Rumors began to circulate within political circles shortly after the Primary Elections on March 3rd that County Judge Ricardo Samaniego had a medical emergency that led to questions about what the process would be if he were unable to continue with his campaign. Some El Paso County Democrat Party officials started to consider who they would nominate to replace Samaniego for the Democratic ticket should he drop out of the race before the election.
Rumors have persisted since then about the extent of Samaniego’s health. In March, however, only a few Democratic Party officials knew about Samaniego’s triple-bypass surgery, as well as his “big donors.” Samaniego refused a request to notify the county commissioners about his health condition, leaving some of them to believe it was an elbow or knee surgery.
We can now tell you the story of Samaniego’s open-heart surgery and who knew about it.
The story about Samaniego’s medical emergency, the apparent decision to keep it a secret, and who knew about it is pieced together from voicemails and text messages provided to us, and interviews of people who were there, or had first-hand knowledge.
We reviewed public records, we looked at text messages sent by Samaniego and family members and we interviewed people with knowledge of what happened. None of the people we spoke to would go on record for fear of reprisals. We were provided with screenshots of text messages between Samaniego, family members and friends that corroborate the events of the days before the surgery, the day of the surgery and afterwards.
Everyone we spoke to feared retaliation against them for speaking to us about Samaniego. Some refused to speak to us about what they knew, and the others would only speak to us on the condition that we would not name them by name. One person shared a text message with us where Samaniego was seemingly threatening them. After seeing the message, we agreed to not name any of those who shared details with us.
Here is what we learned about the surgery and the decisions to keep it a secret.
On March 16, Samaniego was recorded as absent from the county commissioners’ meeting. Iliana Holguin announced his absence, adding that he would soon be back without explaining why he was absent. Samaniego was again absent during the following meeting on March 23rd. Again, no explanation was offered for his absence.
We now know that Samaniego underwent a triple-bypass surgery in Dallas on March 13. It was performed by a Houston doctor.
Sometime before March 12, Samaniego was flown on a gurney to a Dallas hospital, according to a picture he shared via text message of him being loaded into the aircraft operated by Elite Medical Air Transport.
He was originally scheduled to have surgery during the afternoon of March 12 because he sent a text message stating that he was “Abour [sic] to go into surgery!” However, about an hour later, Samaniego sent another text message saying that there was a “change of plans,” because “the surgeon was worried that he and his staff would be fatigued.”
At around 9:39 in the morning the next day, March 13, Samaniego was in surgery. Later in the morning his son sent a text message stating that “my dad is off the bypass machine,” and that Samaniego should be back in his room by 11:00 am.
Samaniego remained in Dallas until at least March 22, when he sent a text message saying that “I have a big day tomorrow,” suggesting that the doctors would clear him the following day.
Samaniego faced a series of medical conditions before the March primaries and after. In a text message, he wrote, that he had faced a “series of very difficult situations starting from pulmonary aneurysm to torn meniscus, a splinter shoulder, and then the real and final crisis of going to Dallas,” where he had surgery.
Although rumors of his health condition persisted, including fainting at a retirement ceremony requiring Samaniego to be taken by ambulance to the University Medical Center of El Paso, there was little information about his health in the community. Samaniego had told people not to talk about his health because he feared it would affect his reelection campaign. At one point, Samaniego told a county official not to let the county commissioners know he was about to have open-heart surgery.
Dear reader, I hope you appreciate this article. Before reading more, I ask that you consider my work and make a small donation to help keep this publication open for everyone. El Paso lacks news diversity. I offer 20+ years of historical knowledge about El Paso’s politics and public policy. Media diversity matters. Make a small donation today to help keep my work going for another 20+ years. Thank you.
