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PAC ads intensify attacks between Renard Johnson, Brian Kennedy in El Paso mayoral race [1]
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Date: 2024-10-31
With the election days away, two mayoral candidates have intensified attacks against each other as a political action committee has spent $150,000 promoting Renard Johnson and opposing Brian Kennedy.
The Houston-based Protect and Serve Texas PAC – which on its website states supports candidates who support public safety and back law enforcement – has sent out campaign mailers endorsing Johnson, a businessman who says he did not solicit support from the PAC. Campaign finance reports show the PAC has received substantial contributions, either directly or indirectly, from El Pasoans who support Johnson’s candidacy.
One of the PAC mailers states that “law enforcement feels strongly about two candidates for mayor.” But no law enforcement organizations are listed as donors in recent months to the PAC, which has a history of backing Republican political figures such as House Speaker Dade Phelan.
The El Paso Municipal Police Officers Association, a union representing El Paso police officers, has not endorsed a mayoral candidate although it did endorse several city representative candidates. Kennedy, an attorney and city representative, received the El Paso County Sheriff’s Officers Association endorsement.
Campaign mailers from the Protect and Serve Texas PAC supporting El Paso mayoral candidate Renard Johnson appears to imply that law enforcement endorse him. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Officers Association endorsed city Rep. Brian Kennedy for mayor; while the El Paso Municipal Police Officer’s Association did not endorse any mayoral candidate.
Kennedy in his own mailers alleged that Johnson is hiding behind “big money” interests, telling El Paso Matters that he believes Johnson collaborated with the PAC on the mailers, in part, because Johnson and the PAC use the same Austin-based consulting and advertising agency, have many of the same donors and use similar campaign slogans.
PACs are not allowed to coordinate with candidates for political campaigning and can make political contributions or expenditures to support a candidate without their knowledge or consent. Johnson said he didn’t coordinate with the PAC and can’t control their message.
“The first thing I would say is just because Mr. Kennedy says that to be fact doesn’t necessarily make it true,” Johnson said, referring to Kennedy’s claim of a collaboration. “The other thing is that those statements (attacking Kennedy) were made by the Protect and Serve PAC – not my campaign.”
Johnson said he has no control over what other groups or PACs publish, adding that the ads were not paid for by his campaign.
“My campaign remains focused on the solutions,” Johnson said, dismissing Kennedy’s claims as political distractions. “We continue to focus on taxes, accountability in city government, (and) transparency – those are the things I’m focused on.”
Related: Renard Johnson dominates mayoral rivals in fundraising
Johnson has reported about $150,000 in in-kind contributions from the Protect and Serve PAC, including $35,000 in ads paid to Murphy Nasica and Associates, an Austin political consulting firm. Johnson’s campaign paid the same firm about $96,000 for political consulting and advertising.
The Protect and Serve Texas PAC in October received about $90,000 in political contributions from Project RedTX – a committee that on its website touts it “has successfully recruited a robust network of candidates and seen dozens of county-level offices flip Republican!” El Paso’s mayoral race is nonpartisan, meaning candidates don’t run under a party label.
El Paso businessmen Paul Foster and Woody Hunt each contributed $50,000 to Project RedTX, the organization’s campaign finance reports show. Edward Escudero, another Johnson contributor, gave Project RedTX a $15,000 donation.
The PAC also reported direct contributions from businessmen Miguel Fernandez, who donated $25,000 and Ted Houghton, who donated $10,000, as well as attorney and former city representative Steve Ortega, who donated $5,000.
The PAC did not respond to a request for comment.
Kennedy in his mailers also stated that Johnson “got rich through no-bid federal contracts available to minority firms.” Kennedy told El Paso Matters the statement was not about Johnson’s race.
Johnson, who is Black, said he was appalled by Kennedy’s statement.
“(He) alleged my success was due to my race. Are you kidding me? In a city where the majority of businesses are minority owned, it’s crucial that our leaders in our community don’t assume that our successes are the result of our color,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he has not received any no-bid contracts from the federal government. He said he participated in the U.S. Small Business Administration 8(a) Business Development program – a federal contracting and training program for small business owners who are socially and economically disadvantaged.
“That program is set up to help minority-owned companies with training and other resources so that we can compete in the federal workspace. The 8(a) program does not give out free no-bid contracts to anyone,” Johnson said.
Businesses that participate in 8(a) are generally on a nine-year development program, said Teri Reed, senior vice president of entrepreneurial development for the El Paso 8(a) Government Contractors Association.
“They can only have it for nine years through the life of their business (and) they can’t renew it,” Reed said.
Reed said it is rare for a business to receive a no-bid contract under the program, and would only be for emergency circumstances such as national security matters.
