While our City leadership is committed to restraining spending and holding the line on taxes, the County Commissioners Court has gone completely off the rails, approving the highest tax rate possible without voter approval, gifting themselves yet another double-digit salary increase, and announcing their plan to issue $500 million in new debt.
Commissioner Iliana Holguin of Precinct 3 is the only one on the five-member Commissioners Court who is fighting back against tax increases and wasteful debt issuances.
That is why the current election to replace Commissioner Carlos Leon is so important. We, the taxpayers, need another voice on the Commissioners Court who will stand up for us. Here are the three choices:
DEMOCRAT JACKIE “ARROYO” BUTLER
Jackie Michelle Butler (whose middle name “Arroyo” is mysteriously absent from her campaign finance reports and her filings with the Texas Secretary of State) is a progressive Democrat who wants to expand County government and raise taxes. As a recently-hired Senior Policy Advisor to Commissioner Leon, she earns $102,315, which is 15% more than the Mayor of El Paso. As of December 31, she raised 91% of her funds from outside Precinct 1, mostly from wealthy developers and their bankers and attorneys. Last night she defeated the more conservative Pete Faraone (who was a far better choice than her), winning 59% of the vote and clinching a place on the November ballot.
REPUBLICAN CLAUDIA LIZETTE RODRIGUEZ
Claudia Lizette Rodriguez is your standard RINO Republican, who voted to raise taxes when she was on City Council, was thrown out of office by her constituents in December 2022, and unanimously reprimanded by the City Ethics Review Commission in November 2023 for abusing her taxpayer-funded gas card. She was also fined $1,000 by the Texas Ethics Commission for multiple violations during her failed campaign for re-election. Her current campaign finance filings show that she has not raised a single dollar for her race. She was unopposed in yesterday’s Republican Primary and 4,117 Republicans voted for her because, well… she is a Republican.
LIBERTARIAN RYAN WOODCRAFT
Ryan Woodcraft, who is a retired combat veteran and now a network engineer, is the only candidate for County Precinct 1 who stands firmly with the taxpayers and has no record of corruption. As a Libertarian, he advocates for limited government, fiscal discipline, lower taxation, transparency, and the rule of law. If elected, he has vowed to return his portion of the recent salary increase to the taxpayers. Our recent interview with him got us even more excited about his candidacy. Voting for Woodcraft over his two opponents is the easiest decision since humans began walking upright. You can learn more about his platform and donate to his campaign here.