Ness vs. Lilly - Copygate - Plot Thickens

Disclaimer: Everything below represents my opinions and my observations of what's going on and  are in no way based on actual knowledge or privilege of anything other than what I know through telepathic communication with people, places and objects associated to the subject matter.  This should not serve as evidence of any wrong-doing by anyone mentioned below.  Some names have not been changed in order to avoid protecting anyone's identity and some aimals were hurt during the making of this movie.

(I have to do things like that when I talk about people who are lawyers.  They solve all their problems in court and I need all my cash in order to procure a new liver from an unlucky prisoner in China, which is expensive.)

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The response to this "story" has been immense.  Admittedly the emails have skewed towards the "I hate Lilly because she's old and a closet republican/democrat so whether or not she did anything wrong, she still did something wrong" theme.  People are inclined to believe bad things about people they don't like even if the evidence is shaky at best. 

I now don't think Lilly has a strong chance of winning... at least with those tuned into the digital-political scene here in El Paso.  It really seems as if she's hated from both sides and there may not be enough people in the middle turning out to vote in this election.

A couple of the emails alluded to something I was pondering last night, but didn't explore further because somebody is teething in the Karlsruher household (poor kid - are dentures for babies out of the question?).  Lyda Ness' campaign manager is married to someone on the tenth floor named Diana Ramirez.  Mrs. Ramirez works in Representative Beto O'Rourke's office and also worked on Jay Kleberg's campaign last year. 

Is Ness' provider of 10th floor evidence - who would prefer to remain anonymous - actually her campaign manager's wife who works on said floor?   Only Ness knows for sure, but it seems odd that all of the media reports leave this fact out.  Statistically speaking, how many people on the tenth floor are in a position to advise Ness on the goings on up there?  Any right thinking person has to imagine that Mrs. Ramirez talks shop with her husband.  What does she know about all of this?  It's truly an interesting development and something Ness should be very open about with the public in the name of "accountability."  Remember, Ness was less interested in doing the right thing and filing an official complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission and more concerned with making sure Lilly is accountable to the public instead.

But... there's another issue here that would preclude Ness from outing her source.  The person who found Lilly to be in violation of state law (allegedly) didn't turn her in. They took the information to her opponent.  You now have an employee of the city refusing to report a crime (at the least a "violation of law," which sounds like it's less than a crime, but is the same thing in the end), but instead taking the evidence of the crime and giving it to a candidate who used it to further her campaign.  Wow... lots of issues just came flowing out of that little scenario.

1. Who's really using city resources to campaign?  Is it Ann Lilly?  Or is it the public employee fishing around the 10th floor for campaign fodder while on the clock?  If they provide anything used in a campaign during work, are they breaking the law?

2. Should the city employee who decided to run to Lilly's campaign opponent with the evidence instead of the city's legal department (or his/her boss) be investigated?  The person saw something illegal and took it outside the 10th floor for public consumption instead of adhering to protocol.  What other things does this person share with non-city staff outside of city hall that may be evidence of illegal acts?  What if this person doesn't report corruption when he or she sees it?  

3. What if the "city staffer who would rather remain anonymous" is in fact the campaign manger's wife?  Do we have scenarios 1 and 2 in play at the same time and what does it mean for Lyda Ness directly?

This whole thing stinks to high heaven and it makes me wonder what kind of people we are dealing with here.  Is the drive to win greater than the need to preserve your ethics?  When is it too much?  Is Ness avoiding filing an official complaint because of the scenarios I've laid out above and the implications of what an investigation by an outside party may yield?  Is her little game now going to backfire and hurt her worse in the end?

Who knows?  This is no longer as simple as it once was.  It's not how I would have played it and I can assure you that YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE LAST OF THIS!  Okay... it probably dies with my blog, but don't say I didn't try.  I fed the media the entire ambulance billing story along with an incredible email to boot and they just sat there on their thumbs wondering why their hands stink.

The news media should have figured out the campaign manager/10th floor employee wife connection before I did.  How lazy are they?  So lazy that they let Jaime and I scoop them on a weekly basis.

