El Pasoans should only hope state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh will continue to use his unorthodox methods to get this city not only what it needs to prosper but also what it deserves as its fair share. Perhaps, as some of his critics have said, he could use more diplomatic measures to get his point across. He could also bide his time and wait for bankers and state lawmakers to decide all by themselves to do right by El Paso.

Unfortunately, others before him have tried that same method without success, former state Sens. Peggy Rosson and Tati Santiesteban for example. They and many others like them, state lawmakers all, have worked quietly behind the scenes, helping other communities reach their goals while El Paso waited its turn. But El Paso’s turn never fully materialized.

Shapleigh has been one of the few El Paso lawmakers who have been successful at putting El Paso on that state’s capital map. We should not quibble with success.

The courts of inquiry, instituted by Judge Edward Marquez with the help of Shapleigh and others, proved that for years El Paso did not get its fair share of state funding for such programs as transportation, elder care and other social services.

The same criticism was leveled then at those involved, that using the courts of inquiry to charge state department heads for their negligence was too extreme, that other methods could be used just as effectively. They forgot that other methods had been tried and failed. Extreme measures were necessary if there was to be a change. The threat of criminal suit posed by the courts of inquiry worked.

El Paso is still not up to par with other Texas cities. Although it is the 17th-largest city in the nation and fifth-largest in the state, population-wise, it is one of the poorest. It will take decades, if ever, for El Paso to catch up with such cities as Austin or San Antonio. But, at least, the state Legislature and the governor now know about El Paso’s enthusiasm.

The governor, however, has not been the only entity playing loose with El Paso’s future. So have the city’s three largest banks.

According to a study conducted by the Community Scholars, a program for student intern started last year by Shapleigh, El Paso three major banks were not meeting the lending needs of El Paso’s small businesses.

The report prepared by the nine college-bound students indicated a huge gap between dollars deposited by El Paso’s government entities and the money lend out to the community. The means hundreds of millions of dollars deposited in El Paso were being shipped out of town to make loans in other cities, while El Pasoans had to go begging out of town for a loan. That is not fair.

Access to capital is the key to a community’s economic progress. El Paso’s biggest problem to its recovery has been precisely the lack of access to capital. Even Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., in a Senate floor speech about Hispanic Heritage Month, urged banks and other lending institutions to make more money accessible to Hispanic businesses.

“Capital is the key to growing business in our country,” he said. “And Hispanics do not have sufficient access to capital their numbers and ideas might indicate.” El Paso’s population is 73 percent Hispanic. And 90 percent of El Paso’s economic foundation is small business.

Bankers dispute he scholar’s report. But statistics from other cities, including Laredo, San Antonio and other Texas cities, prove the scholars correct. Otherwise, why are the bankers so intent on discrediting the scholars’ report, and on shutting up Shapleigh to the point of looking for someone to run against him?

Shapleigh has been on of the few El Pasoans not afraid of taking on the Goliaths of government and the banking system. El Paso needs more Shapleighs, not more politicians with personal agendas.