By Ronnie Lewis
Campaign season has kicked off. Unfortunately, voters woke up Thursday morning to some of the most unimaginable and disturbing local political news of my lifetime.
Jeff Russell, owner of Odessa Headlines Facebook page, came clean with a tell all story that was so shocking it spread like wildfire throughout Odessa. Russell informed readers of a mind blowing political scheme that was concocted at a meeting at the home of our City Manager.
The meeting was to discuss and put in place a scheme to get Mayor Javier Joven, Council members Denise Swanner and Mark Matta re-elected. Taking part in the meeting was Teresa Beckmeyer, the wife of our City manager, Jeff Russell and a family member (via zoom) of probably the wealthiest and most politically elite family in Odessa.
The meeting was to discuss a sinister plan by a political consultant named Matt Armstrong from Denton, Texas. A Google search of Matt Armstrong political consultant, will reveal some sketchy dealings and he’s definitely not the kind of person Odessa needs shaping our city’s future.
The plan was to initiate racial tensions within our Hispanic community in order to sway voters to re-elect Joven, Swanner and Matta. Heinous! Stir up racial tensions where there is basically none at all just to stay in power and control our city all for a twisted desire for “personal ambition.”
The plan also has Joven repeatedly blaming Odessa’s problems on “the elite” and “good ole boys” basically wealthy white businessmen. Joven has already put out videos where he expresses this, all while taking money from probably the richest white guy in Odessa and definitely the most elite.
Keep in mind while serving as Mayor, Joven took part in the 2 day secret spy seminar where an enemies list of well known Odessans was created. That’s not the kind of Mayor any city wants.
We also learned that the extramarital affair that Councilman Matta recently admitted to was with a City employee’s wife, something he conveniently left out in his professional made press release. That video was apparently at the direction of Teresa Beckmeyer and the paid consultant.
Matta was forced to “get ahead of it” or resign because the husband, a City employee, threatened to make it a campaign issue. We all know that having an affair with an employee’s spouse is absolutely an immediate fireable offense in any company in America.
The fact that Mark Matta would be considered upper management to City employees makes it even more grounds for absolute removal.
A plan was put in place to use the taxpayer funded City of Odessa Facebook page to promote “the Squad,” Swanner, Matta and Joven solely to get them re-elected. This has been put to action and has been going on for months with countless photo ops of the Squad posted almost daily on the City’s Facebook page.
Teresa Beckmeyer is savvy enough to know the power of social media and she’s also aware that Swanner, Matta and Joven have nearly zero traffic on their personal and campaign Facebook pages. The City of Odessa has a huge following, so a plan to force feed Odessans photos of the Squad has in fact taken place.
That is an absolute misuse of City assets for personal and political gain on the part of Swanner, Matta and Joven. There are also intentions to somehow use KWEL to spew propaganda for the Squad as well, most likely the morning show, since it’s a rabid supporter of all things Joven. I want to go on, and more will be revealed soon.
But what has been revealed so far is Joven, Swanner and Matta’s political strategies included igniting racial tensions, misusing the City of Odessa Facebook page, which would require the use of at least one or more City employees, attempting to sweep under the rug an extra marital affair by an elected City official with a City employee’s wife and pointing the finger at elite white businessmen or “the good ole boys” for Odessa’s problems all while being supported financially by an extremely wealthy white man.
We have enough problems with water, trash and infrastructure. We don’t need to add racial tensions. Voters, let’s unite and stop this sickening power grab.
You can read the entire article posted on my Facebook page Ector County Politics.
Ronnie Lewis is a longtime Odessa businessman who founded Dos Amigos. He is an elected GOP precinct chair.
