First let’s take a look at the Leeser political faction, is it really a faction? Initially I thought that the Democratic Party in El Paso had fractured into two major factions with one faction going after Veronica Escobar. I still think that this is true however in city politics I don’t believe that Oscar Leeser is playing the Democratic Party vs. Republican Party politics card. Instead, it looks to like Oscar Leeser was the first volley in an organized attempt to oust Veronica Escobar and cohorts.
I first noticed this when Aliana Apodaca attempted to hide her association with Carlos Sierra. As some of you already know, Sierra is facing charges of indecency with a child. Cindy Ramirez filled in the missing pieces on her piece “Local political consultant facing felony charges in El Paso, Arizona” on July 10. I realize that many of us, including myself believe that the piece was a result of an effort by Bob Moore to protect Veronica Escobar and her public agenda.
However, the seriousness of the charges and the fact that Aliana Apodaca, in my opinion, tried to conceal her connection to Carlos Sierra must not be ignored. If the city of El Paso is to rid itself of a self-serving public policy agenda serving an elite few then it must do so without replacing it with another one that only serves another self-serving group. We know that Chris Acosta, an El Paso Sheriff’s spokesperson and Michael Armstrong have brought Carlos Sierra in from Arizona to mount political campaigns.
Carlos Sierra has acknowledged that his agenda, and by extension those that use him is to “put Emma Acosta, Veronica Escobar and Vince Perez out of office”. On the surface this is not such a bad proposition. However let’s connect some dots so that we can better explore this.
There is no doubt in my mind that what the city did to the Three Legged Monkey and Michael Armstrong was wrong and in my opinion corrupt. Therefore it makes sense to me that Armstrong would want to ensure that Emma Acosta is kicked out of office. The question is where does Veronica Escobar and Vince Perez fit into this?
The connecting dot is Richard Wiles. As per Ramirez’ article, Leeser was Wiles’ campaign treasurer. Add sheriff’s employee Chris Acosta and the connecting dots become evident. At the county level it appears that Richard Wiles is consolidating political power under himself and going after Escobar and Perez. At the city level, Oscar Leeser has become an instrument of that political power struggle. Ousting Escobar and cohorts seems like a sensible thing but are the replacement any better?
Let’s look at the microcosm of Oscar Leeser’s time in office so far. Has he been better for El Paso?
Let’s examine the evidence as we know it at this moment. Probably the most controversial issue of the ongoing public policy agenda is the secrecy that allows many aspects of it to be implemented. We know that Stephanie Townsend Allala has been on a quest for city emails that continue to be kept from the public. As much as Oscar Leeser has pontificated about his quest for government transparency the fact is that Oscar Leeser continues to allow the city to spend taxpayer monies in keeping the emails a secret. He continues to argue that he has instructed the city attorney’s office to end the litigation but the fact remains that his “instruction” has not translated into “action”. He allows the city attorney to continue to hide behind legal mumbo jumbo as to why the city continues to spend money on keeping the secrets.
Why? Is it because Oscar Leeser has no more interest in government transparency then those he and his cohorts purport to oust? Probably not because I believe it comes down to a personal agenda of placating the ankle-biters while Leeser and cohorts embark on their own agenda of ousting Escobar and her cohorts. Leeser does not want to be distracted by items unimportant to his goals, making one of the consequences of his inaction the controversial emails.
However it is not Oscar Leeser that is driving this attempt to take control of the public policy agenda through the ouster of Veronica Escobar and cohorts. Rather he is but one instrument of many.
It is too early to know who is truly behind the attempt to oust Escobar and cohorts. Some will argue that it is Richard Wiles but he may also be just another instrument for the true drivers.
Some of us may be celebrating the concerted effort to oust Veronica Escobar and cohorts but is it not just replacing one bad policy agenda with another?
There are already indications that this new political faction is having a detrimental effect on the community’s politics. Consider the latest county judge race. There were three viable candidates. Veronica Escobar, the entrenched incumbent benefited by a fractured opposition between Aliana Apodaca and Eddie Holguin. Apodaca’s supporters poured substantial monies into her campaign only to ensure a win for Veronica Escobar.
