August 31, 2018 • Local News
Lots of candidates and issues in city elections
There was no last minute rush, but when the filing deadline passed last Monday, 15 candidates had signed up to run for the four El Paso City Council seats up for grabs in the Nov. 6 elections.
They include the three incumbents eligible to run for a second term. But District 5 city Rep. Michiel Noe, the council’s mayor pro tem, will be completing his second term and cannot seek re-election.
The issues in the city elections are many – taxes, the city’s bonded indebtedness, the lack of progress on three major quality-of-life projects Downtown and the city’s ongoing legal fight to build a $180-million arena in Duranguito, one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods.
Adding to the tumult, Mayor Dee Margo faces a long-odds petition drive for a recall election, and a recently filed petition is likely to force an election to spare 1,000 acres of city land popular with hikers and cyclists from development.
At the same time, the city is enjoying the lowest unemployment rate in decades, wages are rising and the city is seeing an unprecedented burst of Downtown renewal, as well as development on the city’s east and west sides.
In District 1, Rep. Peter Svarzbein, 38, faces three opponents: businessman Carlos F. Corral, 35; Veronica Frescas, a marketing representative, 51; and Rick Bonart, a retired veterinarian and community activist, 66.
Four political newcomers are running for the open seat in District 5. They are auditor Kizito “Zito” Ekechukwu, 28; John Hogan, 62, who is self-employed; security consultant and former Border Patrol agent Jason K. Osborne, 35; and Isabel Salcido, who is 32 and self-employed.
Osborne is the only one of the 15 candidates to indicate on his application for a place on the ballot that he will abide by the state’s voluntary Code of Fair Campaign Practices.
Candidates who sign the pledge promise, among other things, to campaign openly and limit attacks on opponents to legitimate issues without whisper campaigns or assaults on opponents’ personal or family life.
In District 6, Eric Stolz, a 25-year-old college student who’s never run before, is challenging incumbent Claudia Ordaz Perez, 32.
And in District 8, incumbent and retired teacher Cissy Lizarraga, 62, faces four challengers.
They are Greg Baine, 54, a former defense contractor executive; Dylan Corbett, 36, a nonprofit executive; Nicholas Anthony Vasquez, a 27-year-old college student; and freelance writer Richard “Rich” Wright, 61.
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