We are not sure how Odessa politics and politicians have gone down the toilet.
Historically, this newspaper has mostly taken a pass when it came time to endorsing candidates for election.
But this time it is different.
The sorry state of our city elected officials is the worse we have ever seen — at least as long as we can remember. How did it go so wrong and what can be done to turn the ship?
For starters, Odessans need to get out and vote. Look at the nonsense going on and all the lies and propaganda that comes out of the City of Odessa and their surrogates with the hate-filled social media pages.
Shoot, The Squad (Mayor Javier Joven, Councilmembers Mark Matta and Denise Swanner) are so bad they can’t even find volunteer poll workers to distribute their materials and encourage voters to vote for them.
Nope, The Squad instead has hired out-of-town and out-of-state poll workers to walk the streets and to man the early voting locations. Some (funny) videos this week show that at least one of those “volunteers” can’t even pronounce Joven’s name. Denise Swanner’s own husband had the police called on him for his behavior at UTPB’s polling location.
So, we suppose they either have to pay out-of-state folks who travel the country disrupting local elections or rely on family members who may or may not behave. Meanwhile their opponents — Cal Hendrick, Craig Stoker and Eddie Mitchell — have dozens of unpaid volunteers who believe in the candidates.
You have to wonder who is funding The Squad campaigning and why.
People seem ready for change.
We’ve made no secret of how awful a job Joven has done as mayor. No secret at all. Our conclusion has been based on his words and actions, as well as Freedom of Information Act requests that have produced black-and-white facts, which we have reported. News this week that he took a campaign donation of $1,500 from a man tied to a more than $8.5 million deal for an inland port in Odessa is just the latest in the many examples of shady nonsense by the mayor. Thankfully, the Odessa Development Corp. (ODC) board listened to member Melanie Hollman and tabled that deal for now.
Joven faces Hendrick, a local attorney, who says he wants to focus on trash and roads and water and public safety. Wow — what a concept: focus on what really matters to Odessans, the very things a City Council — ANY City Council — is supposed to focus on. Hendrick was impressive in recent candidate forums as he laid out a plan to dump trash, fix roads and pay attention to water.
Meals on Wheels Executive Director Craig Stoker faces Swanner for the at-large city council seat. Stoker is a longtime Odessa volunteer who was honored Tuesday as a leading non-profit professional.
We actually had high hopes four years ago that Swanner would be a voice of reason and a good at-large councilperson for all of Odessa.
We were so mistaken. She has been a miserable failure.
The fact that she has not condemned the vicious online attacks on Stoker is a new low. In fact, Swanner, during a PBS forum, complained she has been attacked on social media when asked about the shameful rhetoric targeting Stoker coming from her big supporter, Odessa Accountability Project, through its Facebook page.
Well, here’s a news flash for Swanner. Folks asking you questions online like when the water treatment plant will be (finally) complete don’t constitute as an attack.
She’s been on the attack herself quite a bit these last four years. She claimed she didn’t know some Facebook accounts were fake and used to attack political opponents. Please. She even said she had lunch with one of the fictional characters and when called out by local GOP Precinct Chair Ronnie Lewis about how those fake accounts made people afraid to run for office, she replied “Good, maybe no one will run against me.”
She also recently was questioned on Facebook about the status of water plant improvements, and she didn’t give a real response. Instead, she lashed out at the former City of Odessa employee asking the question and told her she left the city before all these really great things were happening.
We don’t know what those great things are.
Swanner, like Joven, has had numerous issues that show she is OK with malicious attacks on Odessans via Facebook and that she brings “zero” in the way of leadership. During recent forums she was angry and evasive and flipped through her notes nervously while Stoker stood there confidently answering questions without notes.
District 1 council incumbent Matta faces barbecue master Eddie Mitchell. Mitchell had several solid forum performances, in which he spoke without notes about his vision for Odessa.
Matta, like Swanner and Joven, struggled during the forums flipping through notes and being defensive when asked about many of the issues facing Odessans.
Matta has faced scrutiny for his admission he had an inappropriate “texting” relationship with a woman who was not his wife. Even worse, the woman is married to a City of Odessa employee.
Joven, during forums, was just as angry as Swanner in his rambling answers — or actually his lack of answers. He refused to answer if the contracts recently extended to his supporters on the City of Odessa staff were “golden parachutes.” Rather than answer the question, he angrily told the moderator to “read the contract.”
A number of Joven’s answers were either non-responsive or false.
All three incumbents keep moving the needle on when the water treatment plant improvements will be finished. The contract calls for an April 2025 completion date.
Why all the evasiveness? Why all the shameful attacks and lies?
The answer is that they just don’t have any accomplishments to show after nearly four years in office. Well, they don’t have much that is positive to show, that is — just attacks and lies and nonsense.
It all brings to mind the old shop-owner warning to browsers: “You break it, you buy it.”
This trio has led an effort that in the last nearly four years has caused honorable, seasoned City employees either to be terminated or to quit due to what has become largely a hostile work environment.
As a result, what was once a well-respected, overall well-run and forward-thinking city is broken.
And these three didn’t just buy what they broke.
They own it.
Early voting continues this week and next week. Get out and vote and help right what is wrong with Odessa.
