Michael Apodaca, Chair of the El Paso County Democratic Party, issued a press release today attacking the non-partisan effort to recall City Rep. Cassandra Hernandez of District 3 from Office because the leader of the recall team is Irene Armendariz-Jackson, a Republican.
Armendariz-Jackson has declared that she will not run for District 3.
Armendariz-Jackson is an unpaid volunteer whose team includes Democrats who are gathering signatures in triple-digit temperatures while the Chair of their own party undermines their work.
Not only did the Chair launch an all-out partisan attack on a non-partisan effort, he invited those who signed the petition to rescind their signatures!
OUR PHONE CALL TO MICHAEL APODACA
Mr. Apodaca was gracious enough to take our phone call some minutes ago.
We asked him if Congresswoman Veronica Escobar put him up to the press release, and he replied that she did not.
That is hard to believe.
But he did admit that he issued the press release without putting it to a vote of his Party committee, even though the release purports to represent the Democrats of El Paso County.
In other words, his press release represents only himself.
So let us be perfectly clear.
The Democratic Party Chair is more concerned that a Republican who holds views he does not like is leading a recall effort than he is with Cassandra Hernandez, who stole thousands of dollars from the taxpayers, was reprimanded by the City Ethics Commission, is facing an investigation by outside law enforcement, and whose husband filed a bar complaint against the attorney who led the investigation of her conduct.
Mr. Apodaca told us he feels it is important that El Pasoans “know who Armendariz-Jackson is.”
Really? When is he going to issue a press release warning El Pasoans who Cassandra Hernandez is?
We suggested to him that the Democratic Party is free to mount its own effort to recall Hernandez, but that is apparently not a Party priority.
We have no personal beef against Mr. Apodaca, who by all accounts is a fine man, but today he essentially endorsed Cassandra Hernandez rather than support an effort that unites El Pasoans from the Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian parties, and that is shameful.