Hispanics Not Wanted on City Boards and Commissions
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Back in March, Deep Inside El Paso mentioned the lack of diversity in El Paso's City Government, in executive positions in El Paso businesses, and much more.
Of course when we are talking about diversity, we are looking at race in terms of racism being the norm, the status quo, something that is not aberrational, but ingrained in our society and institutions being constructed both by society and by law.
So when we mentioned back in March, the lack of Chicanos and Latinos on the Open Space Advisory Board of the City and the Parks Advisory Board, it begged the question of how diverse are our other boards and commissions in city government.
So lets ask.
How diverse are our other boards and commissions in city government?
Method and Some Historical Notes
Before we get into this, some foundation. There are 41 boards and commissions within city government and either the mayor, city representatives, or others appoint persons to these commissions and boards. The usual appointment modes is one in which city representatives and the mayor can appoint one person each to each board or commission.
Also to keep in mind, when we started this analysis, Representatives Robert O'Rourke and Rachel Quintana were still in office.
In light of the recent corruption scandals, let's take a historical look back to when city government was still mostly White. These White city representatives rarely appointed Chicanos and Latinos to these boards and commissions and pay to play was rampant. Keep in mind these were times when El Paso voted in city representatives by at-large voting as opposed to single-member districts. Furthermore, this is before the Texas Public Information Act and the Sharpstown Scandal. Back then it was not unusual for the White power base to have "Pre-City Council Meetings" at a representative's or donor's house. Remember, the Texas Open Meetings Act, which was first put on the book in 1967, took time to evolve and it was violated repeatedly.
There are 313 current appointments by city representatives and the mayor to El Paso's boards and commissions. In this analysis, we use the term “Hispanic” as a conglomerate of Spanish-surnames individuals despite its negative and anti-indigenous connotations.
In addition, we analyzed these commissions looking at the number of Spanish surnames. Although this is not without error, research and scholarly publications have shown it is still a good way of determining the amount and lack thereof Hispanics in institutions.
Keep in mind that there may be Hispanics on these boards and commissions that have Anglo-surnames and that some of the surnames on theses boards and commissions may be African-Americans or other people of color. The other margin of error to this analysis that we must factored in is Whites who have married Hispanics and taken a Spanish surname. Overall, having more people of color is a good thing.
Our main question here is whether committee appointments or the record of appointments by each city representative and the mayor are in line with the demographics of the City of El Paso. We will use the 2000 U.S. Census as it is the census in which most of the city representatives and the mayor worked under. We will look at what percent of the mayor's and reach representative's appointments were Hispanic and Non-Hispanic (see note 1).
The 2000 US Census gives us these numbers:
Main Findings
Looking at current appointments, more non-Hispanics were appointed to boards and commissions by this current city council than Hispanics
Ann Morgan Lily
There are currently 24 appointments listed under District 1 which Lily represents. Only 4 out of these 24 are Hispanic, and 20 out of the 24 are non-Hispanics. So 83% of District 1's appointments were non-Hispanics. Not to patronize you, but his means if Lily appointed 100 people, 83 of them would have been Non-Hispanic. My math skills don't get much more complicated, but looking at these numbers, there is a higher chance that Lily's next appointment to a board or commission will be a Non-Hispanic. Again, Lily represents part of the Westside and Country Club area. See Map of District 1.
Susie Byrd
Byrd's appointments consist of almost equal numbers with 12 Hispanics and 13 non-Hispanics. Of the 25 appointments she made 52% are non-Hispanic. Byrd represents parts of Central El Paso area north of I-10 going into the Northeast. She also represents the area northeast of the Spaghetti Bowl. See Map of District 2.
Emma Acosta
Acosta was more likely to appoint Hispanics. Of her current 23 appointments, 14 were Hispanic and 9 non-Hispanic. So 39% of her appointments were non-Hispanic, which is also close to the 37% make up of El Paso's Non-Hispanics. Acosta's district begins in the Chamizal area and goes east mostly covering the valley, but also some areas north of I-10 especially east of Basset Place (aka Center) to Yarbrough. See Map of District 3.
Carl Robinson
Robinson has 22 current appointments. Only 5 are Hispanic and 17 are non-Hispanic. So 77% of Robinson's appointments are non-Hispanics. In looking at Robinson's current appointments, he has appointed more non-Hispanics than Hispanics. Robinson's District is mostly north of Hondo Pass. See Map of District 4.
