Perez: State-Local tensions among politicians could affect El Paso representation in Austin

Correction: El Paso County Commissioner Vince Perez said Texas Sen. Jose Rodriguez campaigned against city and county incumbents.
ABC-7 checked campaign finance reports and the senator did not make any donations on the only contested county commission race.
He did donate $1,350 in city council districst represented by Cissy Lizarraga and Claudia Ordaz-Perez, who is commissioner Perez’ wife.

Original story:

Tensions among local and state leaders could affect how the city is represented in Austin. That is what county commissioner Vince Perez alleges in a letter to state senator Jose Rodriguez.

“I can think of no recent state senator who has actively worked against the leaders in his own city and county that he represents,” Perez said.

County Commissioner Vince Perez spoke out against State Senator Jose Rodriguez’s support of city council electoral challengers. Perez cited Rodriguez donating $950 candidates challenging city council and county seats, he said this erodes confidence from local leaders in Rodriguez’s leadership.

We asked Senator Rodriguez about the letter, his office sent us a statement reading:

“We’ve also been working on other community initiatives like organizing (Saturday’s) Preservation Forum, a blanket drive for asylum seekers waiting in Juarez, and preparing for the upcoming legislative session, which starts in January.

“The Senator has already filed 42 bills and joint resolutions, including several for the County.
This frankly is not worth spending time on.”

The root issue: the future of Duranguito. City leaders have been working toward the development of a new arena and Rodriguez has been a strong preservation supporter.

Perez’s concern is the donations and activity on Rodriguez’s against incumbents like his wife Claudia Ordaz will make work difficult between municipal, county, and state leaders.

“If this was just a donation against my wife that would be one issue, but this is several donations against sitting incumbents,” Perez said.

“So that creates sort of another dynamic where you have leaders at the county and city level that have both been actively opposed by the state senator.”

That could affect the future of local projects that need state support, like the Great Wolf Lodge development. But other members of the state delegation have said there won’t be problems with agenda setting.

“There are six members in El Paso’s State delegation, and I am confident that we can effectively represent the city and the county at the next session. I look forward to continue working closely with our local elected officials on all of the issues important to our community,” wrote State Representative Lina Ortega in a statement to ABC-7.

Representative Ortega later sent an addition to her statement, reading:

“Senator Rodriguez will be an integral part of our state delegation as we all advocate for local priorities during the upcoming session.”

Perez said he hopes to see an effort to improve relations between the state senator and local leaders.

Representative Mary Gonzalez said the state delegation and local leaders held their standard meeting this week with no issues.
The 2019 legislative session begins January 8th.