Refuse the Juice

Setting the Record Straight - An explainer for Grossman

For some reason Max Grossman doesn't pay attention to the details when it comes to people he sees as "the enemy."  I, apparently, am the enemy.  And he says defamatory things about my parents and their business even though they don't write this blog.  (He never attacks me???) He's like a child on the bus too slow to come up with original material and resorts to "yo mama" jokes out of desperation.  Let's look closely at what he gets wrong. 

First of all, I'm not for the arena.  And I'm not for the Mexican American Latino Chicano Indigenous Peoples of Hispanic Descent Community Center Honoring Pancho Villa's Many Severed Trigger Fingers.   And just in case you forgot - I am not for the Arena.  Clear?

Hell, I was the only person who explained to all of you how and why all of the QOL projects were bundled.  Remember, it was the Westside Swim Mafia that guaranteed the QOL bond if they got a new pool.  "City officials" purposely bundled everything knowing the Westside Swim Mafia would deliver the vote.  Did anyone else educate you on the game?  Nope.  Just me.  Grossman has not sent me a thank you note for this - and I'm a little sad about that.

What Grossman doesn't get is that I'm offended by his abuse of private property rights - not his opposition to the arena.  It doesn't matter what future building he's against, his treatment of property rights and his frivolous lawsuits that waste taxpayer dollars are awful trespasses against his fellow Americans.  As one UTEP professor put it "this asshole is closer to Bernie Sanders on the political spectrum than he is Ron Paul."  Rule#1 of Socialism - no private property rights.  

Grossman suggests that my opposition to his socialism is that somehow my parent's company would benefit from the arena construction.  That's stupid.  They don't design arenas.  They don't build arenas.  Hell, they're old now and don't even go to arenas.  There is zero chance my parent's firm or any other firm in El Paso will have anything to do with the arena design or build.  The City of El Paso NEVER HIRES LOCAL FIRMS when it comes to vanity projects.  And besides, the "consultant" for the Arena is going to handle all the design and build and will use their own guys.  So, even if my parent's firm was named "Arenas Are US!" they still wouldn't get a contract.  Any engineering firm in town can tell you this. 

Second - my parent's firm has been asked, threatened, extorted and blackballed when it comes to the "bond PACs" formed when the school districts or city want to take something to the voters.  They don't give money to them - ever.  In fact, they have personally opposed more than few bond issues because they didn't want their taxes to go up.  And thus since they were pretty much the only engineering and construction firm not to give to the "bond PACs" over the last 30 years - they've never got a single contract from one of those bond elections.  They have been absolutely blackballed for not trying to "buy work" from the different entities - at least as  those bond projects goes.  It is completely unethical to give to those PACs with the expectation of receiving work.  

Third, yes they bid, and answer requests for proposal, in the public sector.  And occasionally the have the best proposal or the lowest responsible bid.  Grossman thinks this is awful.  He thinks somehow it would be legal - and completely undetected by the authorities - if my parents were handed work because their son wrote a blog opposing Grossman's property rights violations.  As if that's what people in the city are gunning for - handing out business to people who oppose Grossman....  And sadly - I think Max Grossman probably believes that this happens.  I can see the proposal form now:

Question #1:  Does your company have any experience designing buildings?

Question #2:  Do you hate Max Grossman?

Question #3:  On a scale of 1 to 10 how much do you hate Max Grossman?  One being the lowest amount of hate and ten being the highest amount of hate.  

And when my parents win a contract it's always about making improvements to your community - utilities updates, drainage improvements, road improvements - you name it, it's the kind of stuff you want your tax dollars to pay for.  My parents have never been awarded work on any of the vanity projects. If Grossman wants to imply that laws have been broken or that the city actually spending money on maintenance of roads is a bad thing, let's see how much his benefactor is willing to pay for his legal defense on that.  Because Grossman is essentially accusing city staff of committing a crime when they have not (he is accuses them of awarding work based on the subject matter of their next of kin's blogs).  He is also accusing engineers and contractors in El Paso of committing a crime along with city staff.  You can do that, but it will cost you money in the end.  You are not free to defame people because you don't know how to make a lucid argument for your issues.  

