We’re at war.
It’s a class war. We didn’t start it. The richest people in El Paso started it. Over the last 10 or 20 years, the richest people in El Paso have bought local government by donating to candidates who will do their bidding.
That’s why El Pasoans pay one of the highest property tax rates in the country. That’s why our streets are crumbling, our pools and rec centers are closed, and our libraries are operating on reduced hours.
That’s why our City Manager makes more than $400,000 a year, and even that wasn’t enough for the five members of City Council who voted to extend his contract two years before his current contract expired. Those five members of City Council received the bulk of their campaign contributions from the same people who now want to buy a seat on the El Paso County Commissioners Court.
Because controlling City Government isn’t enough for the richest people in El Paso. They realize that they can squeeze more money from local taxpayers if they can take control of County Government, also.
The richest people in El Paso have poured more than $47,500 into the campaign of Judy Gutierrez, who is running against David Stout in the race for County Commissioner Precinct 2.
If you like the way City Government has sold out the working class, small businesses, and people who live on fixed incomes, vote for Judy Gutierrez.
If, instead, you want responsible, responsive, representation on the Commissioners Court, reelect Commissioner David Stout. He’s got our back.
It’s actually worse than your calculations, Rich. She’s completely endrogada, more so than you indicated, to la olgarquía of El Paso + the local cops (city and county). It screws up competition big time for this runoff election. See below.
This a.m. I did a back-of-the-napkin accounting of how much money County Commissioner District 2 challenger Judy Gutierrez has raised and from whom; compared to the same information for incumbent David Stout. I looked at the campaign finance records, available here: [https://epcountyvotes.com/elected_officials/campaign_finance_reports]
Here’s what I found.
Gutierrez collected about $87000 from July 2021 and May 2022. Of this, a whopping 71 percent of her contributions, about $62000, came from just twelve people or PACs who gave $2000 or more. (That’s an average of over $5000 per contributor).
Of these few mega-contributors, Woody and Gayle Hunt gave $15000. The Bowling family gave $5000. The El Paso Sherriff’s Association $15000. Paul Foster $5000. Steve Ortega (failed mayoral candidate in 2014 and currently local lobbyist) $4000.
If there had been a $1000 cap on contributions – a policy Justicia Fronteriza is working on for the City (please sign their petition) — the $62000 Gutierrez has collected from these twelve political players would have been reduced by $50000. She would have collected a total of only $37000 for her campaign, not $87000.
David Stout has reported about $50000 in contributions. Most are from donations of $100 to $250. Only one of his contributions equals or tops $2000. It came from the Service Employees International Union PAC, or SEIU. They gave him $5000.
Stout had eight contributors who gave $1000 or more. Those eight totaled $13000, or an average of $1625 each. If these had been limited by the Maximum $1000 rule, Stout would have lost $5100. Compare that to the $50000 Gutierrez would have lost if her dozen mega-contributors had been limited.
To sum up: Gutierrez would have collected only about $37000 total if there were a $1000 cap on people and PACs contributing to her campaign. Stout would have collected about $45000. Stout would have substantially out raised Gutierrez. Instead, under our current rules, Stout has only a little over half of Gutierrez’s monetary resources.
Equalizing campaign finance by putting a $1000 cap on contributions would go a long way to democratizing El Paso.
Those numbers are obscene, especially when you consider that they are for a local political office that doesn’t even pay that much.