Hypothetical: Would your rather have EP in New Mexico or Texas? (Houston: school, camping)

[ocean2026]

Smooth back up what you say. Does El Paso receive its per capita share of state expenditures. I will admit I haven't looked lately but in the past the answer has been NO. When we wanted a Law School school the legislators around the Texas Tech area outvoted us.

Ok Smooth you has some issues with El Paso so you throw them into a nice thread.

When was the last time El Paso had a US Senator??? ( Ralph Yarborough lived here a bit - that may be closest).

How about TX Attorney General? How many members of the Texas Supreme Court ( Bill Moody ran a few times) and Court of Criminal Appeals are from ELP -- I say 00000 El Paso Governors? Lt Governors??? State Dogcatchers?

No matter how smooth you think you are you still need to deal with FACTS. I may have missed someone but it looks to me that EL PASO has been SHUT OUT of the major positions in our state government.

As part of New Mexico my guess is El Paso and the 50 mile area surrounding it would have 30% of the major state officials. El Paso candidates would have the advantage in Las Cruces,T or C and Alamagordo and probably at least have an equal chance of winning Silver City Roswell Hobbs.

Someone running for state office would have to spend a large portion of his/her funds in El Paso which helps the economy.

The thread asks not which you like as some people consider themselves Texans and others westerners or New Mexicans, but which would be the best fit for us.

[Smooth from ELP]

Well then if you must know then....the best fit considering the way of thinking and the mentality...someone else said it best....move the rio grande farther north and ELP will be in the place it wants to be.

ELP has NO KEY leaders cause no one WANTS to STEP up to the PLATE!! Many run un-opposed. And the ones that are already there....have no balls at all.

[ocean2026]

Ok Lol we can move the river -might be an easier journey than moving people's minds once they are set.

Smooth I don't know about the quality of El Paso's leaders that's too subjective, however you should know all across Texas most officials are unopposed. My guess is 95% of incumbent judges have no opposition (some appointed ones are likely to get more). Judges need term limits. Many other officials go unchallenged too.

My kids (8 and 15) pointed out some important school issues and as they love politics - they wanted me to run for school board. They were correct Rockport (Aransas County ISD) is one of the better districts in the state but there were some growing problems and so I ran. However much to their surprise instead of running for one of the more open seats, I ran against the President of the Board who had set a record for most votes received the last time he was challenged. I made my kids work and walk their asses off (be careful what you ask for kids) but we did win.

[Smooth from ELP]

Originally Posted by ocean2026

Ok Lol we can move the river -might be an easier journey than moving people's minds once they are set.

Smooth I don't know about the quality of El Paso's leaders that's too subjective, however you should know all across Texas most officials are unopposed. My guess is 95% of incumbent judges have no opposition (some appointed ones are likely to get more). Judges need term limits. Many other officials go unchallenged too.

My kids (8 and 15) pointed out some important school issues and as they love politics - they wanted me to run for school board. They were correct Rockport (Aransas County ISD) is one of the better districts in the state but there were some growing problems and so I ran. However much to their surprise instead of running for one of the more open seats, I ran against the President of the Board who had set a record for most votes received the last time he was challenged. I made my kids work and walk their asses off (be careful what you ask for kids) but we did win.

Congrats!!! I hope and I pray that YOU will make a difference. God knows ELP needs it.

[ocean2026]

Thanks but I live in Rockport ( a coastal town 24 miles north of Corpus).


I do consider El Paso my home and was planning to get a 2nd place there until the financial crisis set me back a bit- I will eventually do that and love the contrast between ELP (mountains -desert ) and Rockport (Ocean).

[Smooth from ELP]

Originally Posted by ocean2026

Thanks but I live in Rockport ( a coastal town 24 miles north of Corpus).


I do consider El Paso my home and was planning to get a 2nd place there until the financial crisis set me back a bit- I will eventually do that and love the contrast between ELP (mountains -desert ) and Rockport (Ocean).

