As some of you know, Ali Enrique Razavi aka the previously anonymous blogger MaxPowers recently published some emails that Veronica Escobar sent him. Razavi published the emails because it appears that the Forma Group may be losing business because I have been connecting the dots between them and Razavi. I will have more about this connection in an upcoming post; however, the Escobar’s emails gives us an inside look into the seedy side of politics in El Paso.

We all know that politics is a dirty business. We all expect whisper campaigns and dirty politics to play a part in the election cycle. What bothers me the most and what drives my blogging is the hypocrisy. Veronica Escobar and her cohort emerged on the political scene under the guise of exposing the corruption in El Paso. They have pontificated about bringing integrity to El Paso’s political scene going so far as to sign a public pledge to do right for the people of El Paso.

The fact is that there is no difference between the politicking by Luther Jones and Veronica Escobar, except that one sits in jail while the other pontificates about how ethical she is.

There are three things about the Veronica Escobar emails voters need to consider. Forget the public policy agenda arguments and the issues of taxation and focus directly on the issue of ethical behavior.

Whisper Campaigns

Some of you are aghast at me for labeling certain bloggers as useful idiots. I label them as such because they are nothing more than tools for political agendas. They create the political undercurrent that drives the whisper campaigns designed to derail political careers. The politicians use the useful idiots to further their political agendas. It has nothing to do with public policy and everything to do with political careers. In the 45, or so email published by Razavi we clearly see Veronica Escobar trying to use a useful idiot for whisper campaigns, in support of her friend Steve Ortega and in her own race for county judge.

Of the emails published by the formerly anonymous blogger, about half of them, if not more, were initiated by Veronica Escobar. She was trying to get the blogger to write posts that would create political undercurrent for those she opposed.

During Escobar’s campaign, one of her opponents was Aliana Apodaca. Soon after Apodaca officially announced she was running against Escobar, on October 1, 2013 Veronica Escobar sent Ali Razavi an email telling him that Apodaca had voted to raise taxes while she was a board member of UMC. Escobar even included a copy of the board minutes in PDF format.

Soon after, on October 18, 2013, Escobar wrote to Razavi that Norma Chavez was at Aliana Apodaca’s campaign announcement. Escobar writes that her “spies” told her that Chavez was there. She also wrote that she would forward pictures of Norma Chavez at the campaign announcement “once she gets them.”

That same day, Ali Razavi posted a blog post stating that Norma Chavez was at the announcement.

Again, on January 31, 2014, Escobar wrote Razavi reminding him about the UMC tax increase vote by Apodaca and once again included the board minutes.

On February 3, 2014, Razavi posted a blog about Aliana Apodaca voting to raise taxes at UMC. The posting included the link to the PDF document that Escobar had provided the blogger.

Clearly, as you can see, Veronica Escobar was using Ali Razavi to create the undercurrent whisper campaign designed to benefit Veronica Escobar’s own campaign.

By all measures, Escobar’s actions were nothing more than underhanded political ploys to benefit her own political future. Even Jaime Abeytia agrees that what Veronica Escobar did is “beyond stupid.” [Introducing Ali Enrique Razavi; April 14, 2015] For his part, Ali Enrique Razavi proved that he is nothing more than the useful idiot that he is. However, what do the emails say about transparency in governance that Veronica Escobar espouses?

Transparency in Governance

Veronica Escobar has tried to create the illusion from the onset that she embraces transparency in governance. She blamed the Jobe’s and the Luther Jones’ of the world for the political corruption in El Paso when her mentor, Ray Caballero, was the mayor. Of course, she was being paid by her mentor with tax dollars at the time. What is important to note is that Escobar’s emails are not only unethical and morally wrong but they show a propensity to say one thing in public and work deals behind the scenes. I would argue behind closed doors.

Escobar espouses good governance while at the same time she engages an unknown blogger to create the political undercurrent she needs for her political career, and that of her friends.

Let that sink in for a moment, from the public record so far, it appears that Escobar had no knowledge of who the anonymous blogger was but she still engaged him. Clearly she knew a useful idiot when she saw one but more importantly she has no qualms using whatever tools are at her disposal, no matter how ethically challenged they may be, to further her political career.

Veronica Escobar did not expect these emails to be published begging the question, how many more deals is she making via emails or word of mouth?

Associating with Morally Repugnant People

Anyone would agree that as the sitting County Judge, Veronica Escobar’s actions and associations with people are representative of El Pasoans. I believe most of you would agree that if Veronica Escobar were to be caught having a conversation with a racist espousing a racist or a sexist point of view that many voters in the community find objectionable, they would be demanding her immediate resignation.

Anyone who has ever had the misfortune of reading any of Ali Razavi’s posts knows clearly that Razavi is morally corrupt. Not only does he do exactly what he promises Veronica Escobar he will never do by publishing her emails for all to read, but he regularly posts content that to write it is pornographic is an understatement but in many instances it is also racist and or sexist.

What does that say about Veronica Escobar?

As El Paso voters, do you honestly believe that Veronica Escobar engages in ethical political decisions after looking over the emails she sent to a racist/sexists blogger devoid of any decency whatsoever?