10th floor follies: Rep. Quintana’s office woes

I am one of the fewer than 1,400. I voted for Quintana's opponent twice. (2 times)
I did not vote for Quintana because of her unwillingness, or inability, to hold a public forum for communication. Her opponent, Jim Suerken, demonstrated his ability to do so - however, i believe too infrequently, as Quintana basically won on a "door to door" campaign platform.
Basically i think that Jim Suerken underestimated the apathy of the average district 5 resident. And also, i hate to say it, but i also believe that Quintana's last name was more asthetic to the average district 5 resident. 1,400 voters in a RUNOFF?? .....give me a break.

Ms. Quintana won because she is hispanic. Just like the black man always wins in a black district. Cubans are elected in Cuban neighborhoods.

She just happened to be the one hispanic who outworkd the others. She went door to door and made promises.

That kid Suerken went to fundraiser on the west side and hung out with the rich. They should have given him a job if they like him so much.

Quintana' dilemma,
Perhaps the focus should be less on the representative and more on the registered voters in her district.
I have a great deal of respect for Rep. Quintana. We've prayed for her and her family for spiritual strength and moral courage to have faith and confront her legal problems and quickly bring closure to them for her sake and that of her family.
This reminds me of a malignant tumor: The longer you delay getting it removed, the more damage it will cause.
When her constituents numbering over 42,000 fail to attend scheduled meetings, when they show indifference as to the quality and quantity of her leadership, then perhaps the problem may not be solely Ms. Quintana's fault.

Lisle H. Davis

Good article. This is the problem with Quintana. She is so ineffective and silent on everything no one cares about her enough to bother with a recall. She consistently votes against the "progressive" wing of the council but that's about it. Unfortunately, the only way she is won't be completing her term is if she is convicted of the charge.
As far as the Eastside is concerned it was a rather desultory runoff that wound up lowering turnout. Quintana ran a very quite campaign but so did her opponent Jimmy Suerken. In fact, Suerken disappeared after having run an effective race in the general election. Quintana on the the other hand, looks like someone who was pushed into running and now doesn't know what the hell she's supposed to be doing.

A few corrections. As I best understand it, Ms. Quintana's forgery charge is a misdeamor not a felony.

Her constituent meetings are not under-attended since she holds none and has stated she has no intention of holding any. I offered to continue serving on the Civil Service Commission for District Five but I received a polite e-mail saying she had already selected another Commissioner for re-appointment. The e-mail came from a representative not Rep. Quintana.

never mind It's not worth the effort or time.

Before anything, Quintana appears to be a fool -- one of Jaime O. Perez's dunces who follow that charlatan pied piper into the annals of El Paso's hall of shame. For any modestly astute observer, it would appear to be an embarrassment to be associated with Perez. His network is either under criminal investigation, or understood to be the village idiots. But that is old news.

Here is the "new" news. David Crowder is getting lazy. Allow me to quote from his story:

"With a few phone calls last week, I netted accounts that were uniformly unflattering." Great, anyone speak on the record?

"Quintana’s district meetings are poorly attended, I am told, and phone calls to the Eastside rep’s office are relatively few compared with the other offices. Ditto email with questions, requests, complaints or compliments." Fantastic. Anyone speak on the record? How can this information be verified?

“'It’s a weird office,' one former assistant says." Super. Does this person have a name? Is there not even an attempt to be made explaining that the "source declined to be identified for fear of retaliation" statement?

David Crowder is one of El Paso's best reporters. But his time at Newspaper Tree is apparently dulling his skills as a journalist -- a REAL journalist. He is, of course, a real journalist, as is Sito Negron; but so many others are just blathermouths spewing out insults so that El Paso's political landscape resembles a Jerry Springer episode. David K, Paul Strelzin, the clueless Avocadoan, all blowhards that do little to really educate El Pasoans.

Unnamed sources smearing a politician -- even a politician as inept as Quintana-- is amateur journalism.