 

Peace be with you...  

Consistently inconsistent - Ankle-biters

I have two kids and I enjoy watching their morality shift when the situation changes.  My daughter thinks everyone should have cake... until there's only a one piece left - she is then sure that only she should have cake.  I see a lot of El Paso ankle-biters in my daughter's reasoning.

I think the ballot language from the QOL bond issue that included the arena is important to examine.  I think it's also important to understand that the mayor and council are only doing what the public voted to do - build some kind of building that holds a lot of people.  You can't really beat them up for following the will of the of the people.  You need to beat your neighbor up... errr... don't hit your neighbor.   You might want to discuss the issue with them before the next QOL bond election. And if they continue to vote for expensive things that raise taxes, don't yell at the people tasked with carrying out their wishes.  If you believe in the semi-democratic process, you have to believe it in both in times of winning and losing.   It seems some local blowhards only like semi-democracy when it benefits them. 

For example...

So, the anti-arena crowd is really hanging onto to the hope that the ballot language of the QOL bond was either unclear or illegal enough to get construction stopped.  Other concerns, like the ones I have mentioned, have kind of been put off because they have no legal path to stopping the arena.  Those concerns are mainly about the building paying to operate and maintain itself and what events will happen in what frequency so that might happen.  Their bottom line is that ballot language is to be followed and no extras added.  

Which... brings me to Lost Dog.  The ankle biters have said that you get exactly what the ballot language says you get an nothing more.  Which means the very same ankle-biters who hate the arena are changing their tune when it comes to Lost Dog.  With Lost Dog the city council did exactly as instructed by the ballot language by passing an ordinance as stated in the ballot language.  However, the Lost Dog land thieves are now saying the election results require the city to take further action such as selling the land to Rick Bonart for a dollar or applying for some other kind of land protection.  The Lost Dog land thieves believe ballot language is up for interpretation as long as it is interpreted to their benefit. 

So, with the arena - exacting wording and exact wording only. With Lost Dog - eh... you know what we meant, right?

Bottom line, the city should not be doing any other work on the Lost Dog situation on behalf of the land thieves.  Council has completely complied with the ballot language and owes them nothing more.  I mean, if you want to be consistent... 

But we all know that the ankle-biters like to make the rules as they go - it's what makes them so fun to watch.  

A new way to steal your property

Apparently some indigenous people once walked across the land that is now the future site of the unneeded arena - AKA "Duranguito."  I still kind of wonder why nobody giggles when someone seriously refers to the area as "Duranguito" given we all know that nobody every once referred to the area as that until it was about to be demolished.  It's like that kid who made up his own nickname and we're all supposed to pretend we've always called him that name.   I'm sorry, it's just funny watching this mass delusion.

Back to our Native Americans (NA)... 

If we are going to start taking people's land because an NA once strolled across their property... Everyone in the both valleys is going to have to move.  It's not a leap of logic to think that NAs saw that nice river and were enticed to enjoy all the benefits of living within proximity of it. The natural pass between the two mountains was also likely a draw too.  After all, there were no rescue helicopters to grab them if they got too high up on the mountain without a water bottle.  Our region is not inhabited now by chance - It's always been a place were humans would naturally congregate.

However, that doesn't mean we should not move on with the advancement of humanity.  Especially in a place like "Duranguito" where the original land takers dug up the ground and placed modern buildings.  I'm sorry, but the time to preserve the land was in Grover Cleveland's time.  Trying to make the claim now seems a little like grasping at straws because you've run out of any other legitimate claims. 

YOU need to watch this closely.  Grossman and friends wouldn't mind taking your land from you based on the idea that NAs were at one time present on your property.  

And don't think a "historical designation" is harmless.  Below you'll see just how dangerous that designation is for property owners.

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Guys like Grossman and Bonart aren't telling people the truth.  Bonart claimed Lost Dog would cost nothing - We'll be for sure north of $20 million when it's all said and done.... and your taxes are still going up in the meantime.  Grossman claimed historical survey doesn't mean anything and now we have proof it's a complete lie.

