Riddle me this, the El Paso Times has reported numerous times that Larry Romero has resigned. The paper has even published the affirmative assertion that Larry Romero resigned “effective Sunday.” KVIA, for its part, initially stated that Larry Romero had resigned referencing the El Paso Times as its source. KVIA followed up its initial report by adding that the letter of resignation had not been filed. The other news media outlets have reported the resignation as confirmed by “unnamed sources.”

My problem with the El Paso Times, specifically, is that it has reported the resignation as a fact, when the reality is that it is nothing more than a rumor. The Times, along with the other news media outlets, have referred to Oscar Leeser and other “unnamed sources” for the resignation.

But, not one of the news media outlets, except for KVIA, have bothered to point out that absent a signed resignation letter, there is no resignation.

There is no resignation!

Last night, the ethics commission met to discuss the ethics complaints filed against Larry Romero and Tommy Gonzalez. The ethics commission chair, Stuart R. Schwartz, read a public statement wherein he acknowledged that the investigation of Romero will proceed, because as of the time of the meeting, “no formal signed letter of resignation” had been delivered to the city.

Because many in the community, including Bob Moore’s newspaper doesn’t seem to understand that accuracy is important, I am going to repeat it again;

There is no resignation!

The ethics commission has given Tommy Gonzalez until February 16, 2016 to answer the questions asked by the city’s investigator. Gonzalez’ attorney had requested the extension to submit the answers.

Now, back to the issue of the supposed resignation, the facts matter when it comes to the public record. Yet, many political pundits, three bloggers and at least two city representatives are speculating and discussing a possible special election. In case you missed, Emma Acosta and Michiel Noe were on Maria Garcia’s KVIA Extra show last Sunday discussing the resignation as if it were a fact.

It is not!

Jaime Abeytia, David Karlsruher and Ali Razavi have been posting as if the resignation was a done deal.

It is not!

That is the problem with the local newspaper, the three bloggers and the city representatives, they speak or write based on rumors. Right now, the Larry Romero resignation is just a rumor. A rumor perpetuated by second hand sources and unnamed individuals whispering information to willing news media accomplices.

Facts do not matter to any of them because their political agendas does not allow for facts.

Keep this in mind as you read or listen to people who don’t mind basing their expertise on rumors, instead of facts.