Candidates Square Off In ABC-7 Debates

by Ken Molestina

EL PASO — Candidates for the Republican State District 78 nomination and for El Paso District Attorney squared off in two heated debates at the ABC-7 studios.

The debate between District 78 incumbent Pat Haggerty and challenger Dee Margo quickly heated up when Margo questioned Haggerty’s fund raising.

“Who owns Pat Haggerty? 93 percent of his funds came from Austin…who does Pat Haggerty owe his allegiance to,” said Margo.

Haggerty insisted his fund raising is legit and dismissed Margo’s claims. “All of the little people from El Paso who send their money to Austin, they send it back to me because all of them are supporting me,” he said, “none are supporting Mr. Margo”

The second debate of the night was between District Attorney Jaime Esparza and Theresa Caballero.

The majority of the debate concerned the constitutionality of the District Attorney’s controversial information management system, commonly known as “DIMS.”

“DIMS” is a database that provides information to local law enforcement officers that helps in the process of making an arrest without a search warrant.

Caballero also questioned why Esparza did little to investigate those implicated in the FBI’s ongoing public corruption investigation.

“How can you be cooperating with the FBI investigation — which is going back to actions that happened in 1983 — when the prime targets are people you have accepted money from and people you have given money to,” said Caballero.

Esparza said his office had no business investigating many of those implicated because the FBI had already started the investigation and has not shared information with local officials.

“If we had the type of information that the FBI has, we would have gone forward,” said Esparza.