Most voters can be excused for not paying too much attention to a runoff election scheduled for next month involving an incumbent facing an uphill battle to keep her seat from a challenger who is unqualified on many levels to keep her seat. Some voters may want to point out Manny Barraza as the example of El Paso’s low-IQ voters. He is in a runoff against Adam Bauman for the Republican nomination for the District 16 congressional seat. The office is currently held by the incumbent Veronica Escobar, the nominee for the Democrats. Not only did the Texas Ethics Commission list Barraza as delinquent on paying his campaign finance fines but in 2010 he was jailed on federal charges for trading sexual favors for favorable rulings in his courtroom. El Paso voters will not be ousting Escobar in the November elections leaving Barraza as just part of the election’s jokes around town. Unsurprisingly, Barraza plays a bit part in the race that should have El Paso’s voters scratching their heads in disbelief but isn’t. We’re talking about the race between incumbent Lucilla “Lucy” Najera and Dora Oaxaca. If this was a race for dog catcher it would be laughable at best, but it’s a race for a judicial seat. Before we get into the nuts and bolts, let’s properly set the stage. Neither are lawyers but the winner will be making court rulings on people’s misery.
They are running for Justice of Peace Precinct 5, which has a sordid history in El Paso’s political scene. The set is set for May 2nd where voters will be electing one of the two most unqualified people to run for office anywhere else but in El Paso where being unqualified for office is not a deterrent but the key to success.
The Sad History of the Justice of the Peace Precinct 5
Voters in the Justice of the Peace Precinct 5 can rejoice on having the second woman run for a justice of the peace seat in El Paso. It was Angie Coca Quintana who ran in 1977. But Quintana, who lost, was the second woman to run for justice of the peace in El Paso. The first was Alice Petry who ran for the Precinct 3 seat in 1974.
On the surface, running for justice of the peace in Texas is the only way an uneducated El Pasoan can legally call themselves a judge and adjudicate legal matters simply by being elected by uninformed voters. It is the fastest and least troublesome way to proclaim oneself a judge. In essence, a dog catcher seat but with teeth in it. Behind the scenes, and likely the driving factor besides the “judge” honorific is the payoff in salary and fees the seat carries with it.
The seat comes from an archaic quirky law found across the country.
Most El Pasoans will never appear before the justice of the peace unless they are being evicted, looking for a quick marriage or the target of a debt collector for a small amount. Some traffic violators may have the misfortune of standing before Najera or Oaxaca someday, but for now they will be voting simply because they were pushed to by the political operatives pulling the political strings behind the scenes with the money that funds these campaigns – landlords wanting a candidate that is easily persuaded to evict people from their homes no matter the facts behind the case.
The concept of the justice of the peace can be traced back to King Edward III who created the concept in the 14th century. It continues in England to this day and was brought to the American Colonies by the English settlers. The system was created at a time when communications and transportation were insufficient to administer justice in smaller communities across the country.
From the beginning, the requirement to be a lawyer did not exist to make the process of administering justice easier. Today anyone with few limitations can call themselves a “judge” and administer justice simply by convincing local voters to vote for them. As they will do on May 2nd.
Today several states, including Texas, retain the tradition of the justice of the peace. To run for the office, the candidate need be only a U.S. citizen, not have been convicted of a felony – which would exclude Barraza – and have lived in Texas for at least a year. Importantly, there are no minimum educational requirements for the office and being an attorney is not required.
A Texas justice of the peace is paid around $114,000 annually. But for an enterprising candidate, their annual salary can be significantly increased by how much they charge to perform weddings. Their fees are not governed by rules, and they can pocket each dollar they charge with few exceptions.
Justice of the Peace Precinct 5 voters have a long history of voting for dubious candidates to administer justice in their community. The Justice of the Peace Precinct 5 encompasses the area along the border that is south-west of Ascarate, up to Pellicano towards the north-east and a little past Americas Avenue to the south-east.
