After more than 40 years of public service in law enforcement and political office, Carlos Leon is days away from completing his third and final term as an El Paso county commissioner for Precinct 1.
His last official day is Dec. 31, but with vacation and such, he packed up his corner office on the third floor of the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse on Friday and said goodbye to a public life that has had its ups and downs, some laughs and a few scares.
Leon sat down with El Paso Matters for a wide-ranging interview to discuss his life, his years in law enforcement and politics, and his efforts to provide services to residents in the rural parts of his district, which covers a large portion of the Eastside.
Whether for his work as an El Paso Police Department administrator who emphasized proactive community engagement that helped make El Paso one of the nation’s safest cities to his efforts as a commissioner to bring water, paved roads and parks to constituents, he is proud of his work.
The city recognized him with its Conquistador Award, its highest honor, upon his retirement as chief of police in 2003. He has a street named after him in far East El Paso near Montwood Drive and Rich Beem Boulevard. The Texas Senate and House of Representatives have honored him with resolutions for his service.
Outgoing county commissioner Carlos Leon sits in his Commissioners Court seat, where he always kept an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, during his final days in office, Dec. 10, 2024. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
“I was satisfied to be able to accomplish something,” Leon said of his time as commissioner, but it could have encompassed his 30 years with the police to include almost five as department chief. “When you put all those little things together, you make life a little bit better for those folks.”
The beginning
Leon, 73, is an El Paso native raised in the Lower Valley by his parents, Ablina, a homemaker, and Salvador Sr., a switchman at ASARCO. He is the second oldest of six children. As a youngster, he considered careers as a doctor or lawyer because those professions were esteemed and because they helped people.
The 1971 graduate of Ysleta High School said he had several entry-level jobs from bellhop to bookkeeper during and after high school that provided him with spending money, but little satisfaction. A chance conversation with a police motorcycle officer at Ascarate Park got him interested in law enforcement. He joined the force in 1974 and aspired to retire as a sergeant.
He recalled one incident on a summer evening when he and his partner were called to a home disturbance near Chelsea Street and Montana. The officers entered the home and found a young man in a back bedroom with large knives in both hands. He threatened the officers, but he did not advance on them, so they were not in immediate danger.
Their sergeant joined them, assessed the situation, and said his plan was for him to turn off the light switch and the two officers would “jump” the man. Leon laughed as he recalled how he and his partner requested a second option. Before they could devise a plan B, the man’s father came home, defused the situation, apologized to the officers and sent them away.
Still laughing, Leon said that was the moment he thought that if that guy could be a sergeant, so could he. Leon became serious about turning his job into a career. He studied and achieved the ranks of detective, sergeant, lieutenant and captain.
Then police Chief John Scagno picked him to be the first with the rank of commander for El Paso’s first regional command center at 10780 Pebble Hills Blvd. A command center’s goal was to provide police resources closer to the public.
Scagno, chief from 1987 to 1994, said he knew Leon as a rookie officer and followed his progress. He said he picked him as the first commander because he thought highly of him as an officer.
“I think I told him something like, ‘Carlos, this command and (what) you do with it will either make you or break you for the rest of your career here,’ and it did,” Scagno said during a phone interview from his home in Las Cruces. “It made him. He did very well.”
Leon was a finalist to be chief of police in 1995, but the city chose Russ Leach, who promoted Leon to deputy chief and then assistant chief. Leon said he learned a lot about leadership from Leach, and succeeded him in 1999.
When asked about any dangerous police calls, he recounted one of the three times that he unholstered his weapon, and one of the two times he had to use it. There was an afternoon disturbance call near Lomita Drive in the Lower Valley.
He got out of his car and approached a woman leisurely watering her front yard and asked her if she called the police. She simply pointed to his right, and he started to hear “pings.” He turned and saw a man about 50 yards away with a .22 rifle firing at him. The pings were the bullets hitting the street around him.
Leon ducked for cover behind his patrol vehicle, drew his Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolver and returned fire hitting the assailant in the upper left shoulder. An officer from another unit also shot the man in the same shoulder.
“Luckily, (the assailant) was missing,” Leon said. “I could not believe that the woman was so cool just watering her yard. I was super scared.”
Stepping into politics
Leon retired as chief to run for El Paso County sheriff in 2004. He said he wanted to stay in law enforcement, and thought he could enhance what already was a good department.
He was told that Sheriff Leo Samaniego, who had been in office since 1985, did not plan to run for reelection. Leon said that polling showed that he could win if he ran against Samaniego’s chief deputy, Santiago “Jimmy” Apodaca. Samaniego decided to run again and beat Leon, earning 64% of the vote in the primary. Leon ran again for sheriff in 2008 but lost to Richard Wiles, who garnered 61% of the vote in the runoff.
While disappointed with those losses, they gave him time to focus on his health. In 2007, he was diagnosed with esophageal and stomach cancer. He responded well to treatment and today is cancer free.
