As you likely already know, there is an election scheduled for May 9, 2015. As with all elections the outcome will determine what the public policy will be for the City of El Paso until the next election. Will the new comers replace the existing public policy or will the two incumbents retain their seats, and thus keep the current public policy in place? I would like to offer you a profile on each of the candidates as well as commentary on campaign funding and electioneering rhetoric. Because we have about 21 working days, excluding weekends, left before Election Day I wanted to give you a look at what I have planned for the blog during the election season.
Starting next Monday, April 13, 2015 I will begin focusing on the candidates. There are two important dates you should keep in mind, tomorrow, April 10 and May 1, 2015. Those are the dates that the 30-day and 8-day financial campaign reports are due. I plan to comment on the 30-day financials on Monday. I will follow up with my commentary on the 8-day reports on May 4, 2015.
Early voting is scheduled to start on April 27, 2015 and run through May 5, 2015.
On Tuesday, April 14, I will start posting daily candidate profiles for each of the candidates in the city council elections. The schedule will be as follows:
District 1
April 14: Albert Weisenberger
April 15: Richard C. Bonart
April 16: Manuel J. Hinojosa
April 17: Peter Svarzbein
April 20: Daniel Lopez
April 21: Bertha A. Gallardo
District 5
April 22: Michiel R. Noe (incumbent)
April 23: Rosa Maria Cabrera
District 6
April 24: Michael Pickett
April 27: Claudia Ordaz (incumbent)
District 8
April 28: Joshua Dagda
April 29: Cortney Carlisle Niland (incumbent)
Each of the candidate profiles will list the information that I have gathered on each of the candidates, and any information submitted by the candidate or by my readers.
A Call to Candidates
This is a call to all candidates; if there is something that you want me to include in your profile, this is your opportunity to send it to me. Whatever you send me will be included in your profile. You can use the contact form found on my blog to request my email address, if you do not already have it. Please ensure that you submit your information at least 48 hours before I am scheduled to run your profile. To those of you that are supporting specific candidates, please make sure your candidate knows about the deadlines I posted here and remind them to get their information in.
A Call to Readers
As readers of my blog, you are well versed on the details of each candidate that are important to the electorate. If you have any information about a candidate you want me to include feel free to send it to me. Any information that is verifiable through the public record will be included in the candidate’s profile. You may remain anonymous, if you wish.
I have clearly laid out my coverage calendar therefore any information you want included should be sent to me at least 2 days before the candidate’s profile is scheduled to run.
Questionnaire for the Candidates
On April 30, I plan to publish the results of a questionnaire I will be submitting to each of the candidates. I have settled on asking each of the candidates two questions. I want to avoid the old and tired “will you hold the line on taxes” types of questions. Instead, I’m asking you all to help me come up with two questions that you would like the candidates to answer.
Please submit your suggestions by Friday, April 17, 2015 so that I can prepare the questionnaire and submit it to the candidates. You can submit them directly to me or through the comments section. This is your opportunity to get the answers you want from those seeking your vote. Please remember, I will submit the exact same two questions to all of the candidates.
Ongoing Commentary
Although I plan to keep the schedule I outlined here until Election Day, politics, by their nature, are very fluid, and as such, there will be days where I will also publish in the afternoons in order to address issues that may arise. I will try to avoid it in order to keep the focus on the candidates; however, if it is of importance, I will address it in a second post that day.
Of course my Useful Idiot Score Sheet is still in play so if I see something that merits being added to the score sheet I will update my blog.
As always, if you have any ideas on how I can better cover the elections please feel free to let me know.
More importantly is that ultimately, the public policy is determined by the voters and as such each of you should not only exercise your right to vote but you should also encourage others to so as well.
Informed votes is what Democracy should be about.
In Dist 1 Bonart is the candidate to protect the PSB from the CC’s spending spree.
bonart is not a friend of developers and im glad.