José Rodríguez: A Win for El Paso

by: Michael Hurta

Sun May 05, 2013 at 00:00 PM CDT

With his bill now passed by both the Texas Senate and the Texas House, Senator Rodríguez is declaring a victory for El Paso and its entire legislative delegation at the capitol.

Find out why below the fold.  

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott Denies Benefits for Same Sex Couples in Austin

by: Edward Garris

Mon Apr 29, 2013 at 04:54 PM CDT

April can be the cruelest month.  In a defeat for civil rights and home rule in Texas, Texas Attorney Greg Abbott scaled back rights for same-sex couples in cities such as Austin, Pflugerville, El Paso, Fort Worth, and others.

In November, State Senator Dan Patrick sent a request  for an official opinion to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, asking this question:

"Does Art. 1, §32 of the Texas Constitution that defines marriage as one man and one woman and prohibits government recognition of any legal status identical or similar to marriage preclude political subdivisions of Texas from providing so-called domestic partnership benefits to their employees?"

Today, in a six-page opinion , Greg Abbott struck down advances in civil liberties for same sex couples in Texas, and answered Patrick's letter stating that it does.

Patrick had been upset that insurance benefits were offered to members of same-sex couples in Travis County, the City of Austin, Pflugerville ISD, El Paso, Fort Worth, the City of San Antonio, and El Paso County.  

Abbott's letter first argues that Section 32 - the section in question - applies to Texas cities, counties, and school districts (no word yet on municipal utility districts or MUDs).  It then asks whether these political subdivisions have created or recognized a legal status, and, if so, whether that legal status is identical or similar to marriage.

Abbott's letter answers  "yes" to both questions, at the end stating that Section 32 "prohibits political subdivisions from creating a legal status of domestic partnership and recognizing that status by offering public benefits based upon it," but not before cautioning that the U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming rulings on DOMA and Prop 8 might make this very letter unenforceable.  

Did Dee Margo Pay Off Naomi Gonzalez and Marisa Marquez to Support Him Over Joe Moody?

by: Katherine Haenschen

Mon Jan 28, 2013 at 09:30 AM CST

Back in the fall, in the battle for HD-78, Democratic state representatives Naomi Gonzalez (HD-76) and Marisa Marquez (HD-77) endorsed Republican incumbent Dee Margo over Democratic challenger and previous officeholder Joe Moody.

That wasn't smart politics and it wasn't responsive to the needs of their constituents -- any Democrat is going to be more responsive to the needs of El Paso residents than a Republican, and Joe Moody is an exemplary public servant dedicated to making life better for all Texans.

As part of the endorsement, Gonzalez and Marquez appeared in at least three direct mailers supporting Margo. One is seen at right (click to open in new window). Turns out their opinion evidently didn't sway a lot of voters, as Moody was returned to office with 53.82% of the vote, ousting Margo.

Now, thanks to their January 15th semiannual reports, it is clear that Gonzalez and Marquez each took a $2500 donation from Margo's personal account, just days before the mailer went to print.

They also received another $2500 each from Margo's personal account after he lost. That's a total of $10,000 from Margo's personal bank account to the two Democrats.

Did Dee Margo give Naomi Gonzalez and Marisa Marquez $5,000 each to endorse him? Or are they actually just bought and paid for by Republican mega-donors?

See the details below the jump and decide for yourself.  

15,000 El Paso Students Can Now Apply For Deferred Deportation

by: Ben Sherman

Wed Aug 15, 2012 at 00:28 PM CDT

The Washington D.C.-based Immigration Policy Center estimates 1.3 million immediate and future potential beneficiaries in the country. In IPC's estimate, 226,700 live in Texas. That makes Texas the state with the second most beneficiaries, behind California.

Fifteen thousand of the qualified applicants living in the El Paso area will be able to apply for the deferred deportation program this week.

In June, President Obama said this of his decision:

Now, these are young people who study in our schools, they play in our neighborhoods, they're friends with our kids, they pledge allegiance to our flag. They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper. They were brought to this country by their parents, sometimes even as infants, and often have no idea that they're undocumented until they apply for a job or a driver's license or a college scholarship.

Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine you've done everything right your entire life, studied hard, worked hard, maybe even graduated at the top of your class, only to suddenly face the threat of deportation to a country that you know nothing about, with a language that you may not even speak.

