The Premeditated Ignorance Of The El Paso Democratic Party

An uncontested reality has creeped into El Paso's local non-partisan elections, and it has the local Democrats struggling to contain inconvenient truths. El Paso's city council races, including the mayor's race, are supposed to be non-partisan, meaning that candidates running for those offices do not have a party affiliation next to their names. However, that has not stopped the El Paso County Democratic Party from labeling some candidates as a "Democrat-in-name-only," the so-called DINOs.

The Democrat-in-name-only label has been used in El Paso as far back as the early 1900's, although it has been used nationally longer. Several elected officials and well-known El Pasoans have been accused of being a DINO, usually without proof. El Paso Times letter writer, Julian V. Horwitz, accused then-mayor Carlos Ramirez of being a DINO because Ramirez supported then-presidential candidate George W. Bush. The term is most often used in whisper campaigns during election seasons.

In addition to whisper campaigns, backroom deals are often made with candidate endorsements to sideline candidates from getting an endorsement from a political group. These deals are designed not for the party's good but to secure political power. In the recent election, there were several "deals" made with several groups to control where the endorsements went. Although not normally publicly known, the endorsement deals surfaced as in-fighting within several organizations over the endorsements began to leak into the community. On the surface it was about party loyalty in the non-partisan city council races, but ultimately it was about political power, especially within the local realtor's association and among the Texas Black Democrats.

El Paso Democratic Party chair Michael Apodaca often intervenes on non-partisan races, as shown by his involvement in the Cassandra Hernandez recall effort last year. But his efforts are often behind the scenes and in closed door deals.

Apodaca Influences Access To Voter Data

Although the decision as to who is allowed to the use the NGP-VAN voter software , ultimately rests with the Texas Democratic Party, people with first-hand knowledge we spoke to have told us that Apodaca influences the decision as to who should be provided access to the software.

The Democratic Party software is ostensibly limited to Democratic Party candidates, but in non-partisan races like the recent city council elections, exemptions are often made by the local party chair by ignoring past ballots cast in Republican primaries or by having the candidate take an oath of affiliation. A recent denial letter by the Texas Democratic Party to a candidate in a non-partisan race explains that "VAN access is only available to those who run as Democrats in non-partisan races."

A non-partisan race, by definition, is party agnostic and candidates do not have party affiliation attached to their names on the ballots. Although the Texas Democratic Party acknowledges that the request was for a candidate running in a non-partisan race, it nonetheless, states that the candidate must run as a Democrat, completely ignoring the non-partisan nature of the race. The missive adds that the candidate must demonstrate "Democratic values" to be allowed access to the voter data.

Although municipal candidates are summarily blocked from the NGP-VAN software on the whim of a local party or state party official, this is not generally known by the voters. Voters are not aware that these decisions are backroom deals made behind closed doors, because while the Republican voting record on some candidates is ignored, it is sometimes used against candidates party official see as inconvenient.

What is most often seen by the voters is the use of DINO when referring to certain non-partisan candidates. One of the most visible and recent examples is the case of Dori Fenenbock.

Veronica Escobar Versus Dori Fenenbock

In the run up to the 2018 Primaries, Veronica Escobar faced off against Dori Fenenbock in the Democratic Primary to take over Beto O'Rourke's congressional seat. A mailer by the Keep El Paso Honest PAC urged El Paso Republicans to forgo casting a ballot in the Republican Primary and instead cast a ballot for Fenenbock in the Democratic Primary.

Then party chair Iliana Holguin condemned the tactic calling it "reprehensible and contrary to the notion of fair and just elections."

Although running in the Democratic Party Primary, Fenenbock faced questions during the election about her party affiliation. She had previously voted in the Republican primaries in 2008 and 2010 and voted in the Democratic Party primary in 2016. Fenenbock did not cast a ballot in the 2012 and 2014 primaries.

Fenenbock was also supported by various Democratic Party officials, including Silvestre Reyes.

Nonetheless the DINO reference against Fenenbock became part of the political narrative throughout the election. Talk radio and letters to the El Paso Times criticized Fenenbock for being a DINO.

Referencing a candidate as a Republican in El Paso is designed to get voters to vote for another candidate. Usually, it is part of a whisper campaign because unless the candidate voted in the Republican Primary during the same year or has taken an oath of party affiliation, they are not a Republican under Texas rules because party affiliation is not carried over year-after-year unless the candidate chooses to take an oath to affiliate. Voting in a party primary ends the party affiliation in December of each year.