Oh sorry my bad. Good luck in your service to Rockport.

But God still needs to help ELP out.

[Muhnay]

Yeah he lives miles away from the boarder and likes to write articles like he has a clue what goes on here in El Paso.

[ocean2026]

Lol from the "baorder" what language is that? I lived in El Paso for years and chaired its community development committee where we allocated federal funds for many of the neighborhoods. I also went to some grad school at UTEP and was President of my neighborhood association.

Now your turn Muhney ( "well I have made thousands of dem posts on my cmpeter and can almost spell border" ) Muhney for all that time you have to post why not try to publish an article on your own??? That article you didn't like was published in the San Antonio Express-News, Waco Tribune, El Paso Times, Rocky Mountain News (biggest circ, in the West outside of California), and several other papers. You have so much time on your hands to criticize - Let's see what you can do!!!!!! I'll be waiting. Instead of criticizing others and offering no information - tell us what YOUR qualifications are.

Meanwhile I offered an informative post about the statewide public officials, (El Paso always has NONE) and guess that was ok with Smooth. El Paso just has no say in Texas government and we don't get our share of state revenue which means we pay more than we receive. In New Mexico we would have leverage.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Ocean.., I would disagree that El Paso pays more than it receives, I believe that is the problem with El Paso; I think the city receives far more in welfare programs in relation to revenues sent to the state as compared to other Texas cities. Perhaps this is one reason why El Paso does not receive more above the huge welfare dollars it receives.

I also think El Paso practices some sort of self-segregation, much as this thread implies, it is this thinking that perpetuates the sentiment of El Paso being left out, or that it should be part of New Mexico.

If you take away Fort Bliss, and the military in general, out of the picture, what distinguishes El Paso from let's say McAllen, Brownsville, or Del Rio? I'd say not much; I'd say the border cities are much more takers than givers in regards to tax revenues.

Where there is money, there is power. In fundamental terms, there is not great wealth in El Paso, thus no powerful leaders. But more importantly, the majority of El Pasoans are complacent with their government. If you have potential voters that don't get involved, who don't care, then you will have people who will take those 'prestigious' government offices without much effort; get those people elected and you won't get any effort on their part, why would you? What is their incentive if they were elected, in some cases, by default? Not exactly by default, but you get my drift.

For the record, I vote El Paso to be part of Texas. Also, as someone who lives in Houston and is from El Paso originally, I can tell you that most people here consider El Paso to be far, but not left out. Most are proud of Texas, the size of Texas, and El Paso. It's just more convenient to drive to Austin, San Antonio, or for a longer trip, Dallas/Ft Worth. It is just not convenient to drive to El paso, or vice versa.

[ocean2026]

Well I don't mind someone disagreeing with me intelligently and its very hard to prove how much money goes in and goes out. One would have to check all depts and all payments - it wouldn't be easy.

On the other hand what about my point concerning no one from El Paso ever makes it to a state office. We are way under-represented. Bill Moody ran for Tex Supreme Court and he was certainly qualified but never came close to winning.

I also disagree somewhat with what you think outsiders in Texas feel about El Paso. You may be right that they know its part of our state but the opinions I get are usually negative, especially if they don't know I'm from El Paso and getting ready to BLAST Them. Usually its "Oh I passed through there are the way to XXXXX and it looked really dirty ugly" Hook tell me the truth - haven't you heard that before???

As a school board member I asked about scheduling a football home and away series with El Paso High ( Rockport). The Superintendent asked me "Why in Earth..." but I explained El Paso has mountains and desert that many kids in Rockport have never seen,just like many in El Paso have never seen the ocean. One day when our budget ( and ELP) gets better we will do that. The point is no one outside of El Paso even thinks of EL Paso.

Anyway I appreciate your points - because I was getting bored - er listening to Muhney rant about Boarders only because he couldn't spell border LOL