Beto Living in Utter Poverty Since Forbes Downgraded Father-in-Law to Multimillionaire Status

Above: Beto O'Rourke lites a cigar as he talks of the dire economic situation of his family.

Beto Living in Utter Poverty Since Forbes Downgraded Father-in-Law to Multimillionaire Status

O’Rourkes hit financial rock bottom

by  Satira Sinvergüenza
Associated Mess

     Times have been hard in the Beto O'Rourke's household since a November 2018 announcement by Forbes that his father-in-law Bill Sanders is not a billionaire.

     Beto feels cheated. "I was made for this!" But he says the family has made some cutbacks for husband not willing to work, and they should be able to survive out the year. 

    “It’s been a terrible 4 months since that announcement,” says Beto, barefoot at home. “I'm entitled to so much more. I’m working hard playing on my guitars, trying to get the band back together.”

     In November 2018, Forbes reported “Based on a review of Sanders' biggest deals, we're far from ready to put him on our list of The World's Billionaires… Based on the public information that Forbes has reviewed, Beto O’Rourke’s “billionaire” father-in-law is more likely to have a net worth in the neighborhood of $500 million.”

     "This is terrible news," stated O'Rourke. From devaluing their El Paso mansion with the local tax entity to making cuts in house staff, the O’Rourke’s have hit rock bottom.

     “Instead of a butler,” said Beto as his valet used a clothes brush to brushed off dust from the shoulders of same blue shirt he wore yesterday (and the day before), “we had to settle for a footman."

    Waving his arms fanatically, "Imagine if your family, your children have to be served dinner by a person wearing white gloves. This is unacceptable!”

     Even tough culinary decisions have had to be made in the O’Rourke household. “The pancake batter we bought for Shrove Tuesday and for National Pancake Day,” says Beto almost breaking into tears, “we’ve had to make that last. We may be eating this same mix until after St. Patty's day!”

     “Instead of the gold sprinkles we use to put on our pancakes, we have limited ourselves to silver,” says Beto wiping a tear from his eye. “I now know who my former constitutes in El Paso’s Segundo Barrio live. I feel their pain.”

     Nevertheless, the O'Rourke's have not stopped their community generosity. "I just sent four cases of caviar to the womens shelter this morning," says Beto. "And the kids and I are going to volunteer this afternoon at the community garden, at the country club."

Above: O'Rourke, in Iowa accesses the blues shirts he never takes off.

     The dire economic situation of the O’Rourke family has also affected the family’s fashion.  Beto had had to wear the same blue shirt every day. Exclaiming his frustration, Beto yells, “I can’t even afford to buy the lower sleeves for my blue shirt."

     In interviews, Amy Rourke has had to limit the times she turns her head toward Beto in a loving gaze. “We have now limited it to 3 times an interview,” says Beto. “Least we have to visit the chiropractor less than 4 times a week.”

     “When I said my wife was taking care of the kids,” says Beto, “ I meant that we had to fire one of our three nannies. Hell, I may have to start mannying again, or being a real dad.”

    At his computer, as Beto searches the web for government assistance, he is distraught. 

      "We are going to have to make other sacrifices," says the presidential candidate. “We were about to put in 25-caret gold faucets in our bed room bathroom, but after a long conversation with Amy, we had to set for 14 caret.”

Above: O'Rourke sacrifices since hitting poverty include 

buying 14-caret gold facets instead faucets of  24-carat gold.

     “Also, my skin is really suffering,” says the former congressman. “I was used to cash baths and long soaks in $100 bills, but of late we’ve had to settle for 1 dollar bills. I’ve broken out in rashes all over.”

Above: O'Rourke in cashbath: regarding cash baths, "...of late we’ve had to settle for 1 dollar bills."

     As he puts the strap of his guitar round his neck, Beto assures that he  will make it through this tough time. "I think every poor family like ours has to make sacrifices once in a while. For example, yesterday at Guitar World, instead of buying the $20,000 Les Paul, I thought about my  family, and settled for the $19,000 Squire Strat instead."

     After tuning the guitar, he says “Have you heard this CCR song?":  “Some folks are born, made to wave the flag
Ooo, they're red, white and blue...”