Iliana Holguin, executive director of the Catholic Church's El Paso Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services, said the program was an important step but also an incomplete one.

I think it's definitely a step in the right direction and will provide tremendous benefits for young people who can't pursue a job right now, but unfortunately it's not a solution to the root of the problem. We need to have a way for these people to have lawful permanent resident status.

Burnt Orange Report Endorsements: CD-16: Silvestre Reyes

by: Burnt Orange Report

Sun May 13, 2012 at 03:00 PM CDT

Reyes is a solid Democratic vote and a dedicated representative who has delivered for his district, including securing substantial funding for border security. He also brought home $1 billion in federal stimulus funds to the district, providing for projects at Fort Bliss, the El Paso Housing Authority, and Sun Metro, among others. He is a staunch advocate for Vietnam veterans as a ranking member of the Veterans Affairs committee.

Challenger Beto O'Rourke caught our attention, and while we are excited to see a young Democrat making a bid for office, we do not believe that he has articulated a meaningful reason to change representatives. We also have qualms about O'Rourke's support of Republican Jay Kleberg in 2010, when Kleberg was running in the Republican primary against Dee Margo, after which the winner would challenge Democrat Joe Moody in the general election. Had Kleberg won, O'Rourke would have been supporting someone actively campaigning to unseat a Democratic legislator.

This will be a close race owing to changes to the 16th during the redistricting process. That's one reason why both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have endorsed Reyes for re-election. We join them in urging voters to support Silvestre Reyes in CD-16.

More Like No Bridge To Somewhere: Your Weekly Environmental Roundup For Texas And Beyond

by: Adam Schwitters

Fri May 04, 2012 at 03:51 PM CDT

Texas

• Al Armendariz, the EPA’s Region 6 Administrator based in Dallas, was forced to resign after a video surfaced in which he likens his enforcement strategy to a Roman conquest, “they’d go into a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw, and they crucified them.”  Needless to say, those comments have not gone over well with members of congress or the oil and gas industry in Texas.  Debbie Hastings, Executive VP of the Texas Oil & Gas Assoc, claims in a recent Op-Ed that Armendariz’s statement is part of a larger “federal undercurrent to undermine the oil and natural gas industry, which promotes our nation’s energy independence, provides millions of jobs and pays billions in taxes.”  EnergyWire is convinced that the feud between the Texas energy industry and the EPA will continue despite the resignation.
• The 16th Congressional District Democratic primary contest might hang on the construction of a new international bridge between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.  The incumbent, Silvestre Reyes, claims as many as 5,000 El Pasoans will be displaced by the bridge.  There is a slight problem for Reyes.  According to Roy Gilyard of the Metropolitan Planning Organization (which would be tasked with proposing the bridge in question), there is no current activity to build a new international bridge.  Reyes’s Democratic opponent, Beto O’Rourke, called the controversy “the worst kind of pandering. [Reyes] is using lies to create anxiety and play upon that to try to win votes.”  O’Rourke has called for the construction of a new bridge, which, he believes, will increase international trade and keep El Paso competitive with other inland ports.
• After last year’s wildfire season burned nearly 4 million acres in Texas, Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples announced the creation of the Texas Wildfire Prevention Task Force.  The task force is a partnership between the Ag Commission, the Texas Forest Service, the Texas Division of Emergency Management, the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, and researchers at Texas A&M.  It seeks to identify high fire risk areas and eliminate the risk through preventative measures, like controlled burns, before wildfires occur.
• Four Southeast Texas marine-based entities have filed suit against BP, alleging that the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill “has had detrimental effects on the Gulf’s marine and coastal environments and is to this day affecting business and their ability to generate revenue.”  This follows last week’s $7.8 billion settlement in another suit against BP, and federal charges brought against a BP engineer for supposedly trying to cover up the extent of the spill.
• Flint Hills Resources, a Kansas based refining and chemical company that is “wholly owned by Koch Industries,” was fined $46,450 by the TCEQ for incorrect valve settings which led to the release of 4,875.5 pounds of hazardous organic compounds into the air from its chemical plant in Port Arthur.  At a different Flint Hills facility in Corpus Christi, a leak was reported in an orthoxylene unit last week which led to the plant’s shutdown.  The extent of the leak remains unclear.
• Port officials say there is no risk for an oil spill after a 750 tanker collided with a drilling rig on Wednesday off the coast of Port Aransas.  There were also no reported injuries from the incident.
• While Houston remains the worst city in the US, outside California, for ozone pollution, its air quality has improved significantly, according to the State Of The Air 2012 report from the American Lung Association.
• Austin’s transit agency, CapMetro, added a cool new toy this week.  It is a zero emissions hydrogen fueled bus that has previously operated in Columbia, South Carolina.  A privately owned hydrogen fuel station will fuel the bus.

