Last Wednesday the Westside Democrats hosted the four candidates running for District 8 and asked them each the same questions. You can watch the video here. The sound is poor at first but improves after 15 minutes or so.
Below I have summarized their replies to the three most important questions: (1) Do you support the $273M City Community Progress Bond and the $346M UMC hospital expansion bond? (2) Do you support building the Arena in Duranguito? (3) Do you support the City Manager form of government?
It is clear from their answers that Rich Wright and Cruz Morales would represent the taxpayers while Bettina Olivares and Chris Canales, who are both chiefs of staff for Oligarch City reps, would represent the interests of developers and their bankers and attorneys.
I have to say, however, that Canales was more nuanced and thoughtful in his replies than Olivares, who is identical to her boss Cassandra Hernandez and even tells us that we “deserve” an arena, just like her. Olivares is the only one of the four who insists upon destroying Duranguito for an Arena and displacing its residents, so she will likely receive the bulk of Oligarch campaign donations.
Rich Wright and Cruz Morales have similar positions but Morales missed a key filing deadline and is therefore a write-in candidate.
Wright is the only one of the four who is firmly with the taxpayers and able to beat his Oligarch opponents.
BETTINA OLIVARES (Chief of Staff for Rep. Cassandra Hernandez of District 3):
Supports City and UMC bonds.
Supports building an Arena in Duranguito, “It’s what the voters voted for.” Good for economic development. We “deserve” the arena blah blah blah…
Supports City Manager form of government.
CHRIS CANALES (Chief of Staff for Rep. Cissy Lizarraga of District 8):
Supports City and UMC bonds.
Supports building an Arena but open to a change of location if there were a viable alternative.
Supports City Manager form of government.
RICH WRIGHT (worked in the service industry):
Opposes City bond because streets should have been paid for by the General Fund. (Did not reply about County bond).
Absolutely against building an Arena in Duranguito. We voted for spending $180M on “performing arts center improvements.” No one voted for the location.
Supports a strong mayor form of government. Feels our two City Managers have performed poorly.
CRUZ MORALES, JR. (write-in candidate, forklift operator, veteran):
Opposes City and UMC bond because they would increase taxes.
Supports building an Arena but not in Duranguito.
Supports a strong mayor form of government.