Please read HERE.

A property owner in Denver wanted nothing to do with a historical designation and fought tooth and nail to keep it off his property.  Now he wants to sell and retire - having worked decades to have this moment to retire nicely on his hard work.  But he can't do that.  Why?  Because his building was put in a survey as "historic."  He never went after the designation to get his "plaque" making it official.  Now as he tries to sell his building, Denver's version of Grossman is quite literally confiscating this man's property without compensation.  

These surveys are the thing activists use to take property from the owners.  Your local government should have no hand in stripping people of their property rights because hysterical societies guys decide it's "historic."

Nobody wants to listen to me, and that's fine.  I sleep well at night knowing I said something... I warned someone... 

And what's worse - the 9 million properties downtown Grossman wants control over aren't owned by wealthy people who can take the hit.  It's regular folks who may want to one day cash in and bug out for retirement.  It's someone like YOU that gets screwed.  

Anyone who wants to organize needs to contact me. For free I'll help you fight for your rights.  I'll give you the entire plan.  

 

I'm confused about the complaints

I think it was Rich Wright who wrote a piece on El Chuqueno claiming, or at least suggesting, that the city is headed toward insolvency.  Of course, I had a bunch emails saying this from different people, so it could have originated somewhere else. 

Anywho... 

What gets me is that the same people crying about taxes being raised are also saying the city is going to be "insolvent." If you spend money without increasing tax revenue, you're going to be "insolvent."  The city raised taxes, so either they are mistaken or don't know what the word "insolvent" means.  You can't bitch about your taxes going up if you're worried the city is going to be "insolvent."

The main focus of this crowd seems to be QOL bond issues.  I've tried to tell them, and you, that the voters voted - end of story.  Yes, it was bunch of crap you don't need, but a vote was held and they are to respect the "will of the people."  And far more people voted for QOL crap than ever voted for the tax and budget nightmare Lost Dog has become.  If you wanted to scrape back a minimum of $20 MILLION, I'd start selling that land off to developers ASAP.   However, some people don't want brown people on their side of town, so that's not going to happen easily.  Although - in roughly 18 months it is happening from what I hear.  The conservation easement to try and save the place has been deemed impossible given various utility interests on the land... oh and it would be completely stupid of Bonart and friends to get themselves banned from their own park.  A conservation easement would likely heavily restrict usage of the area.

Anywho... 

Max wrote the other day that he and his conservative buddies support a few candidates... who happen not to be conservative and huge spenders of tax dollars and huge fans of huge tax increases.  I wonder what Max was talking about???  It's like saying his favorite Second Amendment advocate is Beto. 

The real situation is that past mayors and councils really failed to address infrastructure needs and it's all falling apart now and needs fixing.  The writing was on the wall and you could see it back in the day when a certain district rep had to resign because he fought tooth and nail to get neglected neighborhoods repaved and updated so they'd be fit for use.  The El Paso Times and its editor were so incensed that a city council rep actually spent tax dollars helping tax payers that they declared war on the guy.  "HOW DARE YOU INVEST TAX PAYERS' MONEY BACK INTO THE TAXPAYERS' NEIGHBORHOOD!"  These folks weren't getting a trolley to nowhere to show off to their millennial friends... so somebody stepped up to get them something that actually improved their "quality of life."  That guy got what was coming to him for being so good to his constituents. 

The same thing is happening with the current mayor who is trying to keep the city from crumbling.  Past elected officials were spineless and spent money on a trolley to nowhere instead of the work that really needed to be done. The one guy trying to fix it all is getting beat up and I have to ask if these people with public opinions on the subject have any idea what they are talking about.  Council members wanted more slush fund money for trolley to nowhere type projects and the mayor vetoed the budget.  Then... all of you bitched about his fiscal restraint while bitching that nobody has enough fiscal restraint.  What gives?

And where does Max Grossman get off saying he's a budget hawk when he's trying to get the county to buy 900+ properties in downtown because they are "historic?"  He wants to spend a billion bucks on his vanity project... YOUR MONEY he wants to use by the way. 

Anywho... 