Rep. Cesar Blanco Uses Political Contribution to Pay Membership in Borderplex Alliance (aka Paso del Norte Group)

Rep. Cesar Blanco Uses Political Contributions to Pay Membership in Borderplex Alliance (aka Paso del Norte Group)

Oppressive Group Well-known for Involvement Corruption

 by Ike and Ben

If any organization in El Paso has hurt people of color and the poor more, it has been the Borderplex Alliance (aka Paso del Norte Group). 

Texas Representative Cesar Blanco has used contributions to pay for membership in this organization.

Even taking it out of that realm, every taxpayer in El Paso who has a complaint against the City of El Paso’s mounting debt, lack of transparency, rising property taxes, the Borderplex Alliance has a connection to it.

Beto O’Rourke’s father-in-law William Sander founded the Borderplex Alliance, then known as the Paso Del Norte Group. 

Its first executive director was Myrna Deckert, whose emails to Joyce Wilson and Steve Ortega during the Downtown Ballpark scandal showed the influence of the Paso del Norte group in pushing this money pit on El Paso taxpayers. These emails were exposed in the Chucoleaks cache of email obtained via the Texas Open Records Act.

According to the Downtown Scam timeline, the Paso del Norte Group was founded by in 2003: “In El Paso, Bill Sanders founds the Paso Del Norte Group, using the Commercial Club of Chicago as his model. The PDNG is made up of more than 350 business and political leaders from both sides of the border. On the El Paso side the group includes his son-in-law City rep Robert O’Rourke, Army housing developer Woody Hunt, and Chris Balsiger who was indicted by the FBI for an alleged $250,000,000 coupon fraud scheme.” El Paso Downtown Scam 2003. See Timeline for more information information. 

On February 15, 2005, the City of El Paso contracted with the Paso del Norte Group: “City of El Paso votes approves contract with PDNG to create downtown redevelopment plan. City Council grants them $250,000. Some of this is federal money in the form of HTGB grants.

The El Paso City Council, under mayor Joe Wardy, voted to approve contract with Paso Del Norte Group to create a downtown redevelopment plan. Before the vote took place, however, a series of questions emerged about the scope of the project.”

The exploits of this oppressive organization are well known, but the focus of this article is Representative Cesar Blanco using political contributions to pay for membership in this organization. 

The least would have been for Blanco to use his own money to pay for this membership. But maybe the $1000 membership dues is a bit steep on a Texas representative's salary.

The most egregious is the Paso del Norte Group push to demolish Segundo Barrio as part of the Downtown Plan, their support of the Downtown Ballpark, and the demolition of Duranguito.

Blanco should be ashamed to be a member of this organization.

This is truly unfortunate as Blanco has been seen has a rising star in politics in El Paso, being outspoken for many causes for the poor.

In looking at Blanco’s contribution report more closely, Blanco is increasingly being funded by PACs. We will focus on this in another article.

"All Studies in Last 20 Years Choose Union Plaza for Arena": LIE!

 

Surely the City of El Paso is Lying

City of El Paso Lie #2: All Studies in Last 20 Years Choose Union Plaza for Arena 
Research DeBunks City of El Paso's Claims

Paso del Sur Posted This on Facebook. Great research and historical incite on how the City of El Paso Lies:


THE CITY LIES AGAIN!
FALSE: THE CITY'S CLAIM THAT ALL THE STUDIES IN THE LAST 20 YEARS CONCLUDE THAT DURANGUITO IS THE BEST SPOT FOR AN ARENA!

"Don't call me Sherly," says Paso del Sur

It is absolutely not true that 20 years of City-funded studies unanimously concluded that the sports arena must go in Union Plaza/Barrio Duranguito, as City staff and politicos have repeatedly told the press and the public. Of all the falsehoods they've told thus far, this is one of the biggest ones! (See poster below used at the City's "public outreach meetings."). In fact, only 1 of 5 Studies, the Paso del Norte Group Study of 2006, singled out Duranguito/Union Plaza as the supposed "best" location for an arena. One City-funded study recommended that Union Plaza/Duranguito be declared an historic district and be protected from the kind of massive demolition the arena project envisions.
The City has cited four reports as evidence that Duranguito is "the overall best location" for the sports arena (let's start calling it what it actually is). Here are the relevant facts from each of the four studies:
C.H. Johnson Consulting (2001):
After considering several options, the firm concludes that "the best location for a new sports complex and soccer stadium in El Paso is at the [County] Fairgrounds." (p. 69) Another “compelling site,” the 2001 study concluded, was “Cohen Stadium, owned by the City of El Paso.” The study found this to be a good location because of “the required amount of land adjacent to Cohen Stadium for an arena and shared parking” as well as easy access to the Patriot freeway.
To read the 2001 study: https://www.elpasotexas.gov/…/aren…/2001%20mpc%20study.ashx…