For this reason, those using the DINO label must resort to whisper campaigns to create the illusion of a Republican candidate running in a non-partisan race. Although unproven in most cases, the DINO label is a useful tool used by the El Paso County Democrats. But recent events in the mayoral race is forcing the El Paso County Democrats and their chair, Michael Apodaca to resort to premeditated ignorance to avoid having to explain Cesar Blanco.

We need your support to keep delivering the news and information that is important to you. We are seeking to raise $5,000 to cover our costs through the end of the year. We would not be asking if we did not need your support.

The Silence On Cesar Blanco

The campaign for El Paso's next mayor, which will be settled on December 14, can best be characterized as likely the most expensive race for mayor in El Paso's history. The mayoral candidates have spent close to a million dollars, according to the most recent campaign reports.

Renard Johnson, who is running against Brian Kennedy for mayor, has spent $652,912.18 on his campaign. What is notable is the almost $55,000 in campaign expenditures made by the Protect and Serve PAC on Johnson's behalf.

By almost all accounts, the PAC is a Republican PAC focused on Republican values . It has spent an unprecedented amount to influence the local non-partisan mayoral election.

The local Democratic Party made much about the PAC supporting Fenenbock but has remained silent about the PAC supporting Johnson. Why? Because it is inconvenient to the party leadership to call out the Renard Johnson Campaign when party officials, like Cesar Blanco are fully supporting Renard Johnson.

In addition to Steve Ortega who has contributed $5,000 to the PAC supporting Johnson there is the $1,000 campaign contribution made by Cesar Blanco to Johnson.

But the $1,000 contribution is not the only problem for El Paso Democratic leaders. Cesar Blanco publicly supports Johnson even though it has become clear that the Republicans are supporting Johnson to be El Paso's next mayor. In addition to the Republican PAC, Renard Johnson has spent over a quarter-of-a-million with the Murphy Nasica consulting firm that can best be characterized as a Republican political consulting firm.

Not only was Murphy Nasica paid to oppose the recent Climate Charter , but it has worked for Greg Abbott in past elections. There is a clear Republican influence over the Renard Johnson Campaign.

Throughout this Republican influence over a local election and in addition to the silence from the Democratic Party there is another party official that has remained quiet, Veronica Escobar.

It's The Media's Fault

The day after the election, Veroncia Escobar posted on her Facebook account that while she canvassed in El Paso, she realized that "it was clear that the majority of voters get their 'news' from sources that promote outrageous lies." She added, "I saw people I've known and respected for many years here in our own community repeat completely factually inaccurate statements."

As the defacto leader of the El Paso Democrats, Escobar pushes the blame towards a bad media instead of where it belongs, among El Paso's Democrats. In her post, Escobar added, "it's tough to win elections in a country where truth no longer exists," completely ignoring the silence among her party about the Republican infiltration of the non-partisan mayoral election. Is this simply ignorance of what is happening in the mayoral election or, more likely, premeditated ignorance to cover inconvenient truths? Or, could it be self-preservation?

The El Paso Republican Surge

El Paso was not immune to the Republican surge across the country as evidenced by the challenge to Veronica Escobar in the November 5 election. Not only has the so-called "Latino"* vote for Republicans increased in El Paso, but the standard bearer – Veroncia Escobar – of the El Paso Democrats continues to face an erosion of support from El Paso voters. Escobar continues to lose ground to Irene Jackson-Armendariz in the latest election.

After co-chairing the Kamala Harris campaign and after it was clear Donald Trump would be the next president, Escobar announced that she was moving away from her national leadership roles and focusing on El Paso issues in the coming years.

Left unsaid was whether focusing on El Paso issues include working to correct the disfunction within the El Paso Democratic Party especially when it comes to local non-partisan races, or to continue the premeditated ignorance of the party's inconvenient infiltration of Republican voices.

Ultimately, the El Paso County Democratic Party has betrayed its party values by not challenging Blanco's support of Johnson and the clear Republican support of the Johnson campaign. It is as if openly pointing out a provable connection to a mayoral candidate has become an inconvenience to the party.

Note: The so-called Latino vote misrepresents the reality of what makes up the Latino diaspora in the United States. Latinos are not monolithic like the label "Latino vote" suggests. Latinos are made up of several ideologies often in opposition to each other, thus a unified Latino vote is impossible.