Analisa Cordova Silverstein is the candidate the Oligarchy has anointed to replace Rep. Peter Svarzbein in District 1. In fact, she has lined up most of his moneyed donors, and his fiancé is handling her PR.
I have attached Silverstein’s latest mailer for your entertainment pleasure. On the front we read “I want to Represent You From the Mountains to the Valley,” but what she really means is that she will represent the Upper Valley and Coronado, where she raised most of her money from elite investors and their bankers and attorneys.
Her campaign platform is bland and pointless:
“Taxes: Offset the tax burden on homeowners by recruiting more large-scale commercial businesses; invest tax dollars efficiently for streets and infrastructure.”
So she is not in favor of lowering our taxes or decreasing the outrageous spending that has driven them higher. Rather, she would lure more businesses to El Paso, presumably by offering them taxpayer-funded incentives and subsidies, a failed strategy that has done nothing to lower our tax burden.
“Economic Development: Fight to continue the economic growth on the Westside as well as the Borderplex.”
So she clearly favors the status quo: incremental property tax hikes, massive deficit spending, and corporate welfare. Someone should explain to her that the Westside is part of the Borderplex.
Silverstein offers no solutions to the taxation and deficit spending that are crushing El Pasoans. She demonstrates zero concern about the thousands who are leaving our community for New Mexico and other destinations in order to escape our property tax, or about seniors on fixed incomes who are at risk of losing their homes, or about the tens of thousands who are facing sharp increases in their rent.
Worst of all, she is the only one of the seven candidates for District 1 who actually supports building an arena in Duranguito, so she is cool with eminent domain for an entertainment project, displacing the poor from their homes, demolishing irreplaceable historical assets, and borrowing hundreds of millions more to pay for it all.
By contrast, her opponent Brian Kennedy intends to lower our taxes and cut spending, and he is against wasteful projects that incur more debt. His campaign webpage is full of ideas and substance. Unlike Silverstein, who works in PR and social media, Kennedy is a seasoned professional who has successfully managed a multi-million-dollar operation and balanced his budgets.
Enjoy your afternoon.
