Bob Moore founded El Paso Matters in 2019 and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. According to its webpage, it is “a member-supported nonpartisan media organization that uses journalism to expand civic capacity in our region” while aiming “to create solutions-driven conversations about complex issues.”
In other words, it serves to influence policy.
El Paso Matters is a 501c3 governed by a Board of Directors, whose seven members are listed on its website under the “About El Paso Matters” tab:
1. Chair Cindy Conroy, Assistant Vice President and Director of Community Outreach of WestStar Bank. She is aide to the bank Chairman, Rick Francis.
2. Vice-Chair Steve Ortega, an attorney specializing in probate, estate, and family law who was instrumental in providing us with our Ballpark (after demolishing City Hall), transportation improvements (like trolleys that go nowhere), and a new “revitalization” strategy (e.g. displacement and mass demolition in our urban barrios). He got only 26% of the vote in the runoff election of June 15, 2013, when El Pasoans rejected his bid for Mayor. He later served as a lobbyist for Sun Jupiter Holdings LLC, which worked to transfer control of El Paso Electric to a group of Wall Street investors.
3. Treasurer Martha Hood, retired Controller, Medical Center of the Americas Foundation.
4. Secretary Ralph Espinoza, Vice President and Divisional Controller of Business Services for Franklin Mountain Management, which is the internal shared services and operational management arm for Franklin Mountain Investments, of which Paul Foster is the founder and CEO.
5. David Marcus, a CPA and managing partner of the accounting firm Marcus, Fairall, Bristol + Co. He heads the Forensic Accounting Division.
6. Veronique Masterson, Director of Marketing at· Tawney, Acosta & Chaparro. She is responsible for the TTU Health Sciences Center’s brand and reputation through media relations, external communications, and marketing.
7. Gwendolyn Pulido, Director, Commercial Counsel at Cribl, a technology start-up and data engine for IT and security, empowering organizations to transform their data strategy. Its products collect, process, route, and analyze all IT and security data.
ELITE DONORS
El Paso Matters claims to “maintain a firewall between news coverage decisions and sources of all revenue.” Since 2019, the organization’s funding has included:
-El Paso Community Foundation, closely associated with Woody Hunt ($250,000 – $499,999)
-Meta Journalism Project ($100,000 – $249,999)
-Paul Foster Family Foundation ($100,000 – $249,999)
-El Paso Electric ($20,000 – $99,999)
-WestStar Bank ($20,000 – $99,999)
-Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Foundation ($20,000 – $99,999)
-Kelly Tomblin, CEO of El Paso Electric until a few days ago ($10,000 – $19,999)
-Steve Ortega ($10,000 – $19,999)
-Ted Houghton, primary proponent of the Debt Plaza ($10,000 – $19,999)
-Beto and Amy O’Rourke ($5,000 – $9,999)
-Rick Francis, CEO of WestStar Bank ($5,000 – $9,999)
-Tracy Yellen, President of the Downtown Debt Plaza Foundation ($2,500 – $4,999)
Given the composition of its Board and the list of its donors, there are three things about El Paso Matters we find extraordinary:
1. That they expect us to believe their coverage is not influenced by its powerful Board and donors.
2. That they are running campaign ads for Ricardo Samaniego and Alejandra Chavez and are a 501c3.
3. That nearly all local media outlets continue to publish El Paso Matters content on their platforms!
We shall continue to monitor El Paso Matters and its political reporting.
IMAGE: AI conflation of photos of Cindy Conroy and Steve Ortega, Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board of El Paso Matters, respectively.