Tomorrow we examine how Max Grossman plans to take your home because a native American once wandered on the property your house sits on.  Grossman doesn't live in California because there are no more straws to grasp there. However, plenty exist in El Paso.

Far too many Republicans in power with the local Democratic Party

You read that right.  There are far too many Republicans calling shots for the Democrats in town.  Hell, if you don't believe me, go read Max Powers HERE.

I'm half kidding, but half not kidding... which means I'm telling the truth while trying not to hurt anyone's feelings.  I'm not a mean guy.  I just want to have one sided conversations about local politics... Which probably makes you think I'm a mean guy. 

Anywho...

Max Grossman sent out an email listing all the reasons why people should vote against County Commissioner Vince Perez in the Democrat primary.  I'll give Grossman some credit - he's not so out there that he thinks a Republican will take that seat... although if Vince wins the primary, we might see some really funny stuff out of Grossman.

I think it's kind of funny that Mr. Right-Wing Republican himself is producing a voter guide for Valley Democrats.  Eddie Holguin's wife has to be a little chagrined by his bank shot endorsement.  I wonder how all the local Democrats are going to take the news that their darling in that race is also the darling of the most powerful Republican in the city. 

I think Grossman probably didn't think this through.  I wouldn't bet on Holguin's wife being any better on his issues than Vince is.  Granted she is not married to a city council member Grossman hates... otherwise she's still a Democrat that acts like a Democrat. 

Of course, Grossman fired his cannon way too early with the battlefield still way out on the horizon (election day).  A lot is going to happen between now and the day you all go mark your ballots.  He may not hate Vince so much by then.   Especially if the local Democrats start infighting over Holguin's interesting relationship with checks being cut from the party's purse.   And let's not forget that my buddy Jaime Abeytia is on the scent here - what he finds could be quite interesting... and that's if "interesting" were to mean "the Texas Rangers are investigating."  (They are not and will not, but you know if one hint of bad stuff going down is dropped... the claim will be made!)

Other candidates in town for state level offices are going to have take Republican money to win. Why?  Because the Democrats really don't have much money.  And they sure as hell ain't going to waste it in El Paso where the Democratic seats are safer than the Michelin Man in a padded room.   Republicans have enough money to pick their favorite Democrats in places like El Paso.  Everybody will point fingers, but all those fingers have designs on the same cookies in the same Republican jar.  

This is so bizarre, but so normal at the same time in El Paso.  Democrats reliant on Republicans to get elected... 

Best job in town is open!

Senator Rodriguez has had enough of the good life and he's nice enough to step aside and let some other lucky El Pasoan have the best job you can get in El Paso.  What job is that you ask - State Senator from El Paso.  More importantly Democratic State Senator from El Paso.  If by some miracle of all miracles a Republican won... it would be a terrible job.  

Why the contrast?

When you are Democrat in a Republican controlled senate there isn't much to do.  The Republican call the shots because they have the votes - and even if they don't have the super majority, they usually have a couple terrified Democrats who vote with them.  El Paso is never going to have a Republican senator so Republicans ignore El Paso completely.  They don't see any reason to help someone out whose job is always safe.  I mean, the Texas legislature does nothing for El Paso every session and you guys keep sending the same people up there to make sure nothing gets done the next year as well.  Why would they care to even have these people attend meetings if their input and ideas are not graded by their constituents? 

If you want the title and a six month epic party on someone else's dime - get yourself the El Paso Democratic State Senator seat.  Nobody cares what you do and it's all you can drink!

Now, with that said... Don't be telling me that the state senate is going to flip in 2020.  Hogwash!  You don't have Beto on the ballot and you don't have straight ticket voting.  Oh, and Republicans down the ballot are not going to be caught sleeping this time.  If anything they are all running like their lives depend on it.  The seats lost last election were kind of funny given some Republicans spent zero dollars on their campaign and kissed nary a baby before election day.  O'l Beto got them good.  But now that he has committed the mortal sin of publicly advocating for gun grabbing - you won't be seeing him on a ballot. 

Anywho...

So who do you think should be the next state senator from El Paso and why is it Norma Chavez? 

