said
earlier, to curry favor with developers like the Bowlings. It’s a
demagogic trifecta, if you will. I hope most people can see through this
cynical posturing. The reason affordable housing is becoming less
affordable in El Paso is because housing prices in general are rising. But
the Luther/Perez team has never let the truth stand in the way. If it were
up to these guys, El Paso would never change or improve.
Fallen Hero
And I’m sad to report that in the Big Disappointment category is
a person who used to be my hero: Lisa Turner. Lisa T. has become
extremely suspicious (almost paranoid) and accusatory of late, to the point where
I wonder what’s going on with her. What’s even more disturbing is that her
accusations, unfortunately, are usually aimed at the Good Guys! At
Tuesday’s meeting, for example, she turned on the drama when Beto O’Rourke
wanted to introduce an item that would require the Progress=Death Trio to state
the reasons why they are abstaining from voting.
In case you didn’t already know, these crybabies (Melina,
Alejandro and Eddie) have gotten into the habit of abstaining from voting in
important votes when they either: (a) aren’t smart enough to know what the
issue is; (b) haven’t taken the time to get informed about what’s going on; or
(c) don’t have the courage to vote on a controversial issue.
From Just Say No to Just Abstain (Nancy
Would be Proud)
I applaud O’Rourke for wanting to add transparency to this
increasingly frequent cop-out. This community deserves to know why people
abstain from certain votes, and no one should be against such a proposal…unless
they have something to hide (like their cowardice).
During the crescendo of Turner’s rant, she claimed that this was
a “communist” measure, and, when it came time to vote, Holguin (who had been
echoing Turner’s absurd accusations), abstained (what else?), stating he “still
believes in a free America.” Cowardice don’t cost a dime, Mr. Ed.
What a bunch of hooey!
Yes, these guys are cowards. And I’m sorry to say that
Turner’s behavior has become very much like Lozano’s: Rude, unprofessional
and disrespectful. All that such behavior does is make her lose credibility
with this columnist.
Speaking of Lozano, he has moved from being a comic figure to
being a complete Neanderthal. He speaks out of turn, interrupts people, is
incoherent, and can be a complete bully. (Do I see the specter of Robert
Cushing hovering in Council chambers?) Eddie Holguin is a bully as well,
but he’s more of a whiny bully—the kind of kid who cries “It’s not fair, it’s
not fair, it’s not fair! The five get everything, we get nothing!” Whiners
of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your dignity!
And Melina…well, she’s in a league all her own. Not only is
she aligned with these guys, I don’t even think she understands why she’s
aligned with them—she’s that clueless. I do know that Luther Jones and
David Escobar are her main puppeteers and still control her actions. All
she does is follow orders, like the foolish and money wasting lawsuit against,
well, herself (and the rest of the City). She’s become quite good at
pandering, though. And why wouldn’t she be? She’s learning from the
best of them.
And the other five…they’re doing the best they can with what
they’ve got (thankfully, they’ve got a majority). They’ve made great
strides in their short time on Council, despite Lisa Turner’s claim that
O’Rourke doesn’t even deserve to live in El Paso (yes, a claim she actually
made at Tuesday’s meeting—has she gone off the deep end or what?), and despite
Ray Gilbert’s childish statement that this Council is the worst he’s seen
(Sorry, Ray, but aside from the Three Amigos, it’s the best I’ve ever
seen).
Unfortunately, the newspaper (as per usual) continues to do a
poor job of covering much of the campaign contributions and influence or even
covering the good work going on, and I don’t see much clear community
communications coming from the Progressive Five. They need to do a lot
more in this area or they will lose the battle in the trenches to the
Luther/Perez crew.
All this makes your loyal columnist tempted to go back to my
weekly grind…but not quite. It would take a lot to make me want come out
of retirement, go back to carefully watching painfully long meetings, take
lightening fast notes and take out the wit that’s gathering dust in the
closet. I think for now, it’s up to all of us to do a better job of
watching and informing…together.
However, I do miss the rush of sending out the column, going to
bed and waking up to great emails from loyal readers. I miss all of you.
I appreciate you indulging this oldster once more as I vent and
urge you to change the course at the County as you did at the City. We
really should be doing more, too, after each election to help good folks once
they’re in office. Lord knows they need it and this community needs
it.
Rest assured that when school board elections come up, I’ll
probably urge you again to go vote.
Now get off your duff, get on the phone, and get 20 voters out
to the polls! Early voting ends March 3rd and election day is
March 7th.
Ciao for now!