Rachel Quintana
Rachel Quintana is leaving office. However, in her appointment record, it shows that 46% of her appointments were non-Hispanic, Of her appointments, 15 are Hispanic and 13 which were non-Hispanic. Quintana's district covers the area around Album Park (aka Eastwood) to Zaragosa, north of Montwood. See Map of District 5.
Eddie Holguin
Holguin had the most appointments of Hispanics. He has 17 current appointments. Nine (9) are Hispanic and eight (8) are non-Hispanic. However, Holguin has the highest number of vacancies at 12. With 17 current appointments, 27.5% are non-Hispanic. Holguin represents the district east of Quintana's and Ortega's north of I-10 covering George Deiter to the city limits, and south of I-10 east of George Deiter and east of Whittier. See Map of District 6.
Steve Ortega
Ortega has 25 current appointments, 10 of which are Hispanic and 15 which are non-Hispanics. Looking at the make up of current appointments, he has appointed more non-Hispanics than Hispanics, a good 60% non-Hispanic. Ortega's district starts west of Yarbrough south of I-10 and runs to the border with Holguin's district. North of I-10, it runs from a little east of Viscount to George Dieter and Dale Douglas mostly staying south of Montwood. See Map of District 7.
Robert O'Rourke
O'Rourke has 29 current appointments, 9 of which are Hispanic and 20 who are non-Hispanic. So 68% of Robert O’Rourke appointments were non-Hispanic. Again, I'm not a math wiz, but during his tenure, it was more likely that O'Rourke would appoint a Non-Hispanic than a Hispanic. O'Rourke's district covers some of the poorest parts of the city including Segundo Barrio and parts of Chamizal. His district starts in the Country Club area and runs along the river. He also represents parts of the Westside southwest of Mesa. See Map of District 8.
Mayor Cook
The mayor has more appointment power than representatives. He has 61 current appointments. Twenty-five (25) of his appointments are Hispanic and 36 were Non-Hispanic. So 58% of his appointments are Non-Hispanic.
Does being Hispanic have anything to do with who you appoint
At least before the last election, half of the city council was Hispanic, yet only 40% of the all the city representatives' total appointments were Hispanic. Close to 60% of the city representatives' total appointments were Non-Hispanic. The average percentage of Hispanic appointments by Hispanic city representatives was 49%. Of the Hispanic representatives, Representative Ortega had the lowest percentage of Hispanic appointments at 30%.
Conclusion
It still remains for us to compare their appointment rate with the demographics of the representative's respective districts. We are working on getting those demographics to you.
What are we not saying? We are not saying the representatives who's record of appointing Hispanics is lacking have a white hood and gown in their closet. But going to back to what racism is, being constructed by society and the law, it becomes easy to disregard people of color as ingrained racism affects decision-making.
What can we do?
1. Write Morgan Ann Lily informing her that Hispanic appointments by her to boards and commissions are lacking: district1@elpasotexas.gov
2. Write Rep. Carl Robinson informing him that Hispanic appointments by him to boards and commissions are lacking: district4@elpasotexas.gov
3. Once she is in office, write the new District 8 Representative informing her that her predecessor's record of appointing Hispanics to the city boards and commissions were dismal and that you hope she can improve on this for the positive.
4. Write Rep. Ortega informing him that Hispanic appointments by him to the city's boards and commissions are lacking: district7@elpasotexas.gov
5. Write Mayor Cook informing him that Hispanic appointments by him to the city's boards and commission are lacking: mayor@elpasotexas.gov
We will look at the demographics of each district later, so stay tuned!
Note 1 -
Percentage of Non-Hispanic Surnames was calculated by:
# of Non-Hispanic Surnames Appointments/# of Representatives Current Appointments = X/100
Percentage of Hispanic Surnames was calculated by:
# of Hispanics Surnames Appointments/# of Representatives Current Appointments = X/100
Share
Back in March, Deep Inside El Paso mentioned the lack of diversity in El Paso's City Government, in executive positions in El Paso businesses, and much more.
Of course when we are talking about diversity, we are looking at race in terms of racism being the norm, the status quo, something that is not aberrational, but ingrained in our society and institutions being constructed both by society and by law.
So when we mentioned back in March, the lack of Chicanos and Latinos on the Open Space Advisory Board of the City and the Parks Advisory Board, it begged the question of how diverse are our other boards and commissions in city government.
So lets ask.
How diverse are our other boards and commissions in city government?
Method and Some Historical Notes
Before we get into this, some foundation. There are 41 boards and commissions within city government and either the mayor, city representatives, or others appoint persons to these commissions and boards. The usual appointment modes is one in which city representatives and the mayor can appoint one person each to each board or commission.
