It's been a bumpy road for freshmen City Councilwomen Rachel Quintana.
Charges of falsifying documents to get a reduced fair on an airline have haunted her for over two years now.
Her arrest was rumored to be politically motivated. It been said around the water cooler that Joyce Wilson allegedly had her "pet Police Chief" at the time arrest her to publicly humiliate her over documents she was accused of forging to acquire a discount plane ticket that was valued at $75.00.
This brings up an interesting question. Is a pet Police Chief kind of like a Pet Detective? Just wondering?
I don't know the exact details about the story but there seems to be a lot more to it that we are led to believe.
Many people have criticized her and starting in 2007 have even talked about having a re-call election to remove her from here seat in City Council.
Rep. Quintana has filed appeal after appeal, has found a way to keep pushing back her hearings and has avoided any re-call elections. I would take that as a blessing and do my best to stop creating waves.
But for some reason Rep. Quintana decided she would do a little PR work for herself and maybe score some points with the public.
How would she accomplish this almost impossible feat? She proposed a Cell Phone ban ordinance. But she didn't do it the old fashion way.
Rep. Quintana skipped the legislative review committee process and took her proposed ordinance straight for council approval. That's a Tsunami if you ask me.
Her ordinance that was passed and will take effect April 1st has been called a "feel good" ordinance by some on city council and has caused a lot of controversy on talk radio.
The ordinance has holes in it that include not having a specified fine for violations. Some how a judge will determine that on a case by case basis.
I would really hate to walk into a Judge's chambers on a bad day with this offense. The sky would be the limit.
April 1st is just around the corner. People in El Paso will be pulling a Maria Shriver. You will still see them talking on the phone in their fancy SUVs despite the new ordinance and live their cell phone dependant lives like they have been doing. Speaking of that, where did I leave my darn cell phone?
Now if this wasn't enough bad press for Rep. Quintana; an inside source tells me(o.k. so I only got one source but he was indoors when he gave me this heads up)that after all the talk about the use of phones Rep. Quintana has a hard time using the one in her office.
Seems like she has put so much time into this ordinance that she has failed to return calls and e-mails to her constituents. Several constituents have complained time and time again and are reconsidering a re-call election to remove her from office.
One of the complainants claims that Rep. Quintana ignored his calls, e-mails and written letters about an issue he had. He eventually received a letter stating "I am of receipt of your letter" but no response to his concern.
The complainant stated that he received a call to his residence when he had never given Rep. Quintana his home number. All his calls were made from his cell phone. (That eliminates the caller I.D. theory) He then said he never gave her a number to be reached at so she would have to leave a paper trail of some sort.
I'm wondering, did she call his house number from her cell phone while she was driving?
The complainant and a small group of supporters have started a recall petition and state that they only need 20% of the registered voters who voted when she ran to sign the petition to get a recall election.
Rep. Quintana's term is up in 2011 and she has shown interest in re-election. Honestly, if I were her I would just be happy to finish this term without anymore negative publicity. Maybe once she is out of office she won't be singled out anymore and will be able to get that silly misdemeanor dismissed. I think its a blessing in disguise. What do you think?
I didn't know they haven't set a fine amount, yet. Is it going to be random like the decision making in City Council? Also, the recall election paperwork has to be filed before the election date for Quintana; otherwise, it will be useless energy to submit it and find it is not going to be valid. The City's charter is not written in favor of freedom of speech or for the benefit of the public.
ReplyDeleteMaybe, when we have conscious and awake and pro-Constitution people in City Council, we will be able to repeal all the stupid, unconstitutional ordinances that are written, and revamp the city charter. Until then, the people have very limited voice and ability to change the corrupt, criminal government.