Samaniego Tells County Chief Administrator Not to Tell Commissioners About Surgery
Sometime before Samaniego was to undergo surgery, he received a text message from El Paso County Chief Administrator Betsy Keller asking if she should tell the county commissioners about his surgery. Keller asked,
“Judge; Have you told the court yet? Someone told me that you told them about your condition (Steve Ortega) and I don’t want them to hear it from anyone else. Do you want me to let them know you needed surgery and will be out for a couple of weeks?”
Samaniego told Keller not to tell the county commissioners.
However, as he was withholding information about his surgery, Samaniego told his largest campaign contributors about his surgery.
Samaniego sent a text that said, “I told the big donors what had happened & one of them. [sic] El mas jodido told someone from the court.”
Jodido, is a Spanish word that in this context means the poorest of the “big donors.” Samaniego was referring to former city representative Steve Ortega. The word is also often used as an explicative for people who the person using the adjective does not respect.
Samaniego returned to the commissioners’ court on March 30.
Until today, few people knew about the open-heart surgery and the discussions over what would happen if he did not continue with his campaign. It is unclear if any commissioners knew about it.
Around 2:00 in the afternoon, yesterday we sent email requests to county commissioners Jackie Butler, David Stout, Iliana Holguin and Sergio Coronado asking if they were aware of the surgery and for their comments. We also asked Betsy Keller for a comment and whether she felt it was appropriate not to inform the county commissioners.
We spoke to an attorney that practices campaign and legislative law about whether there was a duty by Samaniego or Keller to notify the Court about Samaniego’s surgery. They told us that they are not aware of any law or regulation that requires Samaniego or Keller to inform the Court about the surgery. However, they added that Commissioners Court can consider a “vote of no confidence for Keller” should they feel that she withheld important information from them. “They are her bosses, after all,” the attorney concluded.
We also asked County Judge Ricardo to comment about our findings.
As of the time of publication, we have not heard back from Samaniego, Keller or the county commissioners.
However, the question remains, what happens if Samaniego drops out of the election? The answer depends on when that happens, according to the attorney we spoke to. This was the question being asked by El Paso County Democrats officials in early March.
According to the attorney, if Samaniego is unable to continue his campaign before the November 3rd election, the El Paso Democratic Party precinct chairs would select an individual to replace Samaniego on the ballot. However, if Samaniego is reelected on November 3rd, but is unable to perform his duties before the start of his new term in January, then the county commissioners would appoint someone to fill his seat.
But the attorney told us that there is a question about which county commissioners would make the appointment if Samaniego drops out before January 1 – the currently seated county commissioners or the newly elected county commissioners. Commissioners Sergio Coronado and David Stout lost their primaries in March. Their terms end in December.
According to the attorney we spoke to, the thinking is that it would be the newly elected county commissioners who would make the decision because the seat would not be considered “vacant” before January 1. After January 1, the newly elected body would appoint someone to fill Samaniego’s seat if he is reelected in November.
Why We Decided to Publish This Story?
Normally a medical issue is dealt with among family and friends. People have the right to expect privacy about their medical conditions. But there are two important issues surrounding this medical procedure that makes it an issue important for the public to know for two specific reasons.
The first is that the medical crisis was significant enough that at least some County Democratic Party and other officials were asking what the procedure is to replace Samaniego on the November 3rd ballot should he be unable to continue. The second issue is that Samaniego made the choice to keep the County Commissioners from knowing about his medical condition while informing his “big donors” about it. This raises the question of whether the elected officials who serve alongside him should have the same knowledge as the people who are funding Samaniego’s reelection campaign. Moreover, because Samaniego is asking El Paso voters to reelect him for another four years, the question is, is he healthy enough to deliver to the voters what they are voting for?
He did, after all, feel it was necessary to inform his “big donors” about the surgery.
Samaniego faces Republican challenger Minerva Torres Shelton in the November 3rd general election. Early voting begins on October 19 and runs through October 30th. Election Day is November 3rd.
Learn more about Ricardo Samaniego’s campaign on his campaign website.
Learn more about Minerva Torres Shelton’s campaign on her campaign website.