Last night the North East Civic Association headed by activist Jack Bradford held its candidate forum at the North East Regional Command Center. Numerous candidates for the different races attended. The format was each candidate got to make his/her stump speech and then the audience could ask questions at the end. Mr. Bradford invited me to speak first. My speech was divided into two parts. I spoke about my qualifications and credentials and then I spoke about all the reasons why I was seeking the position of DA. I talked abut the corruption coming from Esparza's office and I specifically mentioned examples of that corruption, i.e. the Hollebeke and George DeAngelis cases as well as the latest federal investigation into Esparza submitting $Six Million worth of bills to the Feds which they have now concluded Esparza should not have submitted. I told the members of the audience that they should ask Esparza about that investigation. Esparza spoke next. He spent some time enumerating his programs. And then he spent some time telling some bald faced lies.

In front of a room full of people, without batting an eyelash, knowing I was standing right there and that I would clobber him with this, Esparza said that the federal judges in the DIMS lawsuits had "found DIMS to be Constitutional." Watching a pathological liar in action can knock the breath out of you, it is so stunning. And when Esparza made that false statement, you could actually hear a few gasps go out from the audience. Then Esparza said he was not going to respond to everything his opponent had said. He talked about being the 2005 prosecutor of the year, finished up his speech and then bolted for the door, not staying for questions or to hear the speeches of the other candidates who were polite enough to endure his. The public noted Esparza's poor manners as well.

Esparza should have stayed and defended his policies. He is always saying he will go any place, any time to defend DIMS. He missed his big chance because the audience asked some very good questions about DIMS and I got to answer them. There was a lively free form exhange between two of the candidates for Sheriff, Ed Hernandez candidate for Judge, the audience and me about DIMS. It was clear that no one likes DIMS. Do you think that is why Esparza headed for the door? I also told the audience the truth and cleaned up Esparza's lie which is that the Federal Judges did NOT rule that DIMS was constitutional. They ruled that they were NOT going to rule on the consitutionality of DIMS. The Judges wrote in their opinions that the question of the constitutionality of DIMS had not been properly put before the court and that they were therefore not going to answer the ultimate question. I also told the audience that there had been two news reports on the very issue of Esparza lying to the public about the judge's rulings.

On a side note, I called the Sito Negron radio show yesterday. Sito was uspet with my earlier blog (reporters have such thin skin) on him and his seven year tardy article on the office of the District Attorney. Sito also did not see what was wrong with the cartoon his paper ran depicting me in a school girl outfit and Jaime Esparza as a lawyer. I had to point out the obvious to Sito on the radio which was that kind of cartoon is sexist and demeaning to women. (I received two calls from men from the general public who had heard the show and they said Sito made a fool of himself on that point). For all of his pretensions of being a "liberal", Sito is what he is, a sexist sporting a pony tail. Besides that, he is also an apologist for Esparza and the $6 Million that the Feds say Esparza should not have billed out on, which Sito has yet to write about and the news is weeks old. Sito said on the radio that "Jaime didn't pocket the money," so there.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a new low bar in El Paso. It never occured to me that Jaime would steal $6 million, but now that Sito has raised the question with his Johnny on the spot defense of Esparza, it leads one to wonder, where is the money. I guess we should ask Sito.

We wonder why the innocent are being thrown in jail, in prison, why DIMS, the local version of the Patriot Act, has survived disenfranchising thousands of people, bilking us the tax payers resulting in hundreds of families every year losing their homes to pick up the tab. Don't wonder. Note the apologists for the establishment and corruption who are sexists to boot, observe Sito Negron.

How one conducts oneself, most especially on the day to day matters, shows how one is, how one is perceived and how one sees oneself in the greater scheme. We already know that by his own written policy, Esparza has exempted himself and his freinds from his own DIMS program. In other words, if you get arrested Esparza wants you to go straight to jail without benefit of a judge. If Esparza gets arrested or one of his friends like former Mayor Joe Wardy, (who was caught at the airport with a loaded gun in the security area and Esparza let him go) they get the full benefit of the law and get to go before a judge. Mr. Esparza thinks he and his friends are more important than thee and me. Esparza has actually placed himself above the law by his own illegal written policy. DIMS would be a BIG example of Esparza's arrogance. What would be a smaller one?

On Saturday night, October 20, 2007, at the 110th Gala of the El Paso Bar Association, there was a very long line at the very crowded cash bar. A lawyer who had patiently waited in line himself to get to the front said an assistant District Attorney showed up at the front and asked a lawyer, "Hey, since you are already up here, can you buy a beer for Jaime?" The "Jaime" turned out to be Jaime Esparza.--Even kindergartners know this is line-cutting.

