[Author’s note: The name of Michael Pleters was corrected on December 19, 2017 @ 09:31ET] Any talk of the 2016 election will likely touch on the Russians meddling in the election. Whether on the right or the left, most, if not all voters, would agree that the vote is sacrosanct to any election. Thus, any… Read More Veronica Escobar, Corruption and Election Meddling
It seems that for El Paso voters there is such a thing as too much corruption. But looks can be deceiving. As you likely know, Jim Tolbert was dismissed by the El Paso voters on Saturday. It may look like the eight percent of El Pasoans, that cast a vote, were repudiating Jim Tolbert’s corruption.… Read More Tolbert And Too Much Corruption
This is for those of you that are still upset with my lack of coverage of the local El Paso political scene during the recent municipal races. Even if I could have motived myself to rewrite much of the same commentary, or create new data graphs of where the political money is coming from, the… Read More Local Blogosphere Proves Nothing Changed
(This post was edited on April 8, 2017 at 12:30ET [10:30EP to correct an error I made in regards to Alexsandra Annello, please read below for more information ) Some of you have let me know that you are upset with my lack of coverage of last Saturday’s El Paso municipal elections. The reason I… Read More The May 2017 Election – Nothing Changed
Last week there was some controversy regarding KVIA’s decision to limit their mayoral debates to the top three mayoral candidates that have raised the most money. It was a controversy about the news media’s responsibility to be fair. Let us put the KVIA mayoral candidate debate in context. It is nice to believe that the… Read More The KVIA Mayoral Candidate Debate Controversy
The upcoming May 2017 municipal elections include the same political characters and the same challengers mounting an unwinnable race. This is because at the core of El Paso remains an unpleasant truth about the electorate that few realize and no one knows how to fix. It is an electorate that votes themselves a paycheck while… Read More The Electorate of El Paso 2017
It seems that some readers of the blog are wondering if I am going to go back to writing about El Paso politics. My interest has always been about border politics, of which El Paso plays a major role. I started commenting about border politics because of the general notion that México is corrupt and… Read More El Paso Politics
Jim Tolbert filed an ethics complaint against Larry Romero complaining about Romero’s lack of ethics at city council. Those of you who are longtime readers of my blog know that the single most annoying thing for me is hypocrisy. I don’t have a problem with any politician taking a position adverse to mine. That is… Read More The Ethics and Hypocrisy of Jim Tolbert
I realize that today’s post is going to make many of you angry and some of you horrified that I am actually bringing this up. But, the facts demonstrate that my belief is not so farfetched after all, if you allow the facts to lead the way. The de-Mexicanization of El Paso is not racism… Read More Proof of the de-Mexicanization of El Paso
During the last couple of days, I shared with you how the local chambers of commerce and the news media incubates and encourages corruption in El Paso. One of my statements elicited a strong response with emails demanding that I retract my statement that corruption is still a serious problem in El Paso. One email,… Read More The Corruption of Jim Tolbert
Veronica Escobar argued to the Texas Attorney General that her years-long friendship with Susie Byrd is reason sufficient to exclude her from the Texas Public Information Act – and the Texas AG bought into that argument. That is the essence of Escobar’s reasons for not releasing the public information records about El Paso Police Chief… Read More Texas Attorney General Exempts Friends from Freedom of Information
During city council’s discussion (item 33.1) last week about Cortney Niland asking that the city rescind its prohibition of electronic devices at the city dais during city council meetings, there was another elected official whose government transparency notions need to be scrutinized. As you know, Niland has told you that she will not follow the… Read More Jim Tolbert and the Art of Hypocrisy About Transparency
Last Tuesday, at the city council meeting, Cortney Niland told voters that she will not follow the rules set for city council meetings. Her outburst came during the discussion for agenda item number 33.1, which Niland added to the agenda, asking for council to resend its rule prohibiting the use of telephones and other devices… Read More Cortney Niland Tells Voters She Will Not Follow Rules
As I wrote in yesterday’s post, my request regarding Jim Tolbert’s use of social media got me thinking about officials using private devices and how that affects open records requests. On July 13, 2016 I posted “Jim Tolbert Open Records Requests and Social Media Channels”. As I wrote on that post, I had started to… Read More Private Devices and Open Records Documents
I recently filed several open records requests in order to conduct a test on how public officials are using technology and how it affects open records requests. The comments made by El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen, about the Black Lives Matter group gave me an opportunity to experiment. I will share with you more… Read More A Chill Between Veronica Escobar and Claudia Ordaz?
Since Jim Tolbert took office on May 17, 2016, I have noticed a few constituency requests being made of him through Facebook. These requests got me thinking about government transparency and social media channels. Do not get me wrong, at this point, Facebook requests and most other social media channel requests seem to me to… Read More Jim Tolbert Open Records Requests and Social Media Channels
As you all know by now, the City of El Paso Ethics Commission issued two letters of reprimand to Tommy Gonzalez, the city manager. Both letters were issued on June 3, 2016, two days after the ethics commission held a hearing into the allegations made by Jim Tolbert against Gonzalez. There has been some comment… Read More The Tommy Gonzalez Letters of Reprimand
As you all likely know, yesterday Jim Tolbert was sworn into office and took his seat at the city council chambers. I recently pointed out that Jim Tolbert is an extension of Susie Byrd, who by default is an extension of Veronica Escobar. There are still some who read my blog that believe that I… Read More Veronica Escobar Adds Vote To City
Today, I am faced with having to discard the post I had ready to go for today. Instead I am writing a new one because Jim Tolbert undeniably pulled off an unexpected win on Saturday. Tolbert is now the District 2 representative and depending on how quickly the City is able to move he may… Read More The Tolbert Agenda