This is akin to Jaime Perez making up quotes during the nightmare existence of The Border Observer, which, after Reyes Mata left, quickly became a sloppy attack rag. Once Mata was gone, so went the journalism credibility of the Observer.

Mr. Crowder, yes, it's an opinion piece, but, please, distinguish yourself from a muckraking yellow journalism. Quintana is bottom of the barrel as a politician, but we need some people to speak on the record about that. A piece comprised entirely of unnamed sources is not up to your standards. It's too easy to appeal to the mean spirited who just like to attack people. Quintana deserves to be attacked.

I've always been against recalls, but, Quintana until 2011? That is an embarrassment to this community. If there ever was a legitimate reason for a recall, it would be to remove someone as lowly as Quintana. It is Quintana -- not the mayor -- who should serve as the poster child for the need for a recall. The mayor made some unpopular policy decisions, but he was guided by the goal of improving El Paso. Quintana is a recluse in an elected position whose behavior is insulting to the good town of El Paso.

But, let's show that through some on the record stuff, with people willing to speak out. Otherwise it's just poor journalism squandering an opportunity to give a serious critique upon an inept politician who has no business representing the good people of El Paso.

Slam her David, but do it with the heavy artillery of responsible journalism, not the catty style of the town's pseudo-journalists. You're better than that.

Suddenly it seems like the El Paso Times is indeed the most responsible, most trustworthy, news source of the region. Has the radio and internet given voice to so many morons that the Times is now the best news source in the region?

David and Sito are most certainly not morons, but things are getting a bit sloppy at the Tree....

I am the Walrus,

That's "Mr. Blowhard" to you. I am honored to mentioned among the king of all blowhards, Paul J. Strelzin.

Rachel Quintana for County Judge!

Okay, "Mr. Blowhard." Sorry.

And Strelzin has an audience, but, boy, it sure is hard to move among El Pasoans and not hear a disgusted eye-rolling person with a Strelzin story that always ends up the same way: "And he started barking at [fill in the blank] -- don't you know who I am?!!!" Yea, we're quite aware of who you are, your inflated ego blocked out the sun leading to my petunias dying.

He credits himself with putting almost every politician into office.
Please. The people who don't vote put people into office. Fear of Republicans puts people into office. Had Bush not bungled the war like Tigger in the Whitehouse, the Republicans would have been a serious force. For example, I've been listening to Freyermuth in the mornings, and, yea, I like him. He respects his callers, regardless of what they say. It may be that he's on his good behavior right now, but he listens, and does his best to understand the point and then agrees or disagrees with reason. He doesn't blast someone like Strelzin does if you don't kiss his ring. "Don't you know who I am?!!!" Sheesh, I bet he practices that over and over in the bathroom mirror.

Sometimes David K. makes me laugh, and nod in agreement. Other times, boy, it's like watching kids play with roadkill, and it's back to 99.9 to struggle through the lesser of two evils: listening to "Do you really want to hurt me" by Boy George.

This town is really tough sometimes....

Quintana is partly to blame of course for the decisions she has made both personally and professionally. But you must remember she has a major problem the other reps and other politicians don't have-- she has not been bought and sold by anyone -- at first she was serving the "downtowners"; they have no more interest in any local issue- trust me on that--- the downtown game has become just another free market issue.. she has no one now and even her 'once' friends are offended by her now. -- she simply needs to find a 'buyer'---- it's too bad she couldn't follow the lead of famous unconnected young politicians like the gentleman who currently came out of nowhere to become mayor of newark, nj and is really trying to turn it around. el paso is a breeding ground of ineptitude, that is not a news flash at all -- joyce has done a good job in making this city at least semi-respectable and there are many who follow her lead. she'll go away soon yes but the true sadness is that el paso just lost another young leader. Do you remember how many people in City Council chambers actually applauded her when she suggested and proposed a 2% across the board budget cut last year-- she made bad choices but in the long run, haven't we all by accepting 4% of registered voters could actually make a sound decision on who should be their elected rep.

