4.18.13 raul amaya el paso district 4 candidate

NAME: Raul F. Amaya

OFFICE YOU SEEK: District 4, City Representative

AGE: 62

OCCUPATION: Financial Services Entrepreneur

EDUCATION: B.B.A., Majors in Management and Real Estate, University of Texas at El Paso

FAMILY: Married to Estella Amaya who has a 23 year old son, Jonathan Birdwell, who lives with us and is a senior at UTEP and in ROTC.

1) NUMBER-ONE CAMPAIGN FOCUS:
Democratizing Government (see website for details for doing so.)

2) WHAT SETS YOU APART FROM YOUR OPPONENTS?
I have been a community activist for many years and I have a vision for Northeast El Paso in particular and El Paso in general (see my website for detail).
I’ve helped increase the financial literacy of students attending the El Paso Independent School District by having persuaded the district to hire me to teach 80 of their high school teachers how to use a financial calculator to do personal financial analysis. Since 2007 it has been part of the curriculum for seniors.

3) RELEVANT EXPERIENCE THAT QUALIFIES YOU FOR THE POSITION YOU SEEK:
Small business owner in the financial services industry (see bio on website).
Sat and sit on the board of directors of a couple of organizations (see website for details).
Had a weekly guest opinion column in the El Paso Times for 9 years that regularly covered local political issues.
Had a weekly talk radio program that regularly covered local political issues.
Graduate of the City of El Paso’s Neighborhood Leadership Academy.

4) IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO REVOKE ONE ORDINANCE IN EL PASO IMMEDIATELY UPON TAKING OFFICE, WHICH ONE WOULD IT BE?
The one that calls for holding public meetings solely on Tuesday mornings at 9 a.m.. I would change it to include one meeting on Saturday mornings, and another on a weekday evening starting at 6 p.m..

5) DESCRIBE A MOMENT THAT CHANGED YOUR LIFE:
The day I started attending Jesuit High School.

6) IN WHAT WAYS IS EL PASO ON THE RIGHT TRACK AND IN WHAT WAYS DOES ITS NEED TO CHANGE COURSE?
Working to make El Paso a medical education and research venue is an example of El Paso being on the right track.
Political leaders need to institute reforms to make city governance more democratic, accessible and accountable which could increase voter turnout.

7) IF ELECTED, HOW WILL YOU BALANCE THE NEEDS OF FAMILY, YOUR CAREER AND YOUR OFFICE?
Our step-son will be graduating from college in 1 year.
My business allows me to set my own hours of work.

8) WHEN AND WHY DID YOU COME TO EL PASO (IF APPLICABLE)?
I was born in El Paso and have lived here most of my life.

9) PLEASE INDICATE WHETHER YOU HAVE A WEBSITE, TWITTER OR FACEBOOK ACCOUNT:
My website’s address is: http://raulfamaya-com.webs.com
My campaign’s Facebook Account name is:
Raul F Amaya for Northeast Rep, Dist 4, El Paso