 

Old people vote

Watching the highlights of the debate last night and I see most of the Democrats on stage have thrown out the campaign bible.  Pretty sure the first of the Ten Campaign Commandments is "Thou shall not piss off those who reliably vote in every election."  That would be old people for those of you keeping score at home. 

Taking shots at Biden because he is old is the move of a desperate idiot... or desperate idiots.  

Gen X and younger finally outvoted the boomers in 2018, but it was pretty damn close.  Cool stats HERE.   And to be clear, that doesn't mean 22 year-olds finally showed up and voted en masse.  Gen Xers are now in their 50s.   We are all still waiting for the day when the youth actually show up.  And we will wait forever because as a former young person myself - they're completely unreliable.  

Anywho... 

Most of your likely voters are old.  Most of them take offense to candidates like Castro beating up  the one guy on stage than can relate to - Joe Biden.  It doesn't matter how many 25 year-olds think it's cool to flip grandpa the bird, there are way too many grandmas and grandpas that don't.  They take that behaviour toward Biden personally.  They look at Castro and assume he'd treat them badly as well. 

Never has beating up on old people worked in an election.  I don't see why it's a strategy now.  

Although, telling everybody you are going to disarm them is probably not a good idea either. 

Ready.... FIGHT!

I was reading my buddy Jaime's blog HERE and I found that my expectations of an inner-Democratic Party fight came to fruition faster than I could have imagined.

When Eddie Holguin's wife announced her run and there was the who's who of Democrats standing behind her  and I was very confused to say the least.  "All those people hate each other," I thought to myself.  Not present was my buddy Jaime.  He's friends with sitting County Commissioner Vince Perez.  I don't know why, but Vince Perez, probably the one of the best people in town and a Democrat, is hated by the Democrats. (Maybe it's all that honesty and integrity he's known for that's turning them off???)  However, they love Eddie's wife who seems to only worship her own personal journey to power instead of any political position or party.... which is pretty much the story with a lot of El Paso electeds. 

Anywho... I'll get right to the point.  Sure enough, Jaime found something he didn't like in their financial fillings and he's now put it on blast.  I'm not here to sort through evidence or play detective, but I will tell you that it's at best fishy.  The schemes I know all run through "postage" or "design" and occasionally "printing." That doesn't really matter because now that Jaime has pointed out that one "political consultant" is getting money that the other "political consultants" in town aren't getting, it's going to be war!

You see, each faction of the local Democratic party has their "political consultant" - a guy they trust to run campaigns.  This is the reason for a lot of their fighting.  It's mainly one "political consultant" solidifying his base by pitting them against other factions.   And by God if the party itself is handing out money and it's not going to them --- THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY!

Okay, it's not that dramatic, but they will start picking at each other and Eddie's wife's support network will start to falter. Everybody gives good face out in public, but behind the scenes it's ugly.

And I don't have to remind you the type of elected people Eddie used to run around with. Bizarre dealings seem to follow his crowd around.  This is why I have been so concerned for the former mayor who has employed Eddie and Limon to run his campaign.  I'm scared the former mayor is more likely to end up talking to more FBI agents next year than he is voters.  The former mayor is a good man, but for some reason won't separate himself from trouble.  And this little case here - is trouble.  The former mayor being aligned with them will ensure large swaths of the Democratic party  are not supporting him next November.  

I'd say let's start popping some popcorn, but I'm on diet... How about some sipping tequila (0 carbs)?

You can't fire me! I quit... err Filed to Run Again

Rep. Cassandra Hernandez-not-Brown symbolically gave council the middle finger when she filed to run for her seat in the special election.  You may remember someone accidentally put up a Facebook page announcing her run for mayor and thus it triggered the "quit to run" clause.   Council voted her off the island saying she couldn't come back, but it seems she's jumped off the boat and swimming back. 

I've said all along that it's kind of unfair not to let her run for her seat again.  I'll give her a pass on her quote in the EP Times about this being "unconstitutional" because I think everybody just throws that word around like it means something.  This has nothing to do with either constitution - U.S. or Texas.  She has eligibility left - let her run. 

