Editorial: Resign already, Councilmembers Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo
“Resign” is said to be the third most popular word ever, with the most popular definition being “to quit doing something at a time of one’s choosing.” The city of El Paso has a resignation problem. The city council, or more specifically, its City Council, has let us down. Too many resignations. Too much failure. “Resign” is also used to describe the failure of government. Not the resignation of an elected official like the resignation of President-elect Donald Trump, or even the resignation of a business executive like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. More than any other single word, “resign” carries the weight of history and has become synonymous with that which can be undone. It’s not just that a resignation is the first stage of the process of resignation or rejection. For some, their political defeat marks the moment in which they finally quit fighting. For others, it’s the day they realized that they weren’t good enough to run the country. Resign is the most powerful word in the English language. For better or worse, it’s our most common word and it is the most important in our world, despite what our politicians may tell us. In El Paso, we have a city council that has failed on every level. Many of our elected officials have tried to turn around the city during its darkest hours, but there’s simply no point. The city needs a fresh hand. We must get rid of the past and move forward, and that starts with the recent resignations of Councilmembers Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo. We’ve been discussing the issue for over a year. But what has been most disappointing has been the lack of public debate on the resignations, because only a select few knew about them, until today. The only public debate happened between the two of them. Resignations are a sad way to end a career in public service, and when we allow them to happen, the end product is usually a watered-down outcome, which leaves the city council with a hollow shell. And that’s not what we want to see, or what we want to see for the future of El Paso —