Also to keep in mind, when we started this analysis, Representatives Robert O'Rourke and Rachel Quintana were still in office.
In light of the recent corruption scandals, let's take a historical look back to when city government was still mostly White. These White city representatives rarely appointed Chicanos and Latinos to these boards and commissions and pay to play was rampant. Keep in mind these were times when El Paso voted in city representatives by at-large voting as opposed to single-member districts. Furthermore, this is before the Texas Public Information Act and the Sharpstown Scandal. Back then it was not unusual for the White power base to have "Pre-City Council Meetings" at a representative's or donor's house. Remember, the Texas Open Meetings Act, which was first put on the book in 1967, took time to evolve and it was violated repeatedly.
There are 313 current appointments by city representatives and the mayor to El Paso's boards and commissions. In this analysis, we use the term “Hispanic” as a conglomerate of Spanish-surnames individuals despite its negative and anti-indigenous connotations.
In addition, we analyzed these commissions looking at the number of Spanish surnames. Although this is not without error, research and scholarly publications have shown it is still a good way of determining the amount and lack thereof Hispanics in institutions.
Keep in mind that there may be Hispanics on these boards and commissions that have Anglo-surnames and that some of the surnames on theses boards and commissions may be African-Americans or other people of color. The other margin of error to this analysis that we must factored in is Whites who have married Hispanics and taken a Spanish surname. Overall, having more people of color is a good thing.
Our main question here is whether committee appointments or the record of appointments by each city representative and the mayor are in line with the demographics of the City of El Paso. We will use the 2000 U.S. Census as it is the census in which most of the city representatives and the mayor worked under. We will look at what percent of the mayor's and reach representative's appointments were Hispanic and Non-Hispanic (see note 1).
The 2000 US Census gives us these numbers:
- Hispanics and Latinos made up 86.62 % of the city's racial make up
- African-Americans 3.12 %
- Asian 1.12%
- Whites made up 15%
Main Findings
Looking at current appointments, more non-Hispanics were appointed to boards and commissions by this current city council than Hispanics
- Ann Morgan Lily, who represents District 1 which encompasses the Country Club area and parts of the Westside, is more likely to appoint a Non-Hispanic to a city board or commission than to appoint a Hispanic;
- Carl Robinson, who represents District 4 which encompasses parts of the Northeast, is more likely to appoint a Non-Hispanics to a city board or commission than to appoint a Hispanic;
- Almost three-fourths (3/4) of Robert O’Rourke's appointments were non-Hispanics in comparison to the 86.62% Hispanic population of the city;
- Almost 60% of Mayor John Cooks appointments to boards and commissions were non-Hispanic in comparison to the 86.62% Hispanic population of the city.
- Below the Mayor and Rep. O’Rourke, 60% of Steve Ortega's appointments were non-Hispanics in comparison to the 86.62% Hispanic population of the city.
- Next in line was District 2 Representative Susie Byrd with more than 50% of her appointments to boards and commission being non-Hispanics
- After Byrd was District 5 Representative Rachel Quintana with 42% of her appointments being non-Hispanics in comparison to the 86.62 % Hispanic population of the city.
- District 3 representative Emma Acosta and District 6 representative Eddie Holguin had the highest rate of appointing Hispanics.
- 58% of the appointments by the Mayor and City Representatives were non-Hispanics in comparison to the 86.62 % Hispanic population of the city
- Representatives Quintana and Byrd appointments were more in line with the city's demographics with Acosta and Holguin close behind.
Ann Morgan Lily
There are currently 24 appointments listed under District 1 which Lily represents. Only 4 out of these 24 are Hispanic, and 20 out of the 24 are non-Hispanics. So 83% of District 1's appointments were non-Hispanics. Not to patronize you, but his means if Lily appointed 100 people, 83 of them would have been Non-Hispanic. My math skills don't get much more complicated, but looking at these numbers, there is a higher chance that Lily's next appointment to a board or commission will be a Non-Hispanic. Again, Lily represents part of the Westside and Country Club area. See Map of District 1.
Susie Byrd
Byrd's appointments consist of almost equal numbers with 12 Hispanics and 13 non-Hispanics. Of the 25 appointments she made 52% are non-Hispanic. Byrd represents parts of Central El Paso area north of I-10 going into the Northeast. She also represents the area northeast of the Spaghetti Bowl. See Map of District 2.
