Mary Gonzalez's supporters are upset at how critical I have been of her candidacy. And yes, I have been the more critical of Gonzalez on issues than anyone else writing about this race.
And I stand by every single critique I have made.
Since I guess people feel Gonzalez is above critique, some of her supporters have been really pissed. Including Alfonso Gutierrez, a former Socorro City Rep who has been running around calling elected officials and lying to them about me. He recently ran for city council again and somehow managed to lose to a Gandara. Seriously, how you lose to a Gandara after so many of them have been convicted of felonies is beyond me, but that superstar somehow managed to do so.
I have consistently made the point that there is very little difference between Gonzalez and Quintanilla. They both suck.
And many valley residents have called, texted, or emailed me saying they wish that they had another option on the ballot.
Chente Quintanilla recently released his negative TV spots against Gonzalez in Spanish. I saw both of them run back-to-back on KINT 26 last night during the 10:00pm news. That was smart on their part to run them in Spanish and I'm betting that Gonzalez campaign is feeling it in the field.
And here is a big takeaway from this piece. The negative mail and TV spots are so effective that if Gonzalez were facing ANYONE other than Chente Quintanilla, she'd be TOAST right now. She has failed to define Chente and allowed him to define her. Now she has to spend time, treasure, and talent to undo what Chente has done.
If she were facing a Latina who wasn't 40 years her senior, Gonzalez would be retiring with Marquez.
That reminds me, if you believe Marquez who works in a firm of 7 people and only one other decision-maker has nothing to do with Gonzalez's race, then I have some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you.
The fact that Gonzalez is facing Chente is her saving Gracie. Yes, Gracie is a play on words and there is a reason its capitalized. I'll get there in a minute, keep walking with me.
Chente, who has already been characterized as "furniture" by a Texas publication that follows the legislature, has been taking some really weird positions.
And by weird I mean Republican.
I wrote recently how he came out against bilingual education. Which is one of the dumbest things you can say in the valley where such a large portion of the community is Spanish dominant. Include Chente I might add.
But he doubles-down and in a debate at the Mission Campus of El Paso Community College, says he supports guns on campus. There have been at least two incidents at an El Paso Community College campus involving weapons in the last year. Many administrators and educators were against guns on campus for that very reason and it makes the job for law enforcement officers that much harder when they have to deal with the possibility of multiple people on campus with a weapon.
This isn't a theoretical issue, its a real-world scenario that has already happened on an El Paso Community College campus. The Texas Association of Community Colleges, who lobbies for El Paso Community College, came out opposed to the measure and supported a version that would let local jurisdictions decide whether or not to allow them.
Guess who is a trustee of the El Paso Community College Board of Trustees? Chente's wife, Gracie. Since the EPCC Board of Trustees HAS NOT taken an official position on the version that has passed the legislature, I wonder why.
Is Chente's spouse blocking an official position? Or does the Board think guns on campus is a good idea?
And why the hell hasn't Gonzalez's campaign team decided to whack Chente for the position. Chente sent a piece of mail with an image of a lunch tray that had condoms on it saying that she wanted condoms in schools.
Why hasn't she sent the exact same mailer against Chente with an image of the same lunch tray but instead of the condoms she should put a .45 and a few rounds next to it that says Chente wants to put guns in schools? Come on, thats a no-brainer. And judging by her 8 day report, Mary has the money and Chente has ... pardon the pun, spent his ammo.
Then there's the bill Chente voted for that would in some cases, require a woman to be subjected to a foreign object rammed up her va-jay jay to perform an ultrasound. That was one of those crazy extremist Republican ideas and Chente was for it.
And now we know that Chente has received the bulk of his money from a Republican political action committee.
Gotta love valley politics!