One of the first controversies for the Precinct 5 seat involved Alfredo Chavez, who sued his opponent, Hector Beltran. Chavez argued that Beltran did not live in the precinct in 1978. Beltran was dropped from the ballot after a court ruled on March 16, 1978, that he did not qualify for the seat. In El Paso’s political system, if you can’t beat them by convincing low-IQ voters to vote for you, you can use the legal system to force your opponents out of the race. On June 3, 1978, Chavez defeated Quintana, the first woman to run for the seat with 61% of the vote.
Next up is Manuel Barraza. Voters shouldn’t feel bad if they didn’t think he would play a bit part in the justice of the peace races for the Precinct 5 seat. But recycling bad political candidates is the epidemy of El Paso’s political scene.
In 1981, Manuel Barraza, a convicted felon now in the runoff for the Republican nomination for the District 16 congressional seat threw his hat as a 26-year-old newly minted attorney. Yes, that is correct, an attorney. Barraza challenged Chavez for the seat saying that he wanted to “provide something in return the community that produced him.” As he had done in 1978, Chavez filed a lawsuit in 1982 to have Barraza removed from the ballot alleging that 52 of the 194 signatures Barraza submitted to be on the ballot were not valid. Baraza had chosen to submit signatures instead of paying the $500 filing fee. Barraza countered with his own lawsuit alleging that Chavez’s petition contained 62 invalid signatures. The court refused to remove either candidate. Chavez went on to defeat Barraza with 54% of the vote in the May 1, 1982, run-off election. Voters shouldn’t be too concerned that they didn’t elect an attorney because being an attorney does not keep someone from demanding sexual favors from the bench to rule in their favor. Precinct 5 voters shouldn’t celebrate their lack of voting for Barraza, the attorney, because some of them along with other El Paso voters voted for him later only to see Barraza hauled off to jail in handcuffs with his pants barely covering his, well the reader knows.
But Chavez wasn’t what voters needed, but at least he wasn’t hauled off to jail. However, Chavez decided that the separation of state did not apply in El Paso so he mixed religion with legal ruling to the chagrin of the voters, who shouldn’t have been surprised since they vote through persuasion that only deep pockets can pay for. Has any El Paso voter ever questioned why so much political money is dumped into the equivalent of a dog catcher race? As it is often said, “follow the money,” in this case it leads to those wanting quick and uneventful remedies when they want to kick someone of their homes.
But we digress from Precinct 5. In September 1989, Chavez called the Reproductive Services abortion clinic a “slaughterhouse,” after officials at the clinic criticized him for releasing 51 antiabortion protestors without bond. But Chavez was the best landlord money could buy so he lasted for around 17 years.
In the April 11, 2006, runoff election, Monica Teran defeated Chavez with 52% of the vote. Voters weren’t too enamored with Chavez anymore after learning that his wife, Linda Chavez, was involved in a far-reaching public corruption drama that ended with almost 50 people jailed or implicated in public corruption. She pleaded guilty to public corruption charges in 2012 as part of the far-reaching public corruption scandals dubbed Poisoned Pawns. She was a former Ysleta Independent School District (YISD) trustee, who voters voted into office.
If the name Monica Teran resonates, it is because her name was again on the ballot in March, finishing third behind our two protagonists for, you guessed it, the Precinct 5 chair. Teran is part of the proverbial recycled candidate always running for office and, as is common in El Paso, belongs to a family whose members are always trying to persuade voters to vote for them for cushy taxpayer funded offices.
But we digress again.
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On December 27, 2009, Yvonne Roberta Caldera who was running for the Precinct 5 seat was arrested outside of the L&J Cafe on charges of public intoxication while shouting obscenities at the sheriff’s officers arresting her. Caldera was released at the scene because of high blood pressure and ordered to turn herself in for arrest later. She did not and was featured on the January 10, 2010, El Paso Times “Most Wanted” list.
She said at the time that the paper featuring her on the Most Wanted list was political retaliation for a 2007 lawsuit she had filed against the El Paso County alleging wrongful termination from the county clerk’s office. If they can’t beat them in the courtroom, they can always try to get back at them by convincing voters to vote for them.