Now, it's kind of ridiculous on her part and voters may see that side of things.  She's costing taxpayers money to reelect her to a position she already holds because someone close to her was careless with a Facebook post.  I'm not sure voters are going to be receptive of that.  Especially if she wins and then quits again next year and runs for mayor.  She would do herself some good right now by telling voters her intentions.  

If she says "I'm running to fill my seat and serve my entire term and I'm not running for mayor" then she should be okay.  If she says "I'm taking my seat back, but then quitting 100 and something days out to run for mayor" then she is screwed.  Her constituents aren't going to like voting for the council seat every few months.   I think she should make clear her intentions.  

Not to be mean, but she has no shot at being mayor.  She had no shot before this, but now it's way out of reach.  I think a lot of her problems come from the behind the scenes jockeying all these potential candidates do before they actually announce.  Had she not been telling everybody and their mother she was running for mayor before the Facebook oops heard around the county, she might have had some plausible deniability.  However, she acted like all other El Paso candidates and started running for an office before announcing she was running for an office - which is not right.  

Which brings me to this... 

If you don't like someone currently in office, why wouldn't you just create a Facebook page announcing them running for another office?  Pop it up, make sure my buddy Jaime sees it and then it's curtains for that politician - they have to resign.  As far as I know Rep. Hernandez-not-Brown had nothing to do with that page.  I've never seen proof (other than her owning up to it, which she shouldn't  have done) she had anything to do with the Facebook oops.  And I don't think anyone would question a fake Facebook oops at this point.  A bad character could basically Facebook oops every sitting politician in El Paso and trigger a massive special election.   (Somewhere Grossman is doing that evil villain laugh while petting a suspiciously mean looking cat.)

Anywho, just a thought...  

While you weren't looking and other stuff

A few weeks ago council passed a little thing that should have sent Grossman through the roof.  I guess he wasn't watching the agenda.  In the last session the Texas Legislature made it a lot harder for people like Grossman to blanket designate large swaths of private property as "historic."  The legislature did the following:

HB 2496 Historic designation Requires consent from property owner before a city can designate a property as a local historic landmark, and establishes criteria for designation without the property owner’s consent.

Effect: Title 20 Zoning Title 20.20.040 Procedure for designation of historic landmarks and districts

• Consent from property owners is required

• If consent from property is not obtained, requires three-fourths approval of HLC, CPC, and City Council.

Looks like the County would be wasting its time and money going any further on a historic survey.  Somebody is standing up for the property owners for once. 

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Your biggest, most egregious tax hit comes from the county.  You'll be seeing 9.2 percent increase!  I hear crickets from you guys.  All you care about is your personal problems with the current mayor.  If you cared anything about anything, you'd be screaming about new raises for the county judge and commissioners.  They're getting $20,000+ raises to oversee about a quarter of the people the city currently looks after. 

I'd say they are getting a six figure salary for a four figure effort.

Don't get me started on your hospital tax...  You are very much under a heavy, and fast hammer there.  You will be pounded each year for another increase because you don't have good management of the system.  Remember - the hospital is raising your taxes because it fails to collect money for the people they are treating.  Why is that?

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My buddy Jaime pointed out on Facebook that County Commissioner Carl Robinson never shows up to meetings.  Duh... I told you guys more than five years ago that the poor man was not all there mentally.  He suffers from some kind of ailment that city staff reported was like dementia but not exactly that bad yet - and that was like five years ago.  This man showed signs of confusion in city council meetings all the time.   It was an absolute crime nobody stepped up to help the man.  When he left I was relived and hoped that maybe he could get to a comfortable situation where he wouldn't be stressed.  Nope, they elected him county commissioner.  

I don't want to hear anyone in the Northeast every complain about their lot in life.  You elected do-nothing folks for more than a decade.  And the people who did do things... they weren't things for YOU, they were for their cronies.  

Texas probably isn't purple in the near future...

Yes, I hear you guys - let's talk a little about the state of the state today.  

Beto's incredible run for senate kind of threw the entire state's political realities into question.  What people are struggling with is one big question:  Was that because of Beto, or is it always going to be like that from now on?

