Reyes' Response to Beto O' Rourke's Veterans Ad: A New Low For A Hard-Pressed Campaign

Veterans' issues are always a very personal and sensitive subject. Every American has a personal connection to a veteran. Many of our veterans are our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, grandparents, great-grandparents, boyfriends, husbands, wives, girlfriends, ect. The list can and does go on and on. That's why veterans matter. They laid their lives on the line for our country and their families, so that we can all be safe. 

In light of this obvious observation, I'm disappointed with the way the Congressman's press release was written in response to Beto O'Rourke's ad. The lack of a VA hospital in El Paso aside, why on Earth did the author of the Congressman's press release feel that it was appropriate to respond to this political add with the following statement:

The ad "shows what seems to be a man sporting a marine corps. (sic) patch in an attempt to exploit the struggles of our veterans to score cheap political points against the Congressman." --El Paso Times, citing Congressman Reyes' press release in response to Beto O'Rourke's ad.

There is a lot wrong with the aforementioned statement. A high school freshman-level rhetorical analysis of the press release statement would easily reveal how disrespectful the comment is to the brave marine in Beto's political add who was willing express his frustrations publicly about his struggles to receive care as a veteran: 

The add shows what "seems" to be a man "sporting" a marine corp patch in an "attempt" to "exploit" the struggles of our veterans to "score" "cheap political points" against the Congressman. Wow. How incredibly disrespectful this comment is to our veteran. 

The entire criticism of the veteran made by the Congressman's press release suggests that the veteran in Beto's ad:

[1]  May be lying about being a veteran;

[2]  May be willing to display a patch he doesn't really own or may not have earned;

[3]  May be choosing to take advantage of his alleged status as a veteran to score a deceitful win against the Congressman; and 

[4]  Should not be trusted or taken seriously, because he's spoken out against the Congressman.

That's absolutely awful, disrespectful, and perhaps typical of what one can expect from some of the people the Congressman has chosen to help represent him in his office and in his campaign. 

I obviously don't believe that the Congressman wrote this comment in his press release himself, but I do believe someone who is on the Congressman's payroll that is financed by us, his constituents, did.

Were I the Congressman running for re-election in a close race in a district that has one of the largest military bases in the country and one of the highest number of retired military veterans in my state, I would fire the person who wrote this press release. This comment alone would have had the potential to sink my campaign.

Our veterans in El Paso, regardless of who they vote for, deserve to be treated with more respect than this.


The El Paso Times article that reported this issue can be found here:
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_20481602/ad-attacks-reyes-over-va-hospital

Coming Clean & Keeping It Classy: 1001 reasons why Beto could have backed out of El Paso Young Democrats' invitation to speak, but didn't.

Earlier this week I had the privilege of attending El Paso Young Democrats' fundraiser/cocktail mixer held for Beto O'Rourke, who is a Candidate for the 16th U.S. Congressional District, currently held by Congressman Reyes.  From the beginning, quite honestly, I didn't expect a lot of people to attend the event for a couple of reasons:

[1]  The event was held the week of Thanksgiving;

[2]  The event was held at the same time as Judge Mike Herrera's fundraiser--who is a super well-respected Democratic Family Court Judge in charge of one of the busiest most well-respected family courts in El Paso County and the State of Texas;

[3]  The event was billed as a cocktail mixer--which was a clear contrast from the formal dinner Beto's opponent, Congressman Reyes, received from the same organization, for the same reason, at the same time, at the same venue, the month before;

[4]  The event was advertised as the "Poshest," "Hippest," event of the campaign season in spite of the fact that it was held at a small family-owned Mexican Restaurant (G&R Restaurant) that was ill-equipped to host a cocktail mixer and an allegedly internationally renowned Electronic Music DJ (There is no dance floor at G&R Restaurant, and their bar space is a polite formality that barely honors its intended function);

[5]  The event lauded a fictional DJ with false credentials, "DJ Notorious Boom Boom," on every invitation that was sent out for the event--which is an ethical issue that isn't easily resolved with the justification that it was just a joke (DJ Notorious Boom Boom is a fictional DJ that does not exist; Jaime Abyetia, who is a contractor that works for "My El Paso DJ," was the DJ for the event); and

[6]  The event's invitation never mentioned what office Beto O'Rourke was running for--which is an amateurish move that could easily be construed as intentional, given the experience El Paso Young Democrats has in hosting political events such as these and the tradition it has in honoring a few of the most basic principles of political courtesy and protocol--both of which are credentials the organizer of the event, Alex Guzman, El Paso Young Democrats' Vice President of Finance, takes great pride in having.

In reality, there were at least a 1000 other reasons why a serious candidate for Congress should have never accepted the invitation to speak to an organization that didn't think enough him as a candidate for United States Congress to advertise the position he is running for on their invitation, but that did take the time to laud the false credentials of a fictional entertainer on their invitation instead.

Regardless, Beto O'Rourke, Candidate for U.S. Congressional District 16,  kept it classy. He attended the event--despite the casual hostility implicated in the way the event was planned for him by Alex Guzman-- and spoke elqouently about Border Security, Immigration Reform, Congressional Term Limits, the justification behind legalizing Marijuana; as well as, about Congressman Reyes' record--which Beto alleges is that of a legislator that has only authored and passed 6 bills during the almost 15 years he's been in office.

Quite honorably, I might add, Beto also made a good faith effort before and after the event began and ended--and despite the loud music blaring in the background--to speak to each person in attendance at the event at each table. (Perhaps he really did believe there would be an opportunity to mix with the guests in attendance and speak with them one-on-one the way the invitation indicated.)

In sum, despite the odds that were stacked against him politically at this event in the way it was planned, billed, and executed; and despite the fact that any other serious candidate for any office would likely have declined speaking at an event planned this dishonestly, by Alex Guzman, Beto O'Rourke maintained his credibility as a man of his word by attending the event and also showed us just how Congressional he can be in whatever situation he is placed in--which, quite frankly, appeared to serve him more justice than I think the organizers of the event may have intended.

A Blog of My Own

After a lot of thought and consideration, I've decided to write a blog of my own about state, local, and national politics that touch on or affect the El Paso area.  The name of my blog, "EP-Headnotes," is inspired by summaries about the law that are offered at the top of almost every legal opinion published by two of the most successful legal research databases used by lawyers, advocates, and practitioners  in the United States (Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw).

The idea of "headnotes" (or accessible summaries of major areas of the law) I thought lended itself fairly well to my own inspiration behind creating this blog: a space that parametricizes popular issues arising out of state, local, and national politics that affect the El Paso area--hence the blog's name, "EP-Headnotes." Although it is not my intention for this blog to serve as any kind of legal resource--and it shouldn't--I do intend for this space to serve as a space that provides an intelligent analysis about political issues that affect El Paso.

As a matter of housekeeping, it's really important for the readers of this blog to know--if there are any--that the views of this blog are not intended to represent the views of any other organization in which I am a member of or am affiliated with; instead, the views expressed in this blog are my own personal views and should be strictly construed by any reader of this blog as such. In light of as much, I completely intend to exhaust every opinionated resource I have to discuss issues of substantial interest and importance in El Paso.

Similarly, I hereby cordially extend an invitation--to anyone that is interested--to discuss anything they find of interest on this blog with me or with anyone else who reads this blog. With that having been said, let's let the good times roll. --Antonio Williams, J.D.