Five days ago Isabel Salcido filed to run for Mayor.
Twelve days ago I received a text message poll about the Mayor’s race. One of the questions I was asked was “Do you have a very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable view of Cassandra Hernandez?”
I’m just guessing, but I reckon the pollster was Cassandra’s political maquinita gauging her chances of making a runoff. I reckon her chances weren’t good. I mean, she’s gotten a lot of deservedly bad ink in the last couple of years, what with the gas card scandal, and her voting record of raising taxes and issuing debt without putting it to the voters.
I reckon Rep. Hernandez, and her maquinita, realized she isn’t a viable candidate.
But what’s a maquinita to do with an election coming up and no viable candidate?
That’s right. Change horses in the middle of the stream.
It probably didn’t take too much nudging to persuade Isabel Salcido to jump into the race. She’s termed out, and she’s probably wistfully remembering the roar of the grease paint and the smell of the crowd.
Would Ms. Salcido’s entry to race hurt anyone more than Ms. Hernandez?
Probably not. They have nearly identical voting records. The biggest difference between them is that Ms. Salcido didn’t let Ms. Hernandez’ husband use her gas card.
The maquinita needs to be fed, and, no matter what they say, the candidates do not usually pay their machines with their own money. Cynical political machines might just want to get paid, and, perhaps more importantly, they want to solicit campaign donations. And I reckon that’s the end game of Rep. Salcido’s late entry into the mayoral race.
But what do I know? I’m just guessing.
I figured the Downtown Mafia is behind all these filings to dilute the vote among many candidates so it forces a runoff when the turnout is much less, i.e., “Our guy will have a better chance.”
I imagine that the only candidate that will be hurt by Ms. Salcido’s entry to the race is Ms. Hernandez.
What has she ever done?
Salcido rarely talks on council. Outside of City Hall, she doesn´t like to appear before voters, except in home meetings in neighborhoods. In the 2022 Community First Coalition candidate forum at EPCC, invited well in advance, she would not attend. We displayed an empty seat with her name on it.
I’d agree with this assessment were Renard Johnson not in the race. Hasn’t he been the oligarchs’ preferred candidate since the beginning? Perhaps Isabel Salcido could have beaten him had she announced when Johnson did. But Johnson got an eight-month head start with just over two months until election day.
But Ms. Hernandez’ political machine is not the political machine of the oligarchs. The oligarchs’ machine is major league, and Ms. Hernandez’ political machine is AA.