I will tell you one thing - the first claim will be that Ramirez's husband isn't Ness' campaign manager.  I can tell you he was before I published this post and wasn't shortly after.  He'll be "loosely affiliated" by tonight and a complete stranger to the campaign tomorrow.  Which is too bad because I really like the guy.  He is going to hate me after this.  And I don't blame him - I'm not a likable person.

By the way - if I was running Ness' campaign her slogan would be "Vote for Ness, I wouldn't Lyda you!"

Comments

[Richard Telles (]

You've got a big imagination! You've turned a story that was about Smith and started attacking a Ramirez. You do seem like a racist bigot. Grow up David and quit living off the parentals! The people that deserve real scrutiny are Brown (for her church fiasco), Holguin (for years of blundering), and Artalejo (who needs to be psychoanalyzed). Lily and Garcia are both two of El Paso's better candidates. You are pitting two well respected ladies against each other. Neither one of them have a flaw as far as I'm concerned. Blog on something worthwhile!

[Carl Starr]

I am not sure one is required to report crime, there is federal misprison of felony code [eg report felony or be charged with misprison]but I am not aware of a state misdemeanor hotline, of course there may be employer rules etc re crime.

I am also not sure about copies, copies work poor in court eg without an original, copy cases are weak.

The whole thing seems kinda petty to me. In Congress some new members are living in their offices. Your personal shit is bound to get mixed with office some. I think the law was intended not to run campaign HQ's out of gov offices, not the incidential phone/fax.

[Jonas]

Persecute the whistleblower not the elected official... That's low.
Lilly is elected. She violated our trust. Make her explain!

[Gabriel Reaves]

Actually the law requires you not utilize your office as your campaign headquarters. That is your tax payer money paying for paper, copier and the person who answers the phone. Lilly can not use the district 1 office as her campaign headquarters. No elected official can from senator to the lowliest of low. That is taxpayer time!
If she feels so entitled to do that then what is to stop her from doing whatever she wants with our money like it is her own personal wallet.
She needs to go.

[Gabriel Reaves]

Ness Garcia is the ethical one here. She had the chutzpa to actually call out the entrenched powers that be and shake it up. We should expect the very best from our elected officials and Ness Garcia has done nothing but show us she expects the best and therefore hopefully will give us the best. I have seen nothing from fact or record that would indicate she is anything but on the up and up. Protecting a city employee from retaliation is admirable not to be disparaged.
Fact - the list exists
Fact - Lilly cant explain how it ended up on tax payer property
Fact - someone gave a copy to Lyda and apparently Abeytia from reviewing his blog.
Everything else you site about her motivations and what guides Ness Garcia is merely speculation.
Why dont you back up your stuff instead of issuing a disclaimer? Thats pretty chicken shit.
I wasnt gonna go to any forums but I may now cause I want to hear this lady talk because I have heard she is pro-business growth in this town and we need that and she wants to shake up City hall... and lord knows we need that.
Are there any debates coming up?

[david k]

Gabriel,

Don't waste your time going to forums, we all know that you know Lyda personally and are fighting her battles for her in the blogosphere.

[dist 1 voter]

Mrs. Garcia is an attorney. To take her case to the media about a voter list and not file a complaint with TEC brings into question her ethics as a lawyer. She says in the paper it's wrong - then why isn't it wrong enough to report the violation to TEC, to file a complaint with the city Legal Department, etc. Man up Mrs. Garcia. Follow the law. Hopefully you are not this hesitant to file legal action against others for your clients - that would surely be wrong.

[RC]

The blog opens up with "People are inclined to believe bad things about people they don't like even if the evidence is shaky at best." But after reading this blog I think we can add that..People are inclined to believe bad things about people that they "really like" even if the evidence is shaky at best.

[Gabriel]

I don't know her but she represented my buddy in a custody case and he thinks she walks on water.
District 1 person - She's already said she doesn't want to drag that employee into things which she would if she filed a complaint. I A TEC complaint better have more then an anon document. Maybe she will after the open records request. I personally think she should and I were her friend I would tell her but I also get that she doesn't want to be petty.
I still find it humerous that Lilly did wrong and you rag on garcia because she hasn't reported her. That messed up.

