Kids First Reform
EPISD Now PAC: What’s Wrong and What’s White
Where Are All the Brown People: PAC has trouble even attracting Steve Ortega types
by Ben
The recent low-attendance of forums hosted by Kids First
Reform EPISD PAC may be a clue how out of touch they are with people of color. Of course you remember, this is Susie Byrd and Elliot Shapleight's PAC trying to put Byrd on the EPISD school board among others.
However, a much better clue is their financial report filed
with the Texas Ethics Commission.
Out of the 52 people listed as donors, only 6 appear to be
Latino. Now we are basing this on the number of Hispanic surnames found in
their financial report: five (5) which we counted (we counted 47 White
surnames), and one surname whom we know the person is Latino despite the last
name. So let’s do the math, that’s only 11.32 % of Kids First donors are Latino
(out of the more than 80% Latino make up of El Paso).
Wow!
Kids First huh?
Who’s kids?
Definitely not 87% of the population of El Paso who are
Latino -- not their kids.
What is 11.32% closer to? Who? We get it, the 14.2% make up.
Which group is that: yes, Whites.
What Side of Town do
Kid’s First Donors Come from
Certainly, Kids First has walked the barrios to make sure
their organization is diverse.
70.5 % of Kids first donors live on the Westside
·
One donor lives south of I-10
·
One donor lives in Memorial Park
·
Eleven donors live in the North East (21.5%)
·
Four live in the Burges area
So much for diversity!
 |
| Gandalf the White |
Paso del Norte
Group/Borderblex Alliance Membership Cross-References
However, if you are trying to get a bigger percentage, look
no further than whom the PAC donors are and how many of them are members of the
PDNG.
Now, we may be using an old membership list. Some we could
not find on the roles. But for people like former Assistant City Manager Debbie
Hamlyn (known to be a terrific friend of people of color), we know she worked
for PDNG or one of its affiliated entities during the stadium debacle (just a
few day after her retirement we’ll add). There is also Tracy Yellen of MyrnaDeckert & Associates,* but not found the PDNG lists. We did not find her on
the membership list, but she might as well be.
Edward Escudero
Perry Fienbert (Stephen)
Carol Glicrease (Paul)
Leanard "Tripper" Goodman (yep, the stadium guy)
Frank Gorman (Patrick)
Jimmy Janack
Frank Gormans
Robert O’Rourke (Beto O'Roarke)
Melissa O’Rourke (daughter of Bill Sanders)
Eric Peirson if he’s the same guy in Peirson and Peirson
Deberah Kastrin
Pearson and Pearson (Eric)
Tracy Yellen
JoAnn Casey
Michael Wenolt
That’s 29.4% of Kids First donors are PDNG members.
