Tamayo endorsed and you should be terrified

I got a campaign email from the Tamayo campaign for Rep. Cesar Blanco's soon to be emptied Texas house seat.  Why they put me on these lists is beyond my comprehension... Why would you let me in?  I'm not the party faithful, am I? And why hasn't the Tamayo campaign gone ahead and paid my $5,000 consulting fee so I'd be conflicted out of writing about her on my blog?  It's days like today they'd probably wish they had hired me.  (I'm kidding, but not really... $5,000 a year to shut me up?  A bargain.)

Anywho... 

Tamayo's campaign email boasts of support from the entire "delegation" - which is to say, she was handpicked by the current elected officials because YOU are much too stupid to pick your own candidate, right?  Right.  You need to trust that people you didn't vote for (because they don't live in your district) know who you should vote for without asking you a single question about what you're looking for in a new representative.  If I were you, I'd be very suspicious of this and a little angry.   There's nothing more demeaning than a group of politicians patting YOU, the voter, on the head and saying "you're too stupid to make decisions on your own, I'll go ahead make them for you" as they whisper "idiots" under their breath. 

You should also should be aware of how the Lovely Ms. Tamayo came about "moving" back to El Paso at just the right time to establish residency and then announce her candidacy at exactly the time we hear Sen. Rodriguez is quitting and Rep. Blanco is taking his place (he thinks - it ain't that easy)

I need you to seriously pay attention to exactly how this went down because it's exactly the kind of thing the average American thinks is happening behind closed political doors but can't prove it...  and it's awful and it does happening.

Timeline:

1. Rodriguez decides he's done as the session closes back before the summer starts.
   
   
2. Rodriguez picks Rep. Cesar Blanco as his replacement and Blanco accepts.
3. Rodriguez and Blanco tell the delegation that one is retiring and the other is the heir apparent to the senate seat.  The delegation is not only sworn to secrecy on this plan, but must act utterly surprised when the announcements are made.
   
   
4. The delegation is told that the Lovely Ms. Tamayo will announce shortly after the other two pieces of news drop.  Again - everyone is to act completely surprised by this. 

This all happened like in May or June.  You can tell because the Lovely Ms. Tamayo decides to live in El Paso again... and just happens not to even try to find a new job, but instead decides that she's going to run for office.  Fishy, huh?

Rodriguez retires and everyone pretends they had no idea even though each member of the delegation was told at least a month before.  

Then... Blanco announces for the senate seat and everyone pretends they had no idea even though each member of the delegation was told at least a month before that Blanco would be running for senate.

Then... The Lovely Ms. Tamayo announces for the house seat and everyone pretends they had no idea even though each member of the delegation was told at least a month before that Tamayo would be running for the house. 

IT'S A COMPLETE SCAM!

At a minimum you should be mad at your delegation for pretending no to know something they already knew.  You should be really pissed that they colluded to fix the succession for each seat behind closed doors and they did it so that YOU wouldn't suggest your own candidate for those seats.   They did it to exclude YOU from the process of picking YOUR representation. 

You should be suspect when your delegation picks a staffer that didn't live in El Paso for a long time as their pick for the seat.  What control are they trying to have the person who is in that seat?  The good people of District 76 are stripped of their representation and instead have to have someone beholden to other El Paso reps and Cesar Blanco as their house member.  How fair is that?  Is Ms. Tamayo going to pick up the phone and ask Cesar how to vote, or is she going to ask her constituents?  Cesar will tell her what to do.  Mayr Gonzalez will tell her what to do.  The people of her district will have no access. 

Each of you should have sniffed this out from a mile away.  How neat that this woman who didn't live in El Paso happens to move to El Paso just in time to announce she's running and then all the local players endorse her immediately without even waiting five minutes to see who else might get into the race.  Be angry that your house delegation tried to decide for you who represents you.  Maybe a few of you should primary your "representative" given that they don't value your input.  

This is the egregious disfranchisement move I've seen in El Paso in a long time.  It's all legal, but it's ugly.  

Comments

[In the know]

I think it's a cocky move for Blanco to be blessing his successor. He is not in the clear of walking into the Senate seat, he will have a formidable opponent.

[Westsider]

Ever since Cesar got into the State House rumors were flying around that he didn't really live in El Paso but San Antonio. I agree this stinks. But we all know this happens all day, every day in the local, state and federal elections. Every once in awhile the voters step out of line and elect someone like Oscar Leeser, Ted Cruz, Trump, and the list goes on and on.

I sincerely hope someone else steps into the Democrat primary for this race so there will be a choice.

[JerryK]

One party system. What do you expect?

[Joseph]

Neither of the two candidates is a good one. First Tamayo appears to be a stand in as you say for Blanco. The other one Claudia for doing nothing for her district as a city rep. Except. Vote for downtown projects that have little value to her district. So why do you even propose that Claudia is a good choice. Be honest neither of the two are good choices but then again we don’t have really good candidates running. Period!