The Texas Ethics Commission is required to post the lists of individuals with outstanding fines issued by the Texas Ethics Commission on its website. When a candidate or office holder fails to file timely reports or file incomplete reports, the Ethics Commission assesses civil penalties. When the individual pays the fine, their name is removed from the Commission’s website.
Candidates who run for state-wide office and judicial office candidates must report their campaign finances to the Ethics Commission. Candidates in municipal elections, like the city council, are generally not required to file campaign finance reports with the Commission but instead must file them with local authorities. For example, mayoral and city council candidates file their campaign finance reports with the City Clerk. Likewise races for the county commissioners file with the El Paso County Elections Department. Those running for the sheriff’s office and other countywide races must file with the Texas Ethics Commission.
The Texas Ethics Commission issues fines for incomplete reports, unfiled reports and other violations. As of today, the Texas Ethics Commission lists 743 delinquent candidates with outstanding fines. Of those, 20 are for candidates with addresses in El Paso, Texas.
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Among the 20 delinquent candidates include lawyer Chris Anchondo who ran against Monique Velarde Reyes for the 327th District Judge seat in the 2022 Democratic Primary. The delinquent list shows that Anchondo owes $500 for a fine.
Another candidate in the delinquent list is Manny Barraza, a former district judge who was convicted in 2010 of trading sexual favors in his courtroom in return for favorable rulings. Barraza was sentenced to five years in prison. In 2019, Barraza was arrested a second time for practicing law without a license. The State Bar had debarred him in 2012 after his conviction in 2010. The delinquent list shows that Barraza owes $1,000 in fines.
Omar Carmona, who recently ran for the 65th District Court judge’s seat in the March 5 Primary, is also on the delinquent list. According to the Commission’s list, Carmona has a $700 fine pending. Carmona came in second with 43% of the vote in a two-way race. In 2022, Carmona made headline news when he filed a petition to remove Yvonne Rosales as El Paso’s District Attorney. By the end 2022, Yvonne Rosales had resigned as the District Attorney.
Another individual on the Ethics Commission delinquent list is Osvaldo “Ozzie” Carrasco, Jr. who is currently running for Constable of Precinct 4. Carrasco previously ran for State Representative for which he has an outstanding fine of $1,500, He is running as a Republican for constable, although his campaign website does not mention this.
Norma Chávez who lost to Vince Perez in the runoff for the State Representative District 77 seat is also on the list. Chávez, according to the delinquent list owes $1,500. On March 25, Chávez was sued for not paying a vendor in the runup to the 2024 Democratic Primary. In addition to not paying the vendor and having the pending fine, the Texas Ethics Commission investigated Chávez twice, in 2006 and 2009.
In 2006, the Texas Ethics Commission found that Chávez “did not disclose political contributions” for 2004, 2005 and 2006. Chávez was fined $1,000 for that incident.
In the second incident in 2009, the Commission again determined that Chávez did not properly report campaign contributions in 2008 and 2009. The Commission also determined that Chávez did not properly report expenses for travel outside of the state. For this incident, Chávez was fined $1,000.
Another candidate on the list is Willie Gandara. The Commission fined Gandara $2,000. Gandara, while still a county commissioner and running for state representative was arrested at the Sierra Blanca checkpoint with over 100lbs of marihuana in February 2012. Gandara pleaded guilty to drug charges on August 17, 2012.
The next name of the delinquent list is Joe Moody, who owes $500 in fines. Moody is the district 78 Texas House representative.
Closing out our list of delinquent El Paso candidates on the Texas Ethics Commission list is Lyda Ness-Garcia. According to the Texas Ethics Commission, Ness-Garcia owes $500 in fines. In 2020, Ness Garcia was accused by a former client of fraudulently cashing the client’s checks.
In 2010, the Texas Ethics Commission found that Ness Garcia had accepted an illegal campaign contribution of $2,500 from Bingham Investments, Inc. The Commission also found that Ness Garcia, although aware of the illegal corporate contribution, nonetheless, spent the campaign money. Finally, the Commission determined that Lyda Ness Garcia accepted $7,500 in campaign contributions from David Bingham in three campaign contributions from three different company accounts. The amount exceeded the campaign contributions from one individual for judicial races, according to the Texas Ethics Commission. Ness Garcia was fined $1,000 for this incident. Ness Garcia is currently the judge of the 383rd District Court.
In addition to the delinquent individuals profiled, there is Mike Cervantes, an attorney, who ran for District Judge and has an unpaid $1,400 fine with the Texas Ethics Commission. Another name on the list is former chairman of the El Paso Democratic Party, Rick Melendrez who owes $1,000 in fines, and Ben Mendoza, who ran for the city council district 2 seat in 2023 and has a $500 fine. Claudia Ordaz is also listed as having a pending $500 fine with the Texas Ethics Commission.
One individual listed on the delinquent list as owing $2,000 died in 2017.