Caldera was running against then-incumbent Monica Teran, and challengers Johnnie “John-John” Chatman and Marissa Yvonne Gonzalez. Caldera came in last with 377 votes, or 7% of the ballots cast. Teran was forced into a runoff election by Chatman. Teran had 44% of the vote against Chatman’s 30% in the March 2, 2010, election. Gonzalez and Teran first ran for the seat in 2006.
Teran defeated Fred Chavez with 52% of the vote in the two-way runoff election on April 11, 2006. In 2010, Chatman again lost to Teran 54% to 46% in the April 13, 2010, runoff election. In the March 4, 2014, election, Chatman again forced Teran into a runoff election with 29% of the vote to Teran’s 45%. Two other candidates were in the race. On May 27, 2014, Chatman unseated Teran with 51% of the vote in the runoff.
Before unseating Teran, Chatman was the activities coordinator for Ranch Hills Middle School before winning his seat. Like most El Paso politicians he held a long record of running for offices he was unqualified for. He unsuccessfully ran for city council in 1981, 1983, 1997 and 1999. He didn’t win until he convinced the uninformed justice of the peace that a person did not need to be a lawyer to dispense “justice” in El Paso.
For Chatman, this was a dream come true because as soon as it was clear that he had conned the voters, he demanded that everyone address him as “judge.” Even his friends were now expected to call him “judge.” Some voters resented Chatman’s condescending demand to be addressed as “judge” that they looked for an alternative dog catcher.
In the March 6, 2018, elections, Lucilla “Lucy” Najera challenged Chatman for his seat. Also, challenging Chatman for his seat was Kathryn Lucero. Najera came in second with 30% of the votes behind the incumbent’s 42%, forcing Chatman into a runoff election. Lucero was third with 28%. Chatman went on to defeat Najera with 57% of the vote to Najera’s 43% in the May 22, 2018, runoff election.
For the El Paso voter, this race exposed the reality of the quality of who runs for justice of the peace seats in El Paso, especially for Precinct 5. To understand this, it is important to remember that two of the candidates, the incumbent, Chatman and challenger Lucero spent $3.63 per vote and $1.27 per vote respectively. Najera spent less than a penny for each vote, having not raised any money.
Campaign donations had flowed to the incumbent, as they usually do and to the challenger who had built up political bona fides in the past that contributors could understand. It was Lucero’s race to lose, and she did because she chose a controversial blogger as her campaign consultant.
These events, typical for El Paso rallied together to propel Najera into the position she finds herself in today.
Lucilla “Lucy” Najera
The incumbent, Lucilla “Lucy” Najera, forced Chatman into a runoff election in 2018. She lost to him in the runoff with 43% of the vote. Najera is a licensed private investigator. To understand why education is not important to be called a judge in Texas one need not look beyond Najera.
While campaigning for the Justice of the Peace Precinct 5 seat in 2018, Najera told the audience at a political meeting that her strategy for the campaign was let God sort it out for her. Asked if she was using a voter list, Najera was shocked to learn that a candidate could get a list of voters who voted in the last election. She asked, “isn’t that illegal?”
Najera went on to tell the savvy but incredulous audience that she blocked walked by following Veronica Escobar’s campaign team around town dropping off literature on the doors that Escobar’s team visited. Najera did not seem to understand that Escobar’s voters may not be in her precinct. Clearly, she lost that race, but it did not deter her, because after all, apparently God had plans for her to be a justice of the peace.
In 2022, she unseated Chatman with 62% of the vote in the May 24, 2022, runoff election after forcing Chatman into a second runoff.
But because education is not a requirement for the office, voters shouldn’t be surprised to know that Najera’s tenure in office is marked with controversy.
Her latest campaign isn’t immune either. Recent Najera campaign materials misspelled runoff as “runoof”. That follows her controversial mailer stating that the Tejano Democrats had endorsed her even though they endorsed her opponent. The people behind the false endorsement issued her a cease-and-desist order demanding that she retract the endorsement publicly.