Emma Acosta
Acosta was more likely to appoint Hispanics. Of her current 23 appointments, 14 were Hispanic and 9 non-Hispanic. So 39% of her appointments were non-Hispanic, which is also close to the 37% make up of El Paso's Non-Hispanics. Acosta's district begins in the Chamizal area and goes east mostly covering the valley, but also some areas north of I-10 especially east of Basset Place (aka Center) to Yarbrough. See Map of District 3.
Carl Robinson
Robinson has 22 current appointments. Only 5 are Hispanic and 17 are non-Hispanic. So 77% of Robinson's appointments are non-Hispanics. In looking at Robinson's current appointments, he has appointed more non-Hispanics than Hispanics. Robinson's District is mostly north of Hondo Pass. See Map of District 4.
Rachel Quintana
Rachel Quintana is leaving office. However, in her appointment record, it shows that 46% of her appointments were non-Hispanic, Of her appointments, 15 are Hispanic and 13 which were non-Hispanic. Quintana's district covers the area around Album Park (aka Eastwood) to Zaragosa, north of Montwood. See Map of District 5.
Eddie Holguin
Holguin had the most appointments of Hispanics. He has 17 current appointments. Nine (9) are Hispanic and eight (8) are non-Hispanic. However, Holguin has the highest number of vacancies at 12. With 17 current appointments, 27.5% are non-Hispanic. Holguin represents the district east of Quintana's and Ortega's north of I-10 covering George Deiter to the city limits, and south of I-10 east of George Deiter and east of Whittier. See Map of District 6.
Steve Ortega
Ortega has 25 current appointments, 10 of which are Hispanic and 15 which are non-Hispanics. Looking at the make up of current appointments, he has appointed more non-Hispanics than Hispanics, a good 60% non-Hispanic. Ortega's district starts west of Yarbrough south of I-10 and runs to the border with Holguin's district. North of I-10, it runs from a little east of Viscount to George Dieter and Dale Douglas mostly staying south of Montwood. See Map of District 7.
Robert O'Rourke
O'Rourke has 29 current appointments, 9 of which are Hispanic and 20 who are non-Hispanic. So 68% of Robert O’Rourke appointments were non-Hispanic. Again, I'm not a math wiz, but during his tenure, it was more likely that O'Rourke would appoint a Non-Hispanic than a Hispanic. O'Rourke's district covers some of the poorest parts of the city including Segundo Barrio and parts of Chamizal. His district starts in the Country Club area and runs along the river. He also represents parts of the Westside southwest of Mesa. See Map of District 8.
Mayor Cook
The mayor has more appointment power than representatives. He has 61 current appointments. Twenty-five (25) of his appointments are Hispanic and 36 were Non-Hispanic. So 58% of his appointments are Non-Hispanic.
Does being Hispanic have anything to do with who you appoint
At least before the last election, half of the city council was Hispanic, yet only 40% of the all the city representatives' total appointments were Hispanic. Close to 60% of the city representatives' total appointments were Non-Hispanic. The average percentage of Hispanic appointments by Hispanic city representatives was 49%. Of the Hispanic representatives, Representative Ortega had the lowest percentage of Hispanic appointments at 30%.
Conclusion
It still remains for us to compare their appointment rate with the demographics of the representative's respective districts. We are working on getting those demographics to you.
What are we not saying? We are not saying the representatives who's record of appointing Hispanics is lacking have a white hood and gown in their closet. But going to back to what racism is, being constructed by society and the law, it becomes easy to disregard people of color as ingrained racism affects decision-making.
What can we do?
1. Write Morgan Ann Lily informing her that Hispanic appointments by her to boards and commissions are lacking: district1@elpasotexas.gov
2. Write Rep. Carl Robinson informing him that Hispanic appointments by him to boards and commissions are lacking: district4@elpasotexas.gov
3. Once she is in office, write the new District 8 Representative informing her that her predecessor's record of appointing Hispanics to the city boards and commissions were dismal and that you hope she can improve on this for the positive.
4. Write Rep. Ortega informing him that Hispanic appointments by him to the city's boards and commissions are lacking: district7@elpasotexas.gov
5. Write Mayor Cook informing him that Hispanic appointments by him to the city's boards and commission are lacking: mayor@elpasotexas.gov
We will look at the demographics of each district later, so stay tuned!
Note 1 -
Percentage of Non-Hispanic Surnames was calculated by:
# of Non-Hispanic Surnames Appointments/# of Representatives Current Appointments = X/100
Percentage of Hispanic Surnames was calculated by:
# of Hispanics Surnames Appointments/# of Representatives Current Appointments = X/100
