City Rep. Cassandra Hernandez, who voted to raise our property tax six times and issue more than a half-billion dollars in debt without voter authorization, and who was reprimanded for stealing $6,700 of taxpayer-funded gasoline, is about as popular as the bubonic plague.

Nevertheless, she is running to be our next Mayor.

We recently conducted an online poll to gauge her popularity as a mayoral candidate. She got only two votes out of 213 votes cast (and one was from a fake profile). By contrast, Rep. Brian Kennedy got 145 votes and has not even declared his candidacy.

Not surprisingly, Hernandez is receiving less and less media attention as she loses her relevance and her political allies. Her BFF Tommy Gonzalez was fired and Elizabeth Triggs, Tracey Jerome, and Sam Rodriguez have jumped ship, with others sure to follow.

Meanwhile, there is a solid pro-taxpayer coalition that has formed on City Council, led by Mayor Leeser and Reps. Kennedy, Molinar, and Fierro. Interim City Manager Cary Westin and CFO Robert Cortinas have skillfully trimmed the budget and streamlined the administration.

Hernandez is the only remaining megaphone of the Oligarchy Caucus and is still whining for higher taxation and more spending for the benefit of her moneyed friends.

EL PASO INC AND CASSANDRA HERNANDEZ

Few media outlets pay much heed to Cassandra these days, but then there is El Paso Inc, which recently ran a report by Reyes Mata III titled “Without a city manager, paralysis and departures at El Paso’s City Hall.”

The title is not journalistic. It is a statement of opinion.

It promotes Cassandra’s theory that the firing of Tommy Gonzalez has sparked departures from upper management and denies that Interim City Manager Cary Westin is brilliant and effective.

She opines “I consider what’s happening at the city of El Paso to be a state of crisis. […]. In my entire tenure, I have never seen a great exodus this way.”

Excellent. After the election on November 5, she can join it!

The truth is that the voters of El Paso cast their ballots in 2022 for a change of leadership, which catalyzed a change in management, because management responds to leadership.

Cassandra knows this, but she and her politico husband are promoting the fictive counter-narrative that firing Gonzalez was reckless and that Kennedy and his allies are engaged in a “power grab” that undermines progress.

We tested her position on the El Paso Taxpayer Revolt “Bullshit Meter” and got a reading of 4, which we predict is the number of votes she will receive in November (if we include her and Jeremy’s votes).

Thankfully, Mata also interviewed Reps. Kennedy and Molinar, who rebut Cassandra’s narrative and his other two sources: Joyce Wilson and “one official, speaking on condition of anonymity.” (yes, you read that right)

Kennedy knows “campaign fodder” when he sees it and calls out Cassandra on her bullshit.

No matter how much Cassandra tries, she will never convince the voters that she is anything other than an unscrupulous and malevolent career politician who is as forgettable as she is expendable.

PHOTO CREDIT: KFOX 14, 16 June 2024