Possible mayoral candidate Leeser and company have kinda jumped the gun with their attacks on the current mayor. Leeser's longtime friend and lawyer living out of town has agreed to try and hammer Margo with ethics complaints. The idea being that Margo will go into the election under a cloud of suspicion. The problem - clouds blow away quickly.
Let's not forget that Margo did nothing wrong in either case. He's already cleared on one accusation because he didn't initiate the contact and in fact reported it. It's kind of hard to say a guy did something wrong when he followed protocol. I have a list of the personal email addresses of many of the elected officials in town. If I choose to email them about city business and they choose to report that I did that - nothing wrong there. The mere fact you know about the email proves nothing went wrong here.
The other issue about financial gain or fillings - apparently they've all been disclosed in various forms for various positions. Also, you can't bar someone from being in office over their investment in a REIT. That would eliminate tens of thousands of elected officials all over the country. Just because you can file a complaint, doesn't mean it's a valid one. Every single member of council can make decisions that directly affect the price of their home - I don't see anyone complaining about that??
If you care about this today - you surely won't by election time. The reason Byrd and friends always smashed Holguin and friends is that they knew when to bring false accusations against someone - right before the election. Ask Jim Tolbert about the fake Texas Rangers' investigation into him invented by Byrd herself.
Of course, Leeser is working Lily Limon and Eddie Holguin who are harassing city staff relentlessly looking for gotchas and they probably put him up to this proving once again they suck at timing. Margo will be cleared and can likely take some kind of legal action against those publicly touting false ethics claims against him in various media outlets - especially a lawyer who knows better. I would suspect Leeser himself would come under fire for that.
Oh - and the Holguin and Limon staff harassment is taking a huge toll on Leeser's popularity with city employees. I hear those that were one his side then, are not now. They don't like the way he's running his campaign and they surely don't want the diva Limon as his chief of staff.
My advice to Leeser is to dump them - they can't deliver the valley for themselves and they won't do it for you. I'd also lawyer up - your enemies are planning to launch a ton of investigations into your days as mayor in retaliation for the attacks on Margo. It's about to get very ugly and extremely personal. You had this race won easily until all this crap happened. Oscar is no long such a good boy - he's a guy using disgraced former elected officials to run a negative campaign seen as bullying. He also should watch out for the lady getting in the race - he strategy is to beat Leeser, not Margo. She's coming with political knives!
I think Margo has been a good mayor. I know that probably gives brother Max heartburn but look at the facts:
1. Margo did not decide to build an arena. The voters did that. A downtown arena, no less. As mayor, Margo is legally bound to respect a vote that happened long before he became mayor.
2. Margo has kept as much decorum on council as possible, unlike Lessor who allowed the Limon-Niland-Lilly public cat fight. Margo has made an effort to control the endless comments and interruptions of the ankle biters, which made City Council meetings impossible to attend during Leesor's stint.
3. Margo is knowledgeable. Lessor thought being Mayor would be easy if you were just likeable and pleasant. Being Mayor is not like selling cars. You should have a basic understanding of the laws that govern the city, the state and the nation.
4. Margo does not need the money, unlike some members of County Court. Margo is not looking for a pay check. Nor did Lessor. That's a good thing. We don't need a mayor looking for a paycheck.
5. Margo is smart, too smart to make the ethical mistakes of which he is being accused. END OF STORY. The same cannot be said for Lessor.
6. You are known by those with whom you associate. Lessor's association with Limon and Holguin does not say anything good about his character.
There are always those special issue people that want their causes front and foremost. Good for them. Their causes should be brought to the public's attention. But the mayor represents more than that. He needs to strike a balance.
Posted by: Realist | July 24, 2019 at 04:08 PM
I agree w/Realist. Margo did not create what is now the arena nightmare lawsuit mess. Leeser and then city attorney Sylvia Firth created the mess. There was a better way to do things and for whatever reason they didn't do it.
Leeser is a very nice man - very successful businessman, but surrounding himself with the likes of Limon, and Eddie Holguin is scary. Leeser now has a record he has to defend. Last time he floated through the campaign without having any policy - he was "such a good boy". Ortega had a record and it got used against him.
Posted by: Who Cares | July 24, 2019 at 04:43 PM
The unfortunate political reality for Margo is he is a known Republican in a city where 4 out of 5 voters are solid Democrat voters and Leeser is a well liked Democrat.
I do not think who did what when is going to matter to the majority of voters in this one.
The constant increases in taxes and fees under Margo and the fact that he is a Republican will probably make him a one term Mayor.
Posted by: Mary | July 24, 2019 at 07:50 PM
Mary; we do not have partisan city elections and I suspect most voters here are too dumb to know the difference, anyway. Actually, a Leeser vs Margo ticket gives informed voters a good choice between two known candidates.
The thing about Margo that has always bothered me is his close affiliation with Hunt and Foster and their ongoing (successful) efforts to plunder the tax base. In that, they have a friend in the Mayor's office.
Posted by: JerryK | July 24, 2019 at 08:39 PM
Hi JerryK.
I realize city elections are supposed to be non-partisan, however if you recall when Margo and Saucedo, both Republicans, were in a runoff for some reason the El Paso Times allowed a leader in the local Democratic party column space where Democratic voters were told not to vote for either because they were R's but rather to under vote.
They under voted in large numbers.
Like last time, I fully expect local Democratic leaders to make sure their base is fully aware of the political affiliations of each candidate and to vote accordingly.
Posted by: Mary | July 25, 2019 at 12:02 AM
Well in 2020 those voters that are coached by the Dems on who to vote for will be spending more time staring at the ballot since straight party voting will not be allowed on the ballot. Grant it the city elections are non partisan but count on confusion for those voters that are told to push number so and so.
If Cassandra Hernandez gets in the race she gets a large number of votes simply because she is a female Hispanic.
As far as who has increased taxes more-I have never seen a city council in this city ever REDUCE taxes. It will never, ever happen. They make you believe it by pushing out all those numbers and percentages but reality is taxes will never go down. Even if the rate is the same somehow the EPCAD comes through with much higher property values than the year before. So everyone is screwed no matter what.
Posted by: Who Cares | July 25, 2019 at 07:24 AM
"Who Cares," the PROBLEM is that Oklahoma, or Alabama or Good Ole Boy Dee PROMISED that he WOULD NOT RAISE TAXES!!!!
Sure, taxes get raised every year. That is the inevitable. Death and Taxes. But, he was such a blatant liar and lied out of his teeth that No Taxes Would be Raised under his watch....
Well, golly gosh, Taxes WERE raised. Thus, he will be a 1 Termer. If it wasn't for his wife and her money he would be selling Used cars in Oklahoma or peddling gold on the Internet.
Posted by: Carlos Lehder | July 25, 2019 at 05:12 PM
He did not promise he would not raise taxes. He said he was against a tax increase. Besides, the mayor does not have the authority to raise taxes. City Council does that. The mayor does not even have a vote.
Posted by: George | July 26, 2019 at 03:05 AM
Prescient title dude. No posts about the tragedy eh?
Posted by: Mike | August 07, 2019 at 12:23 AM