A picture recently released by the Renard Johnson Campaign raised questions about city employees campaigning for Renard Johnson as he seeks the mayor’s seat in the upcoming November elections. The picture shows a city employee holding Renard Johnson’s campaign poster along with other people.
The Renard Johnson Campaign posted a picture on social media showing Johnson along with 11 other individuals, three of which are holding a Renard Johnson for Mayor poster. One of the poster holders is Jovany Meza. Meza is Art Fierro’s Administrative Assistant. We asked Fierro if he was aware that one of his assistants was working for the Johnson campaign.
Renard Johnson is seeking the mayor’s office in the November elections. As of this morning, five other individuals have also filed paperwork to run for mayor. They are Jacob Chavira, Marco Contreras, city representative Cassandra Hernandez, Roberto Ryan Houle and Steven Winters.
The filing deadline to run for a municipal office in the upcoming November 5 elections starts on July 20 and ends on August 19. It is expected that one or more additional individuals will be filing for the mayor’s seat before the filing period ends in August, making the crowded mayoral election season larger.
El Paso News reached out to Art Fierro yesterday via email to inquire about Meza’s work for the Johnson campaign.
In an email response, Fierro wrote that Meza “is an aide who assists” Fierro’s office with “constituent services.” Fierro added that Meza “does participate in political campaigns during his personal time.”
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City of El Paso guidelines do not prohibit city employees from participating in political activities while they are not performing duties for the city. City employees are not allowed to use city property to campaign for political candidates.
In his email response to us, Fierro wrote that Meza “is fully aware of the City’s policies prohibiting certain political activities,” adding that “specifically, he understands the prohibition against using city time and resources for personal endeavors.”
Art Fierro concluded that “within these guidelines, I support the right of all employees to engage in their community and government on matters of public concern, the political process, and voting.”
Attempts to reach Jovany Meza for comment were unsuccessful.
It should be noted that the picture released by the Renard Johnson Campaign does not show any indication that Meza was violating any city policy regarding political campaigning.
The individual who provided us the screenshot was asking about another individual depicted in the picture. Our investigation revealed that the individual the reader was asking about is not currently a city employee but is related to one. Because they are not a city employee their activities do not fall under the city’s rules on political activities.