[silly season watcher]

Gabriel - whoever the 10th floor employee is that found the paper in the copier should know better than to remove it from the premises, seek out an opponent of Lilly's and give it to her. Yes that employee will most likely lose their job if in fact a TEC complaint is filed - because Mrs. Garcia will have to tell the truth in the complaint as to how she ended up with knowledge of the incident. So she may be the greatest attorney on the earth but she sure showed a serious lack of ethics when she took that information and went public with it and publicly stated she wouldn't file a complaint. If the action of Lilly isn't serious enough for her to file a complaint then why did she even bother mentioning it? Again - even the best lawyers can make a stupid decision. As far as politics go - this is a rookie mistake to get caught up in "copygate" - shame on her.

[Mark]

Like Garcia said - I think waiting for the open records results is responsible of her. Lilly broke the law. Not the 10th floor employee or Ness Garcia. Lilly! It amazes me how the focus has been deflected. A TEC complaint takes months to resolve and would serve little guidance for us voters. KNOWING that Lilly is using city resources to bankroll her already bought campaign - that informs the voters!

[silly season watcher]

Even an open records request wouldn't determine if Lilly in fact, in person, left a campaign list on the copier. That's the problem - even in a court of law you have to provide more evidence than "I found this piece of paper on the copier". If there are security cameras on the 10th floor did she bother to ask for the footage from the cameras to see if Lilly herself (or even a staff member) copied the document at the copier. To simply say "I found this" doesn't necessarily make Lilly the guilty party. I have been up to 10th floor many times and many times you can literally walk into a reps office and no one is around and if the rep didn't lock their door you can get into their office. So if this is the crime of the century then lets start putting forth real evidence instead of circumstantial. Mrs. Garcia is a lawyer - she should know better.

[District 1 Voter]

Silly Season Watcher, it's Ms. Ness-Garcia (sometimes with the Garcia, at times not depending on her audience)SHOULD know better. So either, she's a lousy attorney or out to get an incumbent who's in her way of (perhaps, maybe) winning an election. (She unsuccessfully ran for judge in 2007 and wasn't appointed to another position she sought after earlier this year). Best way to do that, find something, ANYTHING, to make that person look bad. So her personal friend(s) who's always lurking in city hall, Danny (the equivalent of Jaime Perez who was always looking for dirt on folks) and Kirstin go and file for an open records report. Throw in her campaign manager and his wife Diana or other friends on the 10th floor to use this poor fool to take the heat and you have the "big story." It smells of desperation.

Now Ms. Ness is upset that Niland received money and endorsements and she didn't and crying all over the place to whoever will listen.

[Chanchis]

No matter who found the list, at the end of the day what matters is that Lilly did something she was not supposed to be doing. Lilly has to go!!! It is not fair that this 10th floor employee is at risk of loosing her job just because David K. thinks it's her that gave the information to the public, we are talking here about a person that is doing something she is not supposed to be doing, LILLY!!!! Let's foget this person's name up there, we have no proof that it was her that gave this list out. Yes she works up in the 10th floor, yes her husband is running Ness's campaign, and what!?! We all need to work, it just happens to be that they both work in the political field. At the end of the day all that matters is which candidate will be there for us and which one will be able to represent the district as they should and I am sure Lilly is not the one. If you have any questions about what Lilly is really all about, get in touch with Tony Pierson.
As for me and what it seems like, Lyda-Ness Garcia is still the one for our district!!!

[silly season watcher]

Chanchis: the employee on the 10th floor that found the list is not at risk of losing their job unless and until Mrs Garcia actually files a complaint with TEC which would have to outline exactly how she got the list. So if a TEC complaint is ever filed and if Ms. Ness tells the truth then the 10th floor employee would most likely be fired when the facts come out. The 10th floor employee has no "whistle blower" cover because the employee didn't take it to the City Attorney. That step would have kept the person from getting fired. The bad thing for this employee is now there is all sorts of suspicion about this person and most likely they won't last much longer on the 10th floor. No one likes or respects a snitch and they certainly don't want to work next to one.

As far as Tony Pierson it was well documented and reported in the media about his "fast and loose" ways with city money. So he's pissed, disgruntled and has an axe to grind with Lilly. Therefore anything he has to say is most likely fiction.