City of El Paso and the Paso del Norte Group Foundation, "Downtown 2015 Plan" (2006):
This study analyzes only two potential sites, the Airport and Union Plaza. It recommends building the arena in the Union Plaza (Duranguito) neighborhood. (pp. 58, 112). The PDNG group was a semi-secretive organization led by several highly-influential binational developers, contractors and real estate speculators including Paul Foster, William Sanders, Woody Hunt, Dee Margo and Alejandra de la Vega that later morphed into the Borderplex Alliance. It received about a quarter million dollars from the City of El Paso to create a plan that envisioned the demolition of 127.5 acres of downtown, South El Paso, and Union Plaza with the threat of eminent domain.
(https://www.elpasotexas.gov/…/aren…/2006%20mpc%20study.ashx…)


City of El Paso, Texas Comprehensive Plan (2012):
This study considers four possible arena sites (p. 181). The Union Plaza site is among the options cited but there are reservations because the project "would remove blocks of existing infrastructure and building fabric." There is no specific recommendation for the arena location.
(https://www.elpasotexas.gov/…/aren…/2012%20mpc%20study.ashx…)

Master Planning Report (2015):
This study recommends proceeding with the construction of a "Multi-Purpose Cultural and Performing Arts Center" (note the new nomenclature) but does not cite a specific location within downtown.
In summary, three of the four studies more or less recommend locating the sports arena in downtown; but only one, the 2006 Paso del Norte Group study, specifically recommends placing the arena in the Union Plaza neighborhood. Of course, that study considered only two possible locations, and several of its authors stood to benefit financially from the project--not exactly an objective and impartial analysis.
Note: The majority of the land speculator owners of Barrio Duranguito properties who are eager to sell to the city are members of the PDNG/Borderplex Alliance, including Alejo Restrepo, Dr. Roberto Nassim Assael, Woody Hunt (as well as Hunt's son-in-law, bank executive Peter Spier). The PDNG members who own the majority of the buildings in the "footprint area," began buying their properties at the time PDNG targeted Duranguito for the arena. Woody Hunt and Peter Spier closed the deal on their property three weeks before the City voted unanimously in October 2016 to build the arena in Duranguito.
(https://www.elpasotexas.gov/…/hks%20presentation%20-%20publ…)

The Union Plaza Downtown El Paso Development Archeological Project (1998):
The one study within the previous two decades that the City Manager’s report conveniently ignores is the 1998 City-funded survey "The Union Plaza Downtown El Paso Development Archeological Project." This study recommended that Union Plaza/Barrio Duranguito be designated an historic district and thus protected from mass demolition. It was commissioned by the City of El Paso for the Sun Metro Transit Authority and it was carried out by a team of experts led by John A. Peterson, Stephen Mbutu, and Mark D. Willis. The survey found a great number of historic buildings within the demolition zone. Their findings directly contradict City Attorney Silvia Firth's initial public declarations that there is nothing historic there at all.
To read the 1998 City-funded survey:
http://www.elpasohistory.com/…/uploads/2016/10/079-2000-001…

All of this information definitively contradicts the City’s false assertion that every single study in the last 20 years found that Barrio Duranguito is the best place to build an arena. Perhaps the City Manager and City Attorney were just hoping we never bothered to read those studies.
Of course, the City has failed to carry out any studies that take into consideration other issues beyond financial ones. Most importantly, those related to building an arena in a place that violates the civil and human rights of more than a hundred mostly elderly, lower-income residents who will be displaced by the arena. It has done no medical study of the impact of displacement on the residents' health, for example. Previous studies have consistently shown that forced removal significantly increases mortality rates, especially among the elderly who are forcibly kicked out of their homes. But that's another issue we'll deal with in other posts.
EL PASOANS DESERVE THE TRUTH, NOT MISINFORMATION AND PROPAGANDA!