If ever there was a local politician who deserves to be voted out of office, it is Vince Perez of Precinct 3.
Here are 10 reasons:
1. Perez and his now-wife Claudia Ordaz defected to the Beto camp during the run-up to the Congressional election of 2012 and backstabbed Congressman Silvestre Reyes, who had believed in them and mentored them and helped launch their political careers.
2. Perez’s staffer Jose Landeros scandalously exchanged text messages with Ordaz, coaching her on what to say during a City Council meeting, betraying both her colleagues and the citizens of El Paso.
3. During the infamous Whataburger incident, Perez and Ordaz got in a tussle with police officers and were permitted to walk away from the scene rather than face arrest.
4. Perez still associates with his odious handler Jaime Abeytia, who uses his blog to attack the political opponents of his friends and whose criminal rap sheet has been documented by Martin Paredes here and here.
5. Perez turned his back on the cause of historic preservation and voted against proceeding with a National Register nomination for downtown El Paso and the urban barrios after initially voting to support it.
6. Perez published an evil letter questioning the integrity and work ethic of Jose Rodriguez because the State Senator refused to support his wife Claudia Ordaz in her campaign for re-election to City Council, drawing a sharp rebuke from County Commissioner David Stout.
7. Perez publicly supported raising his own pay to $114,000 per year (almost double the $61,000 he was paid when he was elected in 2012) and then cynically cast his vote against the new County budget anyway, forcing his colleagues to take the heat while he runs for re-election.
8. Perez repeatedly meddled with the County judiciary, scrutinizing judges’ dockets and courtroom policies and attempting to extend his legislative power over what should be an independent branch of the government.
9. Those are all big enough negatives, but the most compelling reason for myself and many others to oppose Perez is because he used his political position to try to destroy the lives of innocent citizen volunteers, including Vietnam War veterans. Perez actively joined Veronica Escobar in her crusade against their own County Historical Commission, which to their dismay staunchly opposed building an “Arena” in Duranguito. In retaliation, Perez wrote a disgraceful letter to District Attorney Jaime Esparza, urging him to criminally investigate the Board of the County Historical Commission, alleging a violation of the open meetings act. His pretext was a single email sent out by Chair Bernie Sargent, who had never been provided with open meetings training by the County in his 17 years with the group and who nevertheless placed the matter of the “Arena” on the monthly agenda for a proper vote! The DA never bothered to interview a single Board member and eventually dropped the investigation because of “insufficient evidence of criminal intent,” but not before Perez viciously and very publicly attacked the reputations of more than a dozen professionals, mostly retirees, and dismantled a group that had won awards from the Texas Historical Commission a dozen years in a row. Nixon would have been proud.
10. There is an alternative to Vince Perez and her name is Iliana Holguin. Her campaign is accepting donations here: https://www.ilianaholguin.info/
Have a nice day.
PHOTO CREDIT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVsjDQ8hTUQ