Kennedy said he stands by his statement about the contracts, adding that “8A(s) are available to all minority firms.”
Asked if he could confirm METI received no-bid contracts, Kennedy said the federal government has a list that it will provide if requested. Kennedy did not provide the list. He provided a screenshot of METI’s business page that states it has participated in the 8(a) program, but not whether any contracts were no-bid.
The mailers also state that Johnson does not support Chapter 380 agreements, but received one for the Franklin Apartments. The city in July 2015 approved a Chapter 380 agreement with Johnson’s company, Franklin Avenue Apartments LLC, for about $150,000 for the construction of the 14-unit apartments. Johnson’s company invested $1 million as part of the agreement, city documents show.
Johnson during his campaign has said Chapter 380 agreements are a positive incentive tool, but that not all companies need tax breaks to invest in El Paso. He said his company’s apartments served as an in-fill project and believes Chapter 380 agreements are a good way to create more affordable housing.
The Protect and Serve Texas PAC’s mailers also accuse Kennedy of being “anti-public safety,” having ethical issues and spending tax dollars on himself.
Kennedy rebutted the anti-public safety claim in his mailer, where he states that a representative of an organization he does not name suggested he “would be sorry” the next time he needed an endorsement.
“In response to this questionable unethical threat, my response that ‘he could shove it up his a**’ was caught on open mic,” the mailer states.
Kennedy told El Paso Matters he could not name the individual or organization to which he referred.
However, a video of a May 9, 2023, City Council meeting where a special account to pay for previously approved police and fire pay raises in the future was being discussed shows police union president Patrick Natividad addressing the council and Kennedy directly.
Kennedy at the meeting said he supported the police and fire collective bargaining agreements but questioned the methodology and need for the special account, calling it “more optics than substance.” He said the raises could be honored without having to create the account. Natividad asked that the account be approved so the pay raises could go into effect the next fiscal year as agreed.
During a meeting recess with council chambers nearly empty, Kennedy could be seen and heard speaking with city Rep. Chris Canales, stating: “I think it’s smoke and mirrors financially, that’s what I told him,” without saying to whom he was referring. “But then I told them they could take their endorsement and stuff it up their ass. I did. Go and take it, I don’t need it. That’s how I am and you know that.”
The council unanimously approved setting up the account.
In this campaign mailer, El Paso mayoral candidate Brian Kennedy responds to claims made by the Protect and Serve Texas PAC, which has sent out mailers endorsing one of his opponents, Renard Johnson.
Another claim in the PAC’s mailer against Kennedy is that he has “ethics problems” and had four complaints filed against him in his first year of office. The mailer does not specify the complaints or outcomes of the complaints.
Some of the ethics complaints filed against Kennedy included one related to his role as chair of the city’s Financial Audit and Oversight Committee during a fuel card audit, which was ultimately withdrawn. Other complaints centered around his consulting work with the El Paso Sports Commission and for taking the oath of office while he had outstanding parking tickets. The complaints were dismissed by the city’s Ethics Review Commission.
One mailer also cites that he raised his own salary as CEO of the El Paso Sports Commission, which oversaw the El Paso County Coliseum for the county government, to $350,000. Kennedy, in his response mailer, doesn’t address the raise but asserts that he reduced his salary 30% when the COVID-19 pandemic hit to ensure other employees were paid during the last year he was with the Sports Commission.
“My salary was never $350,000 and the board of directors determined your annual pay,” Kennedy told El Paso Matters. “If you are paid by the Sports Commission you are not even allowed to be in on the votes with your salary. That is done privately without the individual in the room.”
Sports Commission tax filings show Kennedy was paid a base salary of $310,000 for the two fiscal years prior to the pandemic. His salary was $294,615 from the October 2019 through September 2020 fiscal year and returned to $310,000 the following fiscal year.
Kennedy told El Paso Matters he was never a chairman of the Sports Commission board, but tax filings show Kenendy and Phil Robinet each listed as chairperson from the 2019 to 2021 fiscal years.
Johnson and Kennedy are among eight candidates for mayor. Others include city Reps. Cassandra Hernandez and Isabel Salcido, as well as Steven Winters, Elizabeth Cordova, Marco Antonio Contreras and Ben Mendoza.
Early voting continues through Friday, with Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5. A runoff, which is likely in the race, will take place Dec. 14. The winning candidate would take office in January and serve a four-year term with an annual salary now set at about $95,000.
Disclosure: Edward Escudero, Ted Houghton, Steve Ortega and the Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Foundation are financial supporters of El Paso Matters.
Financial supporters play no role in El Paso Matters’ journalism. The news organization’s policy on editorial independence can be found here.
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