More importantly is whether the city will be better off after Emma Acosta, Veronica Escobar and Vince Perez are ousted. For those looking for government accountability tomorrow will be a determining factor when the issue of golden parachutes is discussed under Michiel Noe’s agenda item. I’ll address this in tomorrow’s blog. In the meantime consider what we know so far and ask yourself whether replacing Escobar’s public policy with another one associated to Leeser is better for the city than what it currently has.
What is an “alternative” public agenda in El Paso? I mean, what would they do if they succeeded, assuming you are correct? Is it back to the Cobos days of pay-per-view? I don’t give Leeser that much credit for political strategy. Mostly, he has his hands full implementing the agenda handed to him by the prior CC which is Woody World and its fallout on everything from budgets to factions.
So here’s my theory. It’s actually the voters who put Leeser in office — not an unnamed group who launched an attack on Caballero’s cabal. The voters are tiring of the progressive agenda, but are not tired enough yet, as evidenced by Ms. Escobar’s recent win. If there is a group focused on ousting Escobar, Perez and others, I wish they would make themselves known so I could support them.
Agreed. The sound defeat of Norma Chavez and her predecessor in favor of a newbie is a signal from voters that they want representation, not dramatics. They’ll even put up with incompetents like Robinson as long as they are honest and not given to dramatics. Chavez, of course, was the off-the-scale diva, but now we’re seeing Lilly Limon channeling Chavez’s histrionics. I predict Limon as a one term CC rep.
As for Leeser, he’s still learning the job and, really, what power does the mayor have under the current city charter? Not much.
Escobar & Perez are safe. Acosta might be at risk. Hard for me to imagine Leeser being that much of a strategist. I think you may be giving him too much credit. Wiles seems much more likely to be strategizing. If you are suggesting Apodaca would have been better than Escobar I completely disagree. Don’t even start suggesting Eddie Holguin for any political office. The man is a legend in his own mind!
He’s probably not as good an administrator as Ms. Escobar, but I agree with him a lot of the time. He’s not slick and gets argumentative, both attributes I’m starting to admire.
SIERRA WAS CHARGED WITH INDECENCY WITH A CHILD BUT IT GOES MUCH DEEPER THAN THAT. HE IS A PARIAH.
Wiles is an opportunist. He rode the coat tails of the Escobar/Jose Rodriguez, ultimately the Shapleigh faction for years. A simple search engine image search will result in many pictures with Wiles and members of the Shapleigh faction. Where you found a “pobresito” moment that was produced by the Shapleighites Wiles was in the picture or photo bombing t it. Wiles used the Texas and Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Projects whose board members included Carmen Rodriguez; El Senador Jose Rodriguez’ wife to publicly take a stand against “Arizona Type” legislation. He used Veronica Escobar’s pet non-profit Border Network for Human Rights to stage a photo op at the county jail where immigrants turned themselves in for being illegal. Escobar and Wiles stood side by side when fighting for “Firemen’s retirement pensions” when the city put to vote the whole benefits for domestic partners. But now he comes his buddy Oscar Leeser and now Wiles has jumped ship and is now waving the anti establishment flag. But when you look at it, Wiles is a smart, or conniving, man. Wiles kissed the cheeks of the Queen B in attempt to get the consolidation of services idea passed so he could finally get rid of the substandard police chief he and Joyce Wilson purposely put in that position so he could fail and Wiles could swoop in and save the day. But now Leeser is in the picture. He no longer needs Escobar, or Rodriguez or Byrd. He feels that Leeser is the man who will guarantee that he is the chief of the El Paso Metro Police, making him the ultimate law enforcement agent in EL Paso County. He has pretty much told the Shapleigh faction to pack sand. Is that a smart move. He is risking years of major public butt kissing to go to the man he thinks is a sure shot. Wiles will either get his way, we all hope not, or this will be his undoing. Politics is a dirty game but then again Wiles has been wallowing around with pigs for years. If you look back at his record, Wiles has always gotten away with flip flopping. No one has really put him to task on it. Maybe because he incarcerates those who try to. I believe Armstrong has every reason to stick it to the establishment but for some reason I think if he wins he will become one of Wiles’ puppets. And as many of us personally know, Wiles is not a fan of transparency.