I hate to steal your Democratic bravado here, but it was only because of Beto.  There is no blue wave.  Hell, for the past 20 years we've been told "in this election all the Hispanics will vote and it will be a landslide victory for Democrats."  And for 20 years it has not happened... and in one case they voted for the Republican! (Bush, as you might remember.) Don't worry, there are plenty of blue states that have the same murmurs about a Republican takeover every two years.  Most of the conversation is made with the intent of gathering eyeballs to please advertisers.  Rarely is there a shred of evidence to back up the claims. 

Anywho...

I've said it before - Beto's run... Beto's vote total... Beto's near miss with history... was a perfect storm.

1.  Ted Cruz will always be the smartest guy in the room.  No honest person doubts that.  However, he'll never be accused of being the most likable guy in the room either.  When he pulled off the upset of a lifetime to become senator, Democrats were paying attention.  They know him. They know how smart he is.  They decided the best way to deal with him was to make him look like the biggest jerk to ever walk the face of the Earth.  And he eventually helped them execute that plan with his own behavior.  In a very short time Ted Cruz became the most unlikable guy in the Senate and was recognized around the nation as such.  You can't name one Senator from Idaho, but every single person in America knows who Ted Cruz is.  And the truth is that Ted isn't that bad of guy - they just had to make sure he was known for one trait and not the other - his brilliance. 

2. Bottom line - whether it was Beto, Castro or John Cook running against Cruz, money was going to pour in from out of state.  Hating Cruz is nationwide internet phenomenon and popular among the Hollywood crowd.  And boy did the money come in buckets and then truck loads.  So much money headed to Beto that the Democratic officials in DC were apoplectic about how much Beto was sucking away from candidates who had a real chance of flipping a seat to Democratic control or protecting a seat from flipping to the Republicans.  Beto raised and spent more than twice what Cruz did.  It's almost unheard of  to see an incumbent being out-spent by a newcomer. 

3. Beto was electric.  He was everything Cruz wasn't and people took notice.  He took Democrats who already despised Cruz and turned them into people who still hate Cruz, but love Beto.  That's important.  Beto never ran on the idea of "I'm not Ted Cruz."  He ran as "I'm Beto and I want to be your senator."  That is a major factor in how he got people to the polls. They were as inspired by Beto himself as they were angry at Cruz.  That's something magical there and explains how Beto got within 200,000 votes of winning.   And we all noted the absolute Elvis-like adoration women had for him.  There were certain people you probably know, or had ties from El Paso, that were drawing questions... I mean the cadre of married women who seemed to travel with him around the state was kind of a testament to his appeal.  One husband told a mutual friend that his wife was an unpaid volunteer who was following Beto around like he was either Jesus or the Beatles or a mixture of both. She was gone a month following him around on her own dime.  The good looking, charismatic, bilingual,  punk rocker was the perfect combination to inspire a revolution.

But... it was as a short revolution with a narrow battlefield.  Sure, some down ballot candidates got elected when they were likely to never have had a chance had Beto not excited the left and turned them out.  Sure, some congressional races were a lot closer than they had ever been before.  But an LGBTQ Latina from the second largest city lost her bid for governor by more than one million votes.  A candidate seemingly out of the left's dreams was trounced by a very popular sitting governor.  A governor who in no way  is seen in the same light at Cruz.  Again - everything about Beto was a perfect storm because the other statewide candidate fared like they always have since 1994 - a big loss.  

There will be no Beto on the ballot next November.  There won't be $80+ million in campaign donations to help Democrats at any level being spent in Texas. It was a one-night-stand, not a wedding.  

A whole bunch of you are about to start screaming "BUT WHAT ABOUT ALL THE RETIRING REPUBLICAN HOUSE MEMBERS!!!!!"

Well, you have a point there.  You just don't know exactly what you're looking at because the news media hasn't told you the truth. 

