According to item 12 of Tuesday’s Consent Agenda, City Representative Art Fierro of District 6 recently took in $22,250 in contributions from El Paso’s elites, including $500 from Mayor Renard Johnson.
Of course, we have been major supporters of Fierro ever since he ran for City Council back in fall 2022.
During his first year in office, he cast several courageous votes, including to move the Arena out of Duranguito and to fire City Manager Tommy Gonzalez.
He consistently voted against wasteful spending and supported the no-new-revenue tax rate two years in a row.
However, we began to be concerned when he reported a $5,000 contribution from Woody Hunt on the October 10, 2023 agenda.
That was followed in 2024 by his refusal to endorse Brian Kennedy for Mayor, although he did not fail to endorse tax-and-spend Democrat Jackie Butler for County Commissioner Precinct 1.
And then we learned that his legislative aide was employed by the Renard Johnson campaign.
Recently, he tried to restrict public comment on agenda items to a designated period in the morning. The final outcome was ultimately positive, but we were alarmed by his initial position.
We have also heard him make bullish comments on the Deck Plaza, which was clearly a prerequisite to receiving financial support from Ted Houghton and key developers, and of course the Mayor.
We like Fierro and applaud his early voting record but we would not be true to ourselves or our loyal followers if we failed to report our concerns.
We expect him to keep his primary campaign promises and will follow his votes closely.