The Nation

• The Sierra Club has filed suit against dated coal-fired power plants across Oklahoma.  According to Whitney Pearson of the Sierra Club’s OK chapter, all coal plants in Oklahoma emit excess emissions, and the EPA needs to “end the free pass that large polluters currently have which allows them to emit unlimited amounts of pollution during certain phases of their operations. Because people need to breathe all the time, limits of the amount of pollution that polluters can emit need to apply all the time.”
• Amory Lovins, an “energy theorist,” claims in this TED Talk that ending the US dependence on fossil fuels will actually be easier, and more cost effective than most of us realize.  His central point is that once industry, individuals, academics, and the military start moving beyond coal and oil we won’t need federal regulations or acts of congress to help us along.  He also believes that this movement will begin soon.  I hope, one day, to share his optimism.

Beyond

• A recent study shows that exposure to toxic chemicals can have risks over a much longer time frame than most of us realize.  Bruce Blumberg, a biologist at UC-Irvine, says, “it’s not just ourselves that are at risk. We’re condemning our descendants to have increased risks, too.”  
• Greenland’s glaciers are still melting, but the rate of that meltdown is not increasing as fast as some climate scientists had predicted.  Earlier doomsday scenarios had the sea level rising by as much as 6 meters (20 feet) by 2100.  Now it looks, as if Greenland’s melting will only cause a 2 meter rise.  The vast majority of the Earth’s population lives less than 100 meters above sea level, so any rise could have a profound effect on millions of people.

El Paso Shoot-Out Update: El Paso County Commissioner Arrested on Drug Charges

by: LionStar

Thu Feb 23, 2012 at 11:17 PM CST

Gandara was denied bail in his first court appearance in Federal Court on Thursday afternoon. Gandara will stay in the El Paso County Jail at least until next Tuesday when he is scheduled to appear in court again.

Gandara has not been available for public comment and there is no indication if he will continue his bid for HD 75 or if he will continue to serve as County Commissioner of El Paso's Precinct 3. Gandara's long-time assistant, Dora Oaxaca, is a candidate to replace him on Commissioner's Court along with State Representative Chente Quintanilla and former Press Secretary to Congressman Reyes, Vince Perez.

Oaxaca has indicated that she will stay in the race for County Commissioner Precinct 3.

Gandara's opponents for the seat being vacated by State Representative Chente Quintanilla are Mary Gonzalez, Art Fierro, and Hector Enriquez.

HD-75 & Commish Precinct 3: Shoot-outs in Old El Paso

by: LionStar

Thu Feb 16, 2012 at 01:50 PM CST

For the first time in many years, if ever, the two major local seats in El Paso's Mission Valley are taking center stage. In fact, if it wasn't for the race for the 16th Congressional District, the Mission Valley elections would be the only ones worth paying attention to in the El Paso area.

The race for State Representative for District 75 and the race for El Paso County Commissioner Precinct 3 both cover the Mission Valley area and feature crowded fields with a mix of familiar faces and political newbies.

House District 75 is currently represented by State Representative Innocente "Chente" Quintanilla, who is vacating his seat in order to run for El Paso County Commissioner in Precict 3. El Paso County Commissioner Court Precinct 3's current office-holder is Willie Gandara Jr, who is vacating his seat in order to run for House District 75.

There has been a long-time political feud between State Representative Quintanilla and County Commissioner Willie Gandara, Jr going back several years when Gardara took on Quintanilla for the State Representative seat prior to Gandara's election to the El Paso County Commissioner's Court. Early in the campaign season it appeared that Gandara and Quintanilla were going to do battle once again over a seat - this time Gandara's seat. But just prior to the first filing deadline back in December, Commissioner Gandara announced that he would be making a bid for the seat being vacated by Chente Quintanilla who had made his plans to vacate public knowledge much earlier in the election season.

