A persistent rumor about whether Brian Kennedy will challenge Cissy Lizarraga for her seat at city council, District 8 led us to ask him to comment about the rumor. Kennedy has consistently spoken before city council meetings about fiscal responsibility and has criticized City Manager Tommy Gonzalez about his authority to spend taxpayer funds unilaterally.
In a telephone interview on November 10, 2021, Brian Kennedy addressed the persistent rumors.
Kennedy told us that he is “tired” of the “physical irresponsibility” of city council, adding that he is “tired of the blank checks” that city council has been issuing lately. Kennedy was referring the public debt, especially the non-voter approved Certificates of Obligation. El Paso city council has issued almost $160 million in taxpayer-funded debt in recent months, with over half of it being non-voter approved certificates of obligation debt.
Brian Kennedy added that in addition to the high debt the current city council is issuing, he is also concerned about the lack of government oversight. Kennedy asked us, “why is the city manager allowed to move $1 million of the city’s budget,” without city council approving the transfer? Kennedy pointed out that this has been going on since the first city manager, Joyce Wilson, was leading the city.
There is not “much oversight” at the city, said Kennedy.
Regarding Cissy Lizarraga, Kennedy told us that Lizarraga spends “a lot of time in Houston,” apparently visiting her grandchildren, instead of working on city business.
El Paso Politics asked Brian Kennedy to confirm whether he is going to run against Cissy Lizarraga in the next election cycle. Kennedy refused to confirm his intentions one way or another, other than to state that he had “no comment” at this time. We will continue monitoring this election rumor and report any new developments we become aware of any.
A Quick Note On The March 2022 Primary
Filing to run on the March 2022 primaries opens on Saturday, November 13, 2021 and runs through December 13, 2021 at 6:00pm. Look for the incumbents to begin filing for reelection and the challengers put their names in. El Paso voters will begin to get a clearer election picture on Saturday. Of particular interest to voters is a rumor about an incumbent reconsidering their reelection chances. Incumbents who do not file on the first day tend to be having problems raising the support they need to be reelected.
Author,
You have now become the definitive source of news in El Paso. Disappointed with the “mainstream” news outlets as they continue to plunge into insignificance.
R.M.