What does this tell us? What self-respecting lawyer would go fetch a beer for his lawyer boss when not in the course of getting one for himself? What lawyer boss is too good to wait in line himself and get his own beer? What lawyer boss would ask his employee to go wait in the long line to get him a beer? What lawyer boss would ask his employee to cut in line to get him a beer? What lawyer boss has no qualms about by-passing other people who are abiding by the rules set down by society and are waiting in line, and pushes himself to the front in order to get what he wants?

Could it be the same lawyer boss who exempts himself and all of his emplyees from DIMS, a system he imposes on the rest of us? Could it be the same lawyer boss who let his friend Joe Wardy go free on a gun charge and then lied about it but prosecutes you and your sons and daughters for the same violation? Could it be the same lawyer boss who takes campaign contributions for the purpose of campaigning and then spends $350.00 of the funds in a foreign country, at one of the fanciest restaurants in Mexico City, the Sheraton Maria Isabela, and calls it a campaign expense? And the list goes on and on...

Jaime Esparza has long conducted himself in matters both big and small as though the social and legal rules did not apply to him. Elect someone who will not conduct herself in this fashion. Remember me, Theresa Caballero, in the Democratic primary March 2008.

On Thursday, October 11, 2007, Jaime Esparza dismissed Dick Poe's DWI charge citing that there was not enough evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Dick Poe's family owns Dick Poe's car dealership, one of the largest car dealerships in El Paso, TX.

Dick Poe, who is 38, was arrested on October 1, 2005 for DWI. It was 3:08 in the morning. The bars close at two a.m. The police affidavit states that Poe was "travelling at a high rate of speed northbound on Mesa Street in the middle lane. The Defendant was also driving partially in the right traffic lane of north Mesa...Sgt. Cardenas also noticed that the license plate of the Defendant's vehicle was not illuminated...Sgt. Cardenas noticed a strong odor of an unknown alcoholic beverage from the Defendant's breath. Defendant's speech was slow and slurred, and his eyes appeared glossy." The report goes on to say that Poe failed the field sobriety tests and then refused to submit to a breath test.

The case, as described, is a classic DWI case and is a beautiful case for the State. The case was so strong that the prosecutor on duty the night of Poe's arrest accepted it on the spot for prosecution. Also remember that Esparza has stated publicly that his office is so efficient that he only accepts cases that can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. So how is it that Poe's case became so weak? For TWO years that case sat on the court's docket. The case had multiple hearings and no one, during those two years said, "this case is weak and should never have been accepted and I am going to dismiss it." In fact, the case had several trial settings; knowing how the courts work, one can presume citizens were asked to leave their work and families, people like you and me, to come down to the court house and serve on juries and hear Poe's case. Still, no one dismissed it. Then two years later, five months before the election and while Esparza is hitting up the car dealers for campaign contributions, all of a sudden, Poe's case is weak and Esparza needs to dismiss it. What happened?

Mr. Esparza's actions of accepting a case that he later says is weak, drags someone needlessly through the legal system, and then takes two years to dismiss it, could well subject the county to lawsuits.

I try DWI cases and any other defendant with the facts of this case who doesn't own a large car dealership would NEVER get a dismissal. He would have to plead guilty or take his chances before a jury. Several lawyers at the court house on Friday came to me complaining about the OBVIOUS favoritism displayed by Esparza on this case. One lawyer said that he has never, ever had a DWI case dismissed with those facts. But we all know that.

What would I have done if I had been the prosecutor? I would have properly screened the case. If the evidence had not been sufficient, I would have declined to prosecute Mr. Poe and he would have been spared a lot of embarrassment and legal fees. If the case were strong, as it appears to be, I would have treated Mr. Poe the same as any other defendant and prosecuted him to the fullest extent of the law for driving DWI and endangering the public.

To add insult to injury, Esparza does not even have the courage to answer to the press for his decision on Poe's case. He sends a taxpayer paid PR person (Renee Riley) to answer for him. And we pay for these shennanigans.

End Esparza's two El Pasos. He runs this town like an ignorant, puffed up, petty Banana Republic dictator imposing his backwards, dangerous, third world, power mongering mentality by suspending the law and giving the rich and the connected privileges and benefits while he strings up the rest of us citing the very laws he refuses to apply to his friends. (Don't forget he let his friend, former Mayor Joe Wardy, break STATE law when Esparza let Wardy walk after police found him with a loaded gun at the airport.) Esparza's attitude is so what and what are you going to do about it. And if he is called to answer, he'll just lie because he believes the public is too stupid to get it. Well, let's show Esparza what we are going to do about it at the polls. Let's show Esparza what we think of prosecutors who lie and endanger the public to curry political favor. Remember me, Theresa Caballero, in the Democratic primary in March 2008.

