Editors Note: A response to an El Paso Times column by Joe Muench indicating that Wardy lost the election on "perception" that he was a crook rather than the reality that he was.

Mr. Muench,  

I just read your column, and I'm sorry to break it to you, but there was plenty of proof that Wardy, Cobos, Escobar, et. al. were engaging in shameless and blatant quid pro quo politics for the last two years.  Simply because the El Paso Times chooses to look the other way does not mean that this cronyism did not exist.  

I have been writing (under a pen name) a weekly column on City Hall politics for the last two years.  I have covered the same meetings your reporter covers, and the same meetings that the public can attend or watch every week.  

Week by painful week, I chronicled the bid rigging, the favoritism, and the slow death of fair competition at City Hall at the hands of Wardy, Cobos, Cushing and the rest of the crew.  

Apparently, voters knew more about this than you or anyone else at your newspaper did.  

I have plenty of examples:  the Car Wash bid that was postponed an entire summer and sent out to rebid three times until Paul Escobar's uncle received a large part of the bid; the fats, oil and grease (FOG) contract that Wardy, Cushing and Cobos openly tried to get for Luther Jones' client, who would have been awarded a no-bid, exclusive franchise if the City Manager hadn't put a very public stop to it, and if Lisa Hayes (the Assistant City Attorney -- NOT Joe's hand-picked bimbo, Lisa Elizondo who is supposed to be the legal guardian for our City government) hadn't told them openly they were breaking the law--again; the constant manipulation of points on bids that came up for routine approval, changes that caused the friends and contributors of Cushing, Wardy & Cobos & Co. to get the awards; and the killing of tax credit projects that do not belong to Bobby Bowling.  This is but the tip of the iceberg...the! re are many more examples, much more "proof" as you say.  

I must say, I was embarassed for you when I read your column.  You are not only out of touch with the reality of the last two years, but you don't even bother to do basic research to look up whether or not the cries of cronyism exist.  And the shame in it all is that you are supposed to be a newspaperman.   

Sincerely,

Sidney Hall Maven

City Hall Chronicler, Concerned Citizen, and someone who won't ever bother to spend a dime on your sorry newspaper (I only read the El Paso Times online where it's free).

(Picture of the elusive SHM was unavailable at press time.)

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Editor, Upper Valley Beacon

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