December 2, 2007
The relationship between state Rep. Norma Chavez and state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh has been strained. Nov. 27, 2007, Chavez sent Shapleigh this e-mail (addresses redacted):
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 12:51:31 -0500
Subject: Your disrespect of my role
in securing the 48$ million for the medical school this session in your newsletter is noted as is your disrespect of my bill and amendments that created the 4 courts for El Paso.
I have been nothing but supportive of any goal or initiative that will enhance El Paso's position. I have also done mistakes, and learned from them. I was the only state representative that lifted a finger for you in your campaign for re-election. I have never been an opponent of yours, but an ally you have failed to recognize as a leader, who has taken 11 years to learn how to move bills, amendments and legislation through the process, by any means necessary. I have had to play, had to utilize my seniority to it's fullest and had to be the Democrat that crossed the isle in order to be in a position of power to negotiate with the power abusive Republicans. Because I had to. Because El Paso comes first. Because this session, this time, no one else was in a position to do it. Because if the med school didn't get funded 3 sessions in a row, IT WAS OVER!! And because I DO have a relationship with the business community.
You and the other white males, Haggerty and Pickett had no problem patting each other on the back publicly and privately when you were successful members of Senate Finance and House Appropriations that secured the first funding for the medical school. I never denied you your place with that appropriation. But this time, you had no role in it. So, is it your ego that does not allow you to acknowledge my role? Or is it because I am the Chicana in the delegation and you had nothing to do with it? Or is it because I am NOT a Shapleighite?
Dewhurst did you no favors, his commitment was to the business community that financially backs him. But you fail to see any value in the role that the business community participates. Perhaps you should ask yourself why you could not get back on Senate Finance after being knocked off. Did any of the business community make a call for you? Or were you to arrogant to ask for their help?
Should you continue your path of pushing me away, I too will do whatever I need to do. Just remember you already have enough enemies.
Norma
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Chavez gets a lot of heat in El Paso for supporting House Speaker Tom Craddick.
For some statewide context on the House races, and a brief mention of El Paso's state Rep. Pat Haggerty, check this Austin American-Statesman article.
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Speaking of Haggerty ... Dee Margo inches ever closer to announcing his candidacy.
Kevin Shuvalov, who worked Margo's campaign against Shapleigh, was in town last week. He said Margo had not made any decision.
Margo said Shuvalov's presence was "just due diligence, that doesn’t mean there's a decision made. I am in the process of analysis and due diligence, which is my nature."
His wife, Adair Margo, has changed her voter registration to an address in Haggerty's district.
Dee Margo said he was "very familiar with the residency requirements" and was now a resident of the district.
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Speaking of Chavez ... she has a big fund-raiser coming up Thursday (Dec. 6) at the Rim Road home of Joel and Patricia Ehler.
The invitation to be part of "The Chavez Texas Team" has categories for Texas Star (including Paul Foster, Woody Hunt, Stanley Jobe, Maria Teran, Joe Garcia); Texas Flag (including Sergio Lewis, Carlos Aguilar, Jack Cardwell, Willie Gandara, Brian Kennedy, Hector Gutierrez); Texas Rose (including Tom Diamond, Kevin Quinn, Tanny Berg, Fred Loya); Texas Bluebonnets (including Arturo Huerta, Carlos Sandoval, Doug Schwartz); and Texas Democrats (including Hut Brown, Sal Bustillos, Lillia Ruiz, Michael Apodaca, Esther Perez, Dr. Lawrence Nickey).
The announcement can be found here. [link]
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El Paso County Commissioner Miguel Teran is having another fund-raiser, this one Wednesday (Dec. 5) at Andale Restaurant. It's not on the Democratic Party calendar.
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Previous Inner Loops
-- 11.25.07: A union election at the Job Corps stirs up old wounds. Union? What union? Plus, a few minor tidbits for the end of your holiday and the start of the December push. The Inner Loop drives you to the end of the road.
-- 11.16.07: HACEP commissioners missed being in the news, so we're getting the ball rolling for them. Plus other tidbits. The Inner Loop, digging for fish bait since 2007.
-- 11.11.07:Margo against Haggerty -- book it. A fund-raiser, and a dropout in the Sheriffs race? The Inner Loop, short and sweet, because you're not going very far today.
-- 11.2.07: Guess who's coming to dinner? Read items about Giuliani, Teran, Castro, Strelzin, Asarco and the Children's Hospital election. The Inner Loop, where we dress appropriately for every occasion.
-- 10.26.07: Dannenbaum, Madla, and Shapleigh. Quintana and Karlsruher. Olivo and Smith. Ruiz, Marquez and Moreno. Teran and friends. Wilson, Castro, Ortega and O'Rourke. And two Texas Senators. The Inner Loop, bringing people together since 2007.
-- 10.15.07: El Paso GOP: Elephant or mouse? Meanwhile, Democrats are busy raising money, and we know where that comes from. Plus, Asarco, EPISD and Montoya, HACEP, the Children's Hospital and Castro's fund-raiser. This week's Inner Loop, delayed and stopping just short of completion.
-- 10.5.07: Money, and lots of it. Noriega, Watts, Cornyn, Shapleigh, Pickett, Hahn, Brown, Kennedy, Huerta and a cast of about 1,000 members of the El Paso "hot core" of political animals and political prey. And who was at Rick Perry's fund-raiser? The Inner Loop keeps circling.
-- 9.28.07: Regional Congressional politics, but where's the big guy? Meanwhile, we see and hear Kennedy, O'Rourke, Elizondo, HACEP, a handful of judges, and a crowded house in the sheriff's race, with a new entry ready to announce. The Inner Loop, where the rubber hits the road to the best of all possible El Pasos.
-- 9.21.07: This week, we take you inside the tinfoil hat, featuring a cast of thousands: Lee Trevino, The Strelz, Asarco and Quintana, a Shapleigh sitdown, Reyes, Leon, Wiles, fundraisers and more. The Inner Loop avoids traffic by circling around the urban gridlock of El Paso politics.
-- 9.14.07: Getting loopy this week with Richardson, Esparza, Shapleigh, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Tenet, Parra, Aguilar and Moreno, just to name a few. Is there a voter rollback in Ysleta? How about candidates for district courts? Read on for questions, answers and mass confusion.
-- 9.7.07: Theresa Caballero and Jaime Esparza, plus other campaign contributions. Margo and Haggerty, Tilghman and Reyes, Rosenbaum and Quintana, Samaniego, Cobos, Perez, Friends of the El Paso School District, Hunt, Hicks and Pickett, Marquez and Moreno, and so on. To paraphrase a comic genius, El Paso, we have met the enemy, and they is us.
-- 8.24.07: Pushing the polls has begun, the city is facing "one tough lawyer" (but not that one) in the Elizondo case, a city appointment dilemma (hint: Holguin wins on one, but will the mayor get his Jobe?), and Shapleigh, Chavez, the Republicans and more. By the way, where'd Ann Lilly get off to?
-- 8.17.07: It's election season, and here are a few dates to keep. Also, some fund-raiser updates, a TIRZ tidbit, some FBI fallout, a lawsuit over construction at the UTEP Garden Inn, Glass Beach and more.
-- 8.10.07: Moreno’s challengers emerging, and a few other answers about candidates for Chavez’s judge seat and Teran’s county seat. Also, an intriguing City Council board appointment, a high-level Hunt resignation, a major Margo move, and more morsels for you political junkies.
-- 8.3.07: Notes and quotes about Reyes, Perez, Teran, Moreno, Lozano and more. Plus tidbits about CF Jordan, the Children’s Hospital, and finance reports. A new NPT feature.