It was reported today that the Office of the Inspector General of the United States of America Department of Justice is auditing the County of El Paso. Why? According to the news, County Attorney Jose Rodriguez and District Attorney Jaime Esparza have submitted bills to the federal government for prosecutions and the Feds say the bills are not warranted. The news said that the Department of Justice is asking the County (which would be Jaime Esparza and Jose Rodriguez) to justify, explain, and document $3.9 milllion extra paid to them in remibursements.

The Office of the Inspector General is, in my opinion, one of the last honest government offices left. It is the office that opened the investigation against former head of the El Paso FBI, Hardrick Crawford, who was ultimately indicted and convicted and sent to prison.

Esparza is now going to have to spend tax payer time trying to provide documentation to back up his bills to the feds. This is yet another scandal the community of El Paso is going to have to pay for because Esparza has a hard time doing things right the first time.

Also remarkable about the story is that County Attorney Jose Rodriguez, who is being questioned as to his bills to the feds, is also acting as the attorney for Jaime Esparza. Mr. Rodriguez was quoted in the news lauding Esparza for "'forcing the federal government...'" to pay the county for prosecutions, in an attempt to make Esparza look like the hero in this mess. In this case, Mr. Rodriguez is acting like a good defense attorney for his client and trying to put the best face on an embrassing and politically costly matter. The question is, how are you a lawyer for someone and a co-auditee of the same someone at the same time? Let's see if Esparza (who teaches ethics classes for CLE credit) and Mr. Rodriguez can figure out what they should do about this conflict of interest.

The article on this latest scandal was written by El Paso Times reporter David Crowder. Despite the gravity of the matter, the article was a soft ball one. Keep in mind that David Crowder was arrested over a year ago for DWI by the EPPD. The EPPD immediately called Esparza's office after apprehending Crowder. Esparza declined Crowder's charges ON THE SPOT. Crowder never saw the inside of the County Jail (it was a DIMS case). Does Dionicio Flores, who runs the paper, really think that we have forgotten that Esparza let his star reporter go? Does Flores also not recognize conflicts of interest? Given what Esparza did for Crowder, Crowder should not be covering this story. Will Dionicio Flores' blindness to Crowder's conflict of interest regarding this huge story not also convert into a blnd eye when it comes to the conflict of interest Esparza and Rodriguez have regarding the audit?

Money and women are usually what bring down a corrupt politician. Let's see what the Feds find and how Esparza (mis)handles yet anther scandal. Esparza is already doing his usual dodge the ball. The reporter could not find him for comment on the small matter of a Federal Audit of his Accounts. Where was he? Was he in Mexico City campaigning (remember the $350.00 lunch at the Maria Isabella Sheraton in Mexico City he wrote off as a campaign expense)? Was his secretary Amy Lujan in Mexico City again with him working on International extraditions? Or was he at the golf course? Could he have been busy dismissing cases for the powerful and the connected, i.e. Dick Poe's DWI dismissed (reference El Paso Times yesterday 10-12-07) or David Crowder's DWI? Or was Esparza at the City asking for money from them to do a job he is already paid to do?

Elect someone who can be reached for comment and will answer directly to the press and not hide out or worse yet hide behind the skirts of a tax paid female PR person who is not a lawyer to boot. Elect someone who will prosecute cases right the first time. Elect someone who is not going to be taking her tax paid secretary on the taxpayer dime to Mexico City to work on "legal matters." Elect someone who is not going to be in the news every three months for some allegation of dishonesty. Elect me, Theresa Caballero.

The Campaign season has revved up and as a result I have had less time to devote to my blog. I want to give you some updates:

-I have received several campaign contributions in the mail recently from people I have never met. To me, this means that the word is getting out that I am running and there are those in the community who desperately want a change and believe in me and my message. Thank you everyone for spreading the word.

-The message I am getting from the voter on the street is that Esparza has been in office too long. When you are passing the word around that I am running you may want to mention that Esparza has, to date, been in office 15 years. Now he wants to be in office for at least twenty years.--Also mention that when he first ran 16 years ago, his campaign platform was "No more than Two Terms." What happened?

-In the last two weeks, I have had three attorneys tell me that they have gotten some heat for contributing to my campaign. Two of them said they will now be giving me yet another contribution because they do not appreciate the strong arm tactics. Good for them! And very telling about the other camp.

