Mysterious robocall attacks city council candidate and his wife

A robocall attacking certain city candidates, and possibly violating Texas campaign ethics laws, is being described as dirty politics.

The robocall, which does not disclose who paid for it, says in part “Dora Oaxaca’s wandering eye seems to always point to corruption. Let’s say no to corruption, no to Emma Acosta, and no to Henry Rivera.”

Acosta, the District 3 city representative is running for mayor, and Henry Rivera is running against incumbent City Representative Lily Limon.

Rivera and his wife, Oaxaca, have also worked for Acosta for years.

Oaxaca, who has a prosthetic eye, said the call is sickening. “To make fun and poke fun of the wife’s disability? It’s just a new low. It also wants to bully, intimidate the person to stay away from campaigning. In this case, my husband,” Oaxaca said.

The robocall raises an important question about whether it is, in fact, a political ad, and if so, if it’s legal.

“I think that it does beg the question that any time you make contact with the voter, under Texas law, that is the assumption that it is some kind of voter contact,” said Dr. Richard Pineda, a professor of Communications at UTEP.

Pineda said that’s where it becomes even more unclear, because the call does not reveal its affiliation with any campaign or an outside political action committee.

“Someone needs to take responsibility in terms of money being spent on a campaign, to a company that would produce an advertisement like this,” Pineda said. He added, “My guess is that we won’t see any of that in a campaign finance report.”

Pineda said it’s debatable whether the robocall is effective in bringing people to the polls, but negative campaigning certainly has some effect.

“I think by the time that we have any sort of explanation of who is responsible or how much it cost, or what campaign was behind it, I think that the damage is already done,” the UTEP professor said.

Rivera tells ABC-7 the robocall is ‘cowardly.’

“I think that’s a cowardly act. That’s a slap in the face to anyone that has some type of disability and it’s the lowest form of campaigning that I’ve gathered,” Rivera said.

He says the claims are false and wants those responsible for the robocall to come forward.

“As a newcomer, I have yet to use anything like this and I don’t plan to. And everything that we presented to potential constituents, my neighbors, who I speak to, are facts. Nothing but facts,” Rivera said.

When asked who Rivera thought was responsible, he tells ABC-7 it had to be someone who would benefit from it.

“You come to the conclusion, natural conclusion, that I only have one opponent. So, I come to the conclusion that somebody who stands to benefit from attacking my wife and me has something to gain and nobody else,” Rivera said.

Representative Lily Limon, who is Rivera’s only opponent, tells ABC-7, she had no part or no connection to the call whatsoever, adding, “I join my opponent in denouncing the negative campaign statements and robocalls that unfortunately have marked the District 7 race.”

She added, “All of my campaign materials have outlined my goals for District 7, my accomplishments during my first term and my endorsements. I do not support attack ads in any form and my campaign has not funded or endorsed any such attacks. While others have attacked me with negative ads throughout this campaign, I trust District 7 voters to make the best choice at the polls.”

Rep. Emma Acosta, who is also targeted in the attacks, told ABC-7 over the phone, “It’s disappointing to learn that someone is so desperate to do this.”

She added it was a ‘new low’ and she hopes “everyone knows and understands we shouldn’t make fun of someone with a disability.”

The call also alleged corruption against Rep. Acosta.

“If there is corruption, what corruption is there? I’d like to know what they’re insinuating. What corruption are they talking about?”

When asked who she thought was responsible, Rep. Acosta told ABC-7 she believes it was Rep. Lily Limon’s camp, though she says she has not talked to Limon about it.

Acosta admitted she does not have a good relationship with Limon.

Rivera and Oaxaca have tried to trace the call, but to no avail.

Oaxaca tells ABC-7 she plans to file a compliant and track down who paid for the call.

She says the call must be traced before a complaint can be filed with the Texas Ethics Commission.