Back peddling, Najera defended her false endorsement by blaming it on a mistaken-identity error. It turns out that there are two groups calling themselves Tejanos in El Paso. Clearly how El Paso politics operates. Najera was endorsed by the lesser-known group – the Tejano Democrats of El Paso, but her campaign used the logo of the better-known group, the Paso del Norte Tejanos.
Her short time in office is mired in controversially demanding cash-only payments to marry people. Why cash? Najera has said why she requires cash payments and it could simply be part of not understanding how credit cards work but voters should remember that cash payments allow for playing games with income at tax time. Marrying people is so lucrative that Najera built up a backlog in her courtroom, because, apparently she was too busy taking cash payments for marrying people.
Today she finds herself facing Dora Oaxaca who is hoping this umpteenth race for political office, albeit the dog catcher seat, is her ticket to a political win after years of pulling the political strings in El Paso behind the scenes.
Dora Oaxaca
If voters believe they have a better choice in Dora Oaxaca on May 2nd, they will be, unfortunately, bitterly disappointed. Oaxaca may be better educated than Najera, but her ethical background, well it shouldn’t surprise anyone, is severely lacking.
To list every instance of ethical malfeasance with Oaxaca would take a novel because there are many. Readers will get the abridged version with highlights to see what they get for their vote for Oaxaca.
To set the stage we don’t need to go far, only to 2012 when Willie Gandara was arrested at the Sierra Blanca Border Patrol checkpoint.
The then-county commissioner and former Socorro mayor, Gandara, was arrested in February 2012. Nicknamed the “Godfather,” Gandara pleaded guilty later that year to transporting 124 pounds of marihuana to Chicago in 2011. He was sentenced to around five years in federal prison and was released on May 31, 2017.
In 2011, before his arrest on drug charges, Willie Gandara was running for state representative. Oaxaca infamously appeared on a political video supporting Gandara’s election, introducing him as her “boss” and “friend.” When Gandara took the microphone, he started by saying that Oaxaca was not his friend, but rather she was family. He went on to credit Oaxaca as being an “inspiration” and the person behind his candidacy for commissioner and the Texas legislature. Gandara added that “I am who I am because” of Oaxaca.
When news broke about Gandara’s arrest, a shellshocked Oaxaca only said that she “had no idea” and retreated into the narrative that she would continue to run Gandara’s commissioner’s office until the replacement could be appointed.
The Gandara clan is well-known in the region’s political circles with Oaxaca actively working for them or supporting them politically. They are not known for their political elections, but rather for arrests related to politics. The elder Gandara was part of the pay-to-play drama that unfolded as part of Poisoned Pawns. An uncle, Jesus Gandara, also faced public corruption charges at another school district in Chula Vista, California. Jesus Gandara pleaded guilty.
But the true measure of Oaxaca can be found on in the “brutal” report the city council heard in 2023 involving her husband, Henry Rivera, a then-city representative. Rivera was the elected official, but the report centered on Oaxaca’s activities that led to Rivera being censured by his peers.
What did Oaxaca do to merit her husband being punished for her actions? The rumors surrounding Oaxaca included allegations that her actions may have led to the attempted suicide by a city employee because of her. Although the suicide attempt was not publicly disclosed, Rivera’s censure included allowing Oaxaca to supervise a city employee without proper authorization. Rivera was also censured for allowing Oaxaca to access confidential city computer files without authorization. The city council held little recourse against Oaxaca, who was not elected, and was forced to punish her husband for her activities.
These examples are only an appetizer to the smorgasbord that is Oaxaca’s long questionable political behavior, including intimidating poll sitters at the polling stations as the Democratic Party chair.
El Paso voters will be the losers no matter who is elected to the Precinct 5 seat, not that the low-IQ voter would notice. But there are two clear winners. The winner gets to pocket fees for marrying people without having to share the fees with anyone. But the real winners can be readily found in the campaign finance reports the candidates for the Justice of the Peace file. They are the landlords that support the candidates that rubber-stamp their eviction notices to throw people out of apartments and rental homes when they fail to pay their rent or become an inconvenience to the landlord.
The runoff election is May 2nd. Be sure to vote for the most qualified dog catcher.