Read about the candidates for HD-75 and El Paso County Commissioner Precinct 3 below the jump.

Congressman Silvestre Reyes Releases Statement Opposing #SOPA

by: Ben Sherman

Wed Jan 18, 2012 at 11:55 AM CST

REYES STATEMENT ON THE STOP ONLINE PIRACY ACT

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) today released the following statement regarding his position on the Stop Online Piracy Act, SOPA:

"The Internet is a powerful tool that has changed the way we communicate. As with every powerful tool, it has the potential for good and bad. As your federal representative, I will continue to work to ensure that our community has both access to the Internet and the security tools needed to safeguard our communities, especially children, from inappropriate and unsuitable material.

"Any legislation that aims to curtail online piracy and enhance security must take a balanced and fine-tuned approach. The current version of SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, does not take a balanced approach. For that reason, I cannot support SOPA and will oppose it in its current form."

Texans should remember that Texas Republican Congressman Lamar Smith is the primary supporter of SOPA. He's fighting tooth and nail to protect big business and end Internet freedom. We must prevent this atrocious bill (and Texas embarrassment) from becoming law.

::

All #SOPA Coverage on BOR:

• Round-Up of Progressive Organizations Opposing #SOPA
• Congressman Silvestre Reyes Releases Statement Opposing #SOPA
• Congressman Lloyd Doggett Issues Statement Opposing #SOPA
• #SOPA and Lamar Smith: the New Texas Embarrassment!
• BOR Joins the Fight Against #SOPA and PIPA

El Paso Recall Election: Exorcists vs. City Council

by: Emily Cadik

Thu Nov 17, 2011 at 05:30 PM CST

Last year, as part of their annual budget and in a victory for equality, the El Paso City Council extended health benefits to same sex and unmarried domestic partners of city employees.  Outraged that their government was rewarding fornicators and homosexuals, a group called El Pasoans for Traditional Family Values spearheaded a successful referendum to make sure that health benefits are only awarded to straight, heterosexual couples in wedded bliss.  It passed with 55% of the vote.

Believing the voters had gone too far, the City Council voted by a majority to overturn the referendum and restore the benefits to gay and unmarried partners.  And now they're fighting for their jobs.  

El Pasoans for Traditional Family Values is trying to get three city officials instrumental in overturning the referendum (and whose terms were not already expiring) - Mayor John Cook and Reps. Susie Byrd and Steve Ortega - recalled in a special election. And they have enough signatures to do it.  

But the plot thickens.  Though rounding up enough signatures for a recall election wasn't too difficult, there's now a major lawsuit involved.  The El Paso Mayor is suing El Pasoans for Traditional Family Values for using churches illegally for recruiting and distributing petitions. The case may even be headed for the Supreme Court, with implications that could be much broader.  

El Pasoans for Traditional Family Values is led by Tom Brown, a prominent El Paso exorcist.  (Every city has one, right?) Whereas most Religious Right wing-nuts stick to the usual arguments about protecting the sanctity of marriage, etc., Brown took it a step farther by claiming he was actually advocating for civil rights  by protecting the "sanctity" of people's votes, which the city officials "stole" when they restored rights to gay couples.

So there may be a special recall election in the spring.  But first there's a hearing about whether the petitions for the recall can be used at all.  It started in October, and though it should have been fairly straightforward, several witnesses pleaded the Fifth rather than declare which church they belong to, and Tom Brown wouldn't show up to court despite a subpoena.  So the hearing is still ongoing, and there is no resolution yet as to whether or when the election will be held.  We'll update you as we find out more!

Timeline:

• 2009 - City council approves a budget that expands health benefits to same-sex and unmarried domestic partners of city employees
  
• November 2010 - El Paso voters, led by El Pasoans for Traditional Family Values, pass a referendum preventing city employees from sharing benefits with domestic partners
  
• June 2011 - City Council rejects the referendum and restores benefits to domestic partners; El Pasoans for Traditional Family Values begins recall petition
  
• September 2011 - El Pasoans for Traditional Family Values submits required petitions for a recall election on city employees
  
• October 2011 - Hearing begins on whether petitions can be used; ongoing
  
• Spring 2012 (tentative) - Potential recall election (if petitions deemed valid)