In 2009, he was involved in a life-threatening motorcycle accident near Mesilla. It took him two years to recover much of his motor functions.
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After his recovery from the accident, friends and elected officials began to suggest that he run for county commissioner for Precinct 1. Anna Perez, the incumbent, planned to run for a judicial office. He thought he was through with politics and was content to be a consultant with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
“My answer wasn’t just ‘no,’ it was ‘hell, no,’” Leon said.
Despite his strong response, friends asked him to reconsider. Leon, who is a man of faith, said that he asked God for a sign if he wanted him to run for office. Within five minutes, Perez called him asking him to run. He said “OK.”
Leon won the Democratic primary election in 2012 against two opponents without a runoff and then beat a GOP challenger with 68% of the vote in the general election. Since then, he has not been challenged for his seat.
Leon said that first election victory was among the highlights of his life, but the night did not start well.
His watch party was at the Radisson Hotel El Paso Airport. When the early votes came in, he was in third place way behind the other two candidates. Confused but resolute, he took the information in stride. “The voters have spoken,” he said. An elected official at the party called the elections office to confirm the tally. It turned out that the office had reversed the numbers. Leon was first after early votes.
Focus on rural, community needs
Even before he was sworn into office, he would attend community meetings. One of them was with residents of the Square Dance Road community north of Montana and east of Loop 375. He quickly took interest in the community.
Ralph Carrasco, a Square Dance resident for 18 years, said he met Leon at a December 2012 community meeting. He organized a bus tour for Leon and other elected officials so they could understand what residents experience daily to include bumpy dirt roads.
Retiring El Paso County Commissioner Carlos Leon, left, and Ralph Carrasco, a resident of the Square Dance Road neighborhood north of Montana Avenue and east of Loop 375, after a groundbreaking for a new sewer project in the area in 2012. (Courtesy Ralph Carrasco / El Paso Matters)
“They got to see how the county was in its rawest form,” Carrasco said. “I think that impacted (Leon). He saw the need.”
He called Leon a great partner who regularly updated him about projects and grant applications. He mentioned Leon’s role in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to award a $7 million grant to the county to install sewers in his community. Additionally, Leon has helped bring that community paved roads, street lights, street signs, utilities and access to bus lines.
“Commissioner Leon took our community out of darkness, literally,” said Carrasco, who grew up in Montana Vista and works as a compensation analyst with Hunt Companies. “He’s been awesome.”
Along with helping rural communities, Leon’s votes affected life throughout the county. He helped establish the County Administration Office, and in 2013 voted to allow University Medical Center to issue $152 million in certificates of obligation to set up primary care health clinics throughout the community. He was a force behind the 2016 “A Smoke Free Paso del Norte” initiative that prohibited the use of tobacco products on county property.
County Judge Ricardo Samaniego called Leon a personal friend and the Commissioners Court’s “moral compass” because of his ability to disagree without being disagreeable. He said the court did its job with decorum and credited Leon for part of that because of his professionalism.
Samaniego said he has known Leon for 20 years, but really got to know him during his first campaign for county judge in 2018. He appreciated Leon’s kindness and generosity and said he leaves behind an incredible legacy.
“He never raised his voice, but he could be pretty strong about his direction,” Samaniego said.
The future
Leon said that he planned to serve two terms in office, but decided to run for a third because he was not excited about the potential Precinct 1 candidates. About two years ago, he hired Jackie Arroyo Butler to replace a senior research analyst who had left his office for another job. Butler, who lives in Montana Vista with her husband and two young children, became one of his senior policy advisers.
Butler earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from Vassar College in New York, and her MBA from the University of Texas at El Paso. She previously worked for the El Paso Chamber as vice president of government relations, and at the Medical Center of the Americas as senior director of operations.
Leon asked Butler to consider running for the Precinct 1 office. She was grateful for Leon’s support and endorsement during the recent campaign, which she won, and hoped to serve the precinct as well as him.
She called Leon kind, calm and reflective. He studied agenda issues and asked questions of county staff before meetings so he could be as prepared as possible. His actions made him trusted, respected and effective.
In retirement, Leon plans to spend more time with family, focus on his health, and walk his two golden retrievers, Mickey and Minnie. He hopes to go on road trips around the country and perhaps a Hawaiian cruise with Bonnie, his wife of 48 years.
Leon plans to sell his Eastside home to move to the Westside to be closer to two of his adult children and their families. His other daughter and her family live in Houston.
The office of County Commissioner Carlos Leon, Dec. 10, 2024. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
While most of his office shelves were bare as Leon cleaned out his office, one item remained: a small, gold-colored cat statue that sat at attention. Its left arm, powered by the sun, went up and down as if to salute. Leon said he considered it a good luck charm, and that it would stay in the office as long as he did.
When he turned off the lights for the last time on Friday, he took his luck with him.
The post ‘You make life a little bit better’: Carlos Leon retires grateful to have served community as police chief, commissioner appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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