I’m the youngest of 5 children raised by a single mom in
south central El Paso. We didn’t have much
money and didn’t own a home so we moved often from one rental to another. Mom worked six days a week; at home we were
children raising children. By some
miracle, all of us survived the barrios of El Paso, graduated from high school,
and found gainful employment – not a bum in the bunch. We were the chicanitos that should not have
survived the barrio, but we did. I
learned from mom HOW to work, and from my siblings I learned life’s
lessons. This humble upbringing formed
my character.
I began working as young boy, running errands for
construction workers who gave me tips. It
felt good to bring home pennies and nickels to contribute to the household
income. I became the neighborhood errand
boy, working odd jobs for my neighbors and nearby stores. During my high school years I worked for a
carpenter on weekends, winter break, and summer. The day after I graduated, I went to work for
him full time, until I joined the army.
I’ve never been a day without a job since then. I learned the value of a dollar, and I
learned not to squander a buck because it was earned the old fashioned way.
In due time, I became a father to two wonderful girls who
grew into successful independent women with whom I still maintain a strong
bond. I was an active father, tending to
all the significant events in their lives and coaching them both in their
extracurricular activities. From me they
inherited a strong work ethic and learned how to be honest, respectful girls. Recently I married a wonderful, smart, and
beautiful woman, Norma Favela Barceleau, and I became a stepfather to bright
and handsome young man.
It’s been a busy and rewarding life, and I’ve been trusted
with positions of leadership in the military, in the civilian workplace and as
a community volunteer. I served four
years in the army and another 27 years as a weekend warrior in the army reserve
where I was military officer. On
weekends I was a soldier, during the week I was a social worker. For 27 years, I maintained two careers. As a professional social worker, and military
officer, I was trusted by those in authority with promotions and
responsibility, culminating in my retirement as a Lieutenant Colonel and as a
chief executive officer.
The highlight of my army career was being selected to
command a battalion with nearly 500 soldiers in El Paso and southern New
Mexico. The highlight of social work
career, for the last 18 years, I was the chief executive officer of a large and
complex organization, the Paso del Norte Children Development Center. For the last half of my tenure at this agency
we were voted best of the best local nonprofit in town.
An active community volunteer, I have been involved with
many civic organizations going back to my days at UTEP with the student
association of social workers and continuing to this day as an active volunteer
with my church as a lay minister, as an active member of Cielo Vista Neighbor
Association, and on the boards of Community en Accion and FirstLight Federal
Credit Union.
It might sound hard, being an active father, a professional
social worker, a weekend warrior, and a community volunteer, but it
wasn’t. I did all those things, I did
them well, and I fun doing them.
These experiences gave me the opportunity to develop the
trust of my superiors, the trust of my subordinates, the trust of my peers, and
even the trust of the teams I coached. Success
in these careers is a reflection of well-developed leadership skills. I learned how analyze situations, how to make
decisions, how to dedicate scare resources, how to get along with others, and
how to get the job done.
Many candidates talks about creating jobs. For the last 18 years I actually created many
good jobs, with decent salaries, health insurance and a 401k plan. I’ve managed budgets, and created new service
programs, and complied with complex regulations. I grew a small agency dedicated to helping
children with disabilities into a complex organization with multiple funding
sources. I learned to write and
implement policies. I learned how to
work collaboratively with local, state, and federal policy makers to advocate
on behalf of our clients. I developed
collaborative relationships with colleagues to pool our resources together to
achieve better outcomes.
I am a trusted leader with a lifetime of community
service. I’ve reached a point in my life
where need to do more for my neighbors in district 3 and for my community. I am not the typical politician, I am a
leader who wants to bring a lifetime of positive experiences to city government
because El Paso is the most dynamic community in the country today.
In the past 15 years, or so, many good things have happened
in the Sun City, thanks to our civic leaders.
Good things like the boom at Fort Bliss.
Good things like the expansion of Texas Tech, University Medical Center,
the Children’s Hospital, and Medical Center of the Americas. Good things like private investment in two
large hospitals. Good thinks the
rebuilding of our two largest school districts.
Good things like the renaissance downtown with hotels, the arts
district, the ballpark, the street cars, the digital wall, and coming soon, the
Mexican American Cultural Center, a children’s museum, and the arena. Of course, its hard to ignore all those
beautiful orange barrels that remind us of road construction.
There is much to be done, many projects all over town to finish,
lots of coordination with other local governments. We worked very hard to shed a culture of
corruption at all levels of local government and we cannot go back. El Paso needs responsible government with a
steady hand and honest stewardship. I
encourage voters to examine my background, there are no skeletons, I have clean
record. My history demonstrates that I
will provide leadership you can trust, based on a lifetime of service to my
country and my community. Henry Ford
said “you cannot build a reputation on what you’re going to do.” I built my reputation on good works. Vote for me for City Representative, District
3.