-One week ago, the El Paso Bar Association put out their October journal. In it is a feature on me. Attorney Stephanie Townsend-Allala wrote the article. It is a positive piece and I want to thank Ms. Allala for calling me and asking for an interview and for recognizing the importance of my candidacy for District Attorney. I encourage you to read it if you can get a hold of a copy. If you call my office I will fax/mail you a copy (565-3550).

-Also last week, NewspaperTree reporter Sito Negron called and asked for an interview. Despite my long standing policy of not interviewing with Mr. Negron, I did grant him an interview this time. Mr. Negron's questions seemed focused on trying to draw some nefarious connection between me and members of the Builder's Association who have been active in politics and have long taken the position that taxes are out of control and the Government should not seize private property and turn it over to PRIVATE interests. Two premises I strongly believe in and have advocated for by the way. Mr. Negron also wanted to focus on the FBI Probe and my father.

I asked Mr. Negron to consider redirecting his questions to the actual issues of the race which is why I am running and what I have been bringing to the fore for years now: police corruption, police rape of female citizens, police killings of citizens, police and District Attorney abuse of the mentally ill, District Attorney collusion with Police and Covering Up of the corruption, not following the law, disregarding the constitution, arrests without warrants, searches without warrants, wrongful convictions and prison sentences, abuse of the Grand Jury, hiding and destruction of evidence, perjury, destruction of the courts, obliterating checks and balances crucial to our democracy... I did not make these issues up. You the People brought them to me and into the public light.--Although Mr. Negron did acknowledge that I had brought up the above and did allude in passing to the Nancy Hollebeke case, he did not appear interested in any of it. He seemed more focused on my father, my position on city politics and the FBI probe. Let's hope Negron grilled Esparza, who is and has been the sitting DA for 15 years while all of the corruption I have just noted and know about has been going on and while the corruption the FBI is focused on has been going on? Remember Esparza sits one entire floor below commissioner's court and not one peep out of Esparza on the FBI probe.

Mr. Negron did ask me if I thought, "the press should be as hard on me as I thought it should be on my opponent?" I told Mr. Negron in so many words that the press should always act as a watchdog on those in government and should scrutinize those who seek power. I also told him that in the 15 years Esparza has been in office I had not seen one single article written by him on my opponent or on any of the numerous scandals associated with him.---So my question is, who is Mr. Negron going to scrutinize now and why?

To Mr. Negron's credit, after I explained to him the seriousness of Esparza's abuse of the Grand Jury, he offered to meet me so that I could take him for a little tour of the County and Federal Court Houses and point some things out to him. We did meet the next day but I am not sure in the end if Mr. Negron understood the import of having the grand jury separated from the prosecutor's office (Esparza keeps the grand jury tightly tucked up inside of his offices. The Feds keep the grand jury a building away from the prosecutor). Mr. Negron's response/question was, don't other prosecutors in Texas do the same thing? It is very difficult to try and bring out the issues with this kind of mindset. Texas is also known for lynching blacks, having bad law enforcement labs that either make up evidence or don't properly test it and sending innocents to prison and to their deaths. (There is, as I write, an entire national focus on Texas and the outrageous behavior of Texas Court of Appeal Justice Sharon Keller, Esparza's ally- but that is another issue. Look it up.) So what do you say to this kind of question? Well I guess since other jurisdictions do bad things we should too? I mean isn't everyone doing it? What do you tell your children when they come home with, "well everyone at school is doing it?" Oh well, ok since, everyone else is doing it go ahead?--My platform is about making things better for the People and not maintaining a corrupt status quo.

Mr. Negron told me that his deadline was last Friday, but to date there has been no article. There have been articles on candidates seeking the Sheriff's Office but 8 months after I announced my candidacy for DA, put up a huge billboard on the side of the freeway, written dozens of blogs, appeared on radio shows, been interviewed by NPR in Austin, TX, been written up in the Spanish language newspaper El Diario, still no word in the El Paso Times and the NewspaperTree on me, my platform and the historical importance of this race. Why? What don't they want you to know?

I hope that Mr. Negron is able to set aside his biases regarding me and runs an informative article on the many pressing issues in this race and properly informs the public as to what has gone on and what is going on in the District Attorney's office. Although Mr. Negron has never, to my knowledge, covered even one time the blatant corruption in the El Paso District Attorney's Office, despite the fact that there has been a widespread community outcry against it, despite the fact that it is right under his nose and despite the fact that it has garnered national attention, it is never too late to hold out hope. Let's see what Mr. Negron does.