Comadres at the Wall: Chisme and Rumors
1. A Paso del Norte Group (aka Borderplex Alliance, PDNG) source told us last week that the Ortega campaign was sweating because Oscar Leeser had taken the lead, so the Ortega campaign was starting a "black cloud" campaign.
We don't know of any polls out there, but apparently the Ortega campaign and their PR group, the El Paso Times does. However, what happened in the past week was an attack against candidate Robert Cormell.
In
yet another inaccurate story by Cindy Ramirez in the El Paso Times,
she accuses Cormell of owing taxes. The truth is Cormell does not owe back
taxes. In 2012 Cormell and his wife bought a craftsman home built in 1910 that
was condemned by the City in 2007, invested $20,000 in a 6-month restoration,
and tripled the home’s value on the tax roles. As part of the purchase
agreement, he agreed to pay off the previous
owner’s tax debt, which is how tax sales work.
FYI
to Ramirez -- a purchase agreement is like a mortgage – very few people pay cash for a house. So thanks to the
Cormells, an original El Paso home is
restored (remember the McFall Mansion), the City gets someone to pay the previous owner’s debt, and a
home is on the tax roles at triple the
original value.
And
the El Paso Times wants to vilify the
Cormell’s?
No
wonder El Paso has a hard time getting good people to run for office. You can
check out the amazing before and after pictures here www.facebook.com/robertcormellformayor/photos_stream.
The only thing we can suffice is that Leeser and Cormell are running first and second and the Ortega camp is feeling the heat that their candidate will not make the run off. For that reason, they are attacking Cormell. Now we don't know for sure who is 1 or 2, but go figure.
You would think El Paso Times would be more concerned with Union Pacific’s timely campaign donation to Ortega and his vote to close railroad crossings.
2. Some have reported to us that at the
Also of interest was that Geske does not speak Spanish, yet he wants to represent EPISD District 1 which is highly Spanish speaking. It's interesting that Geske spoke of transparency and is running on the same slate as Susie Byrd. Scary!
3. A comadre at City Hall, oh wait, El Paso Times Building/City Hall told us (wait for it), the stadium is actually too big for the site. Duh!
4. Although the Texas Education Agency investigated EPISD Lorenzo Garcia twice and cleared him twice, it seems they want to shift the blame to the EPISD trustees.
Even the commissioner Williams misrepresented the EPISD board saying that it was made up of 4 Mexican Americans and 3 Whites. It actually has 5 Mexican Americans.
This is very different from the Texas State Board of Trustees. It is made up of 15 members, 5 being Democrat and 10 being Republicans. Of those 5 Democrats, 3 are Mexican American, and 2 are African American. All the Republicans on the board -- the other 10 -- are White. Hey, that's the color they want to paint the EPISD board -- again.
5. We thought that Dr. Judy Castleberry, the TEA-appointed "conservator" was part of the daily goings on at EPISD. We were way off on that one.
She only comes to
6. Blanca Enriquez, who is one of the appointed "managers" does not live in EPISD. She lives the Socorro Independent School District, from what we hear.
7. One White Westsider commented that Castleberry is even more out-of-touch than White Westsiders. Now, don't get on us westsiders -- we are just delivering the message.
8. Back to Judy Castleberry, we hear that big meeting where the hundreds and hundreds of people showed up, she wanted them to pick a representative to talk instead of them going to the mic one-by-one. She was steadfast. The board told her it was their policy to let everyone speak, even if it took hours. Castleberry finally relented when the board told her that they would announce her decision on the mic for the multitude to hear. She changed her mind fast.
Did anyone get this on camera?