Hurd is quitting because he intended on quitting all along - from the day he won the last election he knew he wasn't going to fight for that seat again.  Anybody who knows him personally knows that.  He was only going to be a member of congress long enough to cash in with Wall Street.  And now he stands to make millions of dollars in the tech security sector.  It's a no-brainer.  Why fight for a very close seat every two years and make $175,000 when you can now make $5 million a year "consulting" with firms looking to do business with our government and others??

The other retirements are completely different.  These are older men who have been in the house a long time and they are seeing their dreams die.  No, they aren't worried about losing to a Democrat.  They are worried that Republicans will not take the house back from the Democrats and thus they will rot away in the minority for at least another two years.  These men are all up for chairmanships if Republicans could take back the house.  Well, it's pretty clear that Pelosi will still be in charge after November 2020.  They don't care to sit around and go through this bullshit for any longer than they have to, so they are retiring.  Absolutely none of them, nor their staff (which I know quite a few) have ever said they were worried about a Democratic challenger.  The numbers just aren't there.   Whatever you do, don't think that these retirements are due to a major political shift among Texas voters. 

Is Texas getting more Democrats from out of state?  Yes.  But they are all moving to places that were already pretty heavily Democratic to begin with.  It makes a tiny bit of difference in statewide races, but does almost nothing for district level races.   Californians are moving to Austin in droves, but Austin was already liberal to begin with... no change for them.  When the Californians start moving to Lubbock, then you can worry. 

Election Notes

Poor Rep. Hernandez-not-Brown came up short on the vote and she's out.  I don't think her Op-Ed was wise.  It didn't make anyone on council happier and it surely didn't make her look that great in the public eye.  Her words make it seem like there are the rules everybody else plays by and then there's her interpretation of those rules.  Generally people are suspect of that kind of attitude. 

I don't think it's fair at all that she can't run for her seat again. She has eligibility and I think that's all that should count (well, the other rules like residence, age etc... also count).  Maybe she can put some effort into get that rule overturned.  I don't think she has enough money to make the case that a Facebook oops is not enough to qualify as an official announcement.  HOWEVER... Like I wrote before - had she not told the world prior to the oops that she was planning on running for mayor, she might have had a better leg to stand on.  Again, it was the worst kept secret in town and it wasn't a good thing as it turned out. 

Hernandez-not-Brown should be very angry that Susie and Vero haven't come through for her.  She carried their water from the beginning waging war against their enemies and what does she get from that now?  A big fat nothing.  I don't know how long it will take people to wake up, but it's going on 15 years now and nobody has learned yet. 

Speaking of endorsements... 

What an odd group of folks lining up behind Eddie Holguin's wife in her challenge of Commissioner Perez.  Perez is a pretty okay dude if not a little too liberal for my taste. But, he's not a bomb thrower or a guy who tries to veer off into lanes the commissioners court has no business being in.  His constituents tell me he has a big ear and isn't afraid to go figure how to solve problems once they are identified.  I'd say his district is well represented. 

I digress... Or do I???

So Holguin's wife has his former sworn enemies lined up behind her.  Anyone who watches any kind of local politics has to wonder why Batman and the Joker are seen backslapping out in public.  I question the optimism here given Eddie's inability to break back into elected office - and that goes for those he supports as well.  I'm sure his wife is a very capable person, but I'm not sure she can shake his reputation from her own.  And with so many local Democratic factions coming together, one has to ask what's really going on here.  It's bound to go straight to hell as soon as the different factions start jostling for position within the candidate's campaign organization.  Vince should be sitting back and waiting for the inevitable fireworks shit-show these folks are notorious for putting on.  

I was chagrined to see the former mayor in attendance at her announcement.  He needs to be sprinting away from that crowd, not courting them. They spell nothing but trouble for him.  He needs to find the voters who are going to wade through a huge ballot that doesn't feature straight ticket voting next year.  Asking someone to pull two levers was a lot easier than having them endure dozens of levers featuring people they've never heard of.  You can guarantee the current mayor's voters are the type to vote every race on the ballot and always have been.  The former mayor needs those type of voters. He also doesn't need the drama Limon and Holguin carry around with them at all times.  

I know elections are supposed to be serious matters, but I see the silly season getting a lot sillier by the day.