David K. over at Refuse the Juice recently published a post that in part dealt with the lack of influence El Paso has at the congressional level.
He also had some interesting thoughts about the upcoming congressional race.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak
City of El Paso debt=$2,670,400,000, county and school district debt=$1,600,000,000. Total $4.27 billion. Your share $19,350
elpasospeak 
In the 60+ years I have lived in El Paso, I have truly never seen such a mess politically or practically in the leadership, whether it is City, County, State or school district. Perhaps it is time to examine what it is El Paso actually contributes economically and politically to all the entities. And unfortunately, nothing comes to mind.
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Nothing ever changes in El Paso, except the names of the DEMOCRATS that you can vote for. Vote for the DEMOCRAT of your “Choice”. No Republican, Independent can ever get elected to anything. As bad as it is, El Paso is a Democrat stronghold, for whatever that idea gets us. In Washington, in Austin, what do ANY of THEM , including PAID Lobbyist, ever do for the PEOPLE? No jobs, no economy, no industry, low , menial wages, no TAX BASE.. Have been here over 25 years and the ONLY thing that ever changes, is the names of the politicians, Public Officials who waste, tax, spend and tax some more. BIG business, MILLIONAIRES-billionaires, get all the tax breaks. The PEOPLE of El Paso get NOTHING from any of them. “Move out, YOU are in the way of OUR new Arena, baseball field, a place for this, a center for that”. And NONE of what the POLITICIANS want, ever BENEFITS the PEOPLE of El Taxo. OUR taxes still increase every year with every “Budget”. And still the city is trashy, THEY don’t fix the streets, THEY don’t buy vehicles, put Police Officers on the streets, THEY don’t fix the flooding and yet collect a TAX from all of US to do just that. And that is what a “Closed” ONE Party system does to El Paso. El Paso has nothing to ATTRACT tourist, get people to stop, stay off that BIG ROAD out there. It is simply a gas stop, a lunch stop, overnight motel, on the way to some where else, East or West. Yes, there are good things about El Paso. It has great weather and the best Mexican food.
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Stop wasting money trying to make the city a tourist stop. Just make it better for the people who already live here.
Beto understands the role El Paso plays in the national economy as a conduit for goods made in Mexico and he communicates it well.
So live with it. It could be worse. I mean in the Rust Belt they’d be happy to have El Paso’s growth.
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“Growth”??? What “Growth”? Nothing “Grows” here except WEEDS and the back pockets, “Fortunes” of the politicians, Public Officials. The previous Mayor, COOK and the City Council LIED to US and THEY built a MULTI-MILLION$$$ baseball field for Mountain Star Sports, Paul Foster. And now the TAXPAYERS of El Paso, as broke as WE are, have to pay for it. Was going to be such a great “Venue”, a money maker, REVENUE producer for the TAXPAYERS, PEOPLE of El Paso. What events, off season have been held there? How about Cohen Stadium. that now sits EMPTY, producing not a dollar? EVERY show, concert goes to Las Cruces up the road. Why is that? And now the CLOWNS want to build an Arena for SOMEBODY and pretend that the PEOPLE, TAXPAYERS of El Taxo need it, WANT it. THEY force folks out of their life-long homes, because SOMEBODY wants THAT place for a BUSINESS, an Arena. Don’t know what Beta O’Roark does for El Paso, VETS. Well I did see a new coke machine in a hall way, so maybe he did that.. Mostly the improvements, attitude changes I have seen there, have been caused by the new VA Boss, appointed by President Trump. We don’t need low life politicians who do nothing but enrich themselves, campaign pots. We need people who understand and that actually want to and WILL REPRESENT US. THEY need to understand that WE are just hard working “Peons” here, WE have no money. And if that is why they are here, came here, they can just pack up their carpet bags and go some where else.
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We need to stop electing the career politicians, lawyers, bankers, financial wizards and other charlatans. Trumps was a step in the right direction. And the truth is ugly so he doesn’t dress it up. I see no major or even minor manufacturing, mining, smelting, agriculture, transportation (remember City Council moved it to Santa Teresa), refining, or major industry other than a couple of call centers. No mills, no foundries, just fast food, dry cleaners and the military. The largest civilian employer is the school district. Whoever we elect to whatever office in the future needs to comprehend the city is dying and federal or state life support is gone. We must have lower taxes, be encouraging of industry that will employ El Pasoans, and accept that El Paso will never be a San Antonio or Dallas.
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And THAT is the TRUTH, the whole TRUTH and one of the best comments I’ve seen on any subject.
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Beto believes in open borders. Beto does not understand the problems that Dodd Frank impose on poor and middle class El Pasoans, Beto has no empathy or real understanding of Israel and the Israel – Palestinian issue…Beto is super liberal representing a conservative (albeit Democratic) constituency.
NAFTA needs revision. When it was signed, the peso was 4 to 1. What is it today? 20 to 1? That needs to be fixed. A border tax would be one way to help put the playing field back where it was intended to be. Like Veronica, Beto is more concerned with Mexico than his district.
Beto is interested in a future as a politician in DC … live with that.
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Excellent comment. The poor, unemployed, low-wage, over taxed, no jobs people of El Paso have elected, voted for DEMOCRATS for many, many years and they are still poor, unemployed, overtaxed. Whether they are Democrats in Washington or Austin, matters not. O’Roark has done no more for the people of El Paso than Silvestre Reyes or the ones before them. They TALK, that’s what they do. Are WE still OVERTAXED in El Paso by local DEMOCRAT politicians? Maybe before the NEXT election, WE need to ask THEM, when do things get better, when are YOU going to actually do the JOB of REPRESENTING US?? O’Roark talks about what he does for Vets, what he has done to improve care at the V.A. I did see a new Coke machine in one hallway, other than that………………..Whether it’s the LOCAL politicos, the CAREER politicians that are elected or the “Representatives” that go to Washington, Austin, NOTHING ever gets better for US, the “Stupid, ignorant peons” in El Taxo.
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Dee Margo is not a Democrat. He just got elected Mayor.
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I would vote for a Pro-Police, fix the roads, lower taxes, less spending-El Paso agenda !
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So correct and the requirement to represent EL Paso is you are incompetent. We have our ow Maxine Waters in Escobar but the whole truth is the Party is controlled by a all group and even encompasses City Council. You get what you vote for! It won’t get better until we get smarter . You could Be Christ and run as a Republican and get crucified all over again with the help of the clergy in this town!
Sent from my iPhone
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Until those that actually vote start voting like a reasonably intelligent citizen and STOP with straight ticket voting, voting for the party instead of the individual, and start using their brains to select and vote for the best qualified candidate instead of the one with a Hispanic sounding name, El Paso will continue on it’s death spiral to total bankruptcy.
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Excellent Old Gringo and you got it all exactly right. They give me a whole list of people, unopposed on the ballot, ALL DEMOCRATS and I don’t vote for any of them. But I did vote for David Saucedo instead of Margo. That’s another problem here. We have too many career politicians here, who just move chair to chair, job to job. Never had a real job. Political, Public corruption is inherent here and much of it caused by people being in a POSITION too many years and nobody knows what they are doing to US and still because people know “Joe” he gets elected time after time.
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Brutus,
I’m curious to know how many tax increases this community has seen in the last two years?
EPISD and YISD both had one.
The city is looking at 5%
EPCC is considering a bond next year.
The hospital district had a bond a few years back.
Of course, we could also count the rate increases by the utilities?
Just wondering what the real cost is for the common family in EP.
What else am I missing?
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