The picture above, together with the caption is a disgrace. Do you actually expect your readership to believe that a professional photographer was unable to take a picture of Rachel Quintana. The woman is sitting behind a desk for several hours every week. It is obvious that you chose that photo in a silly attempt to embarrass Ms. Quintana. If that is the best your photographer could do then you hire idiots, and judging from the quality of the majority of the work in you web site, I doubt that is the case. The untold story is that Rachel ran for office and did not ask anybody for help or permission. She didn’t go out and beg all the political insiders, or the media elites for their blessing, and obviously she’s pissed everybody off. She is a young single mother who got tired of every ones crap and instead of sitting back and complaining about it, she threw her hat in the ring. Has she been the ideal city rep? Maybe not, but I’m still very proud of her.

And one other thing, Rachel Quintana won that election fair and square, and if nothing else it shows that anybody can be elected to office in El Paso. In this time when all the evidence of corruption is as evident as it is, it is nice to know at least one of our reps is not in the pocket of the old political machine. Mr. Crowder refers to her office as a black hole on the 10th floor, in the climate that we have today in El Paso, I call her a glimmer of hope.

Everyone knows that Luther Jones owns Rachel Quintana. What exactly are you proud of her for? Not answering her phone calls? Never being available to her constituents? Getting caught in an illegal act to save a few bucks? Being totally unprepared for meetings? Being the kind of boss that cannot keep a staff? A glimmer of hope? What total nonsense. If she had any dignity, she would resign. But, she is in it for the feeling of power so she won't.

...well, she does have nice hair. I think with "glimmer of hope" the reader was referring to Quintana's hair.

There's another story in this debacle that has been neglected, to which Mr. Crowder alluded:

"She (Quintana) recently tried to bring on Oscar Gonzalez, the city’s first neighborhoods liaison during the Wardy administration who ran for the District 2 city representative in 2005. But he didn’t make it through the screening process either, evidently because of personal complaints against him while he was at City Hall."

They mayor doesn't like Mr. Gonzalez because of "insubordination," so he says. Having seen Mr. Gonzalez work, he had quite a good relationship with many, many folks. He was eager to assist people and at times, yes, he promised too much, but that is nothing new at city hall.. Mayor Cook -- one of the most passive-aggressive people you'll ever meet -- fired Mr. Martinez from one day to the next, and has now apparently banned him from any city hall involvement.

Mayor Cook may have good reasons for doing so, but what are they? That's a story worth pursuing -- not, as David H, pointed out, gimmicky camera tricks and, as I mentioned earlier, a litany of off-the-record sources who may or not may not exist. This is not to accuse Mr. Crowder of making up sources as I seriously doubt he would do so, but rather to present El Pasoans with a solid story bolstered by names, titles and verifiable information.

Oscar Gonzalez, in my uninformed opinion, appears to be a good guy with a good reputation, but is being banned from city hall. Is he being treated fairly? Or is this the actions of a passive-aggressive mayor who has banished a capable public servant because of personal reasons.

If he sexually harassed someone, stole something, or did something to seriously undermine the mayor's ability to perform his mayoral duties, then fine. But no evidence has been presented to give credence to that, and yet Mr. Gonzalez is barred from doing something which, according to the neighborhood groups with whom he has worked, he is good at, and enjoys.

NPT, ask better questions, and ferret out better stories, and, PLEASE, don't start the practice of writing for the lowest common denominator. El Paso gets that with our cadre of talk show hosts and bloggers, and the informed citizenry deserves much better....

This DC character obviously has an hidden agenda against the minority on the council. First, there was the "eddie, eddie" article. Now, there is this piece of garbage against Quintana. Geez, what's next? Let me guess, next week there will be an article called "Melinda, Melinda".

Eastside Rep Quintana is representing the eastside and she does answer her phone calls the following day. There is one person on the 10th floor that goes around talking bad about Rep Quintana, maybe because she wishes to get that office.

Calls were not being answer when the new hire was out chatting with everyone on the 10th floor. Why didn't you 10th floor spy tell you this.

ALICE for Eastside City Rep!!