Roman Reyna and Carlos Bustamante
Multiple sources have confirmed tonight that Santa Ana Councilman Roman Reyna will be running against Santa Ana Mayor in 2014.
Who will you vote for? Be sure to vote in our poll, above. Continue reading
Santa Ana City Councilman Roman Reyna, who was elected to his first term, in Ward 5, last year, is apparently going to run against popular Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido in 2014, according to a city insider.
Reyna, who touts that he is an “Orange County Department of Education Case Manager,” on his city bio, has previously worked at the Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Agency, the Santa Ana Boys and Girls Club, and the Santa Ana YMCA. He served one term on the Santa Ana Unified School District’s Board of Education, before running for the Santa Ana City Council, when longtime incumbent Claudia Alvarez termed out. Continue reading
A restricted fund at the Orange County clerk-recorder’s office was so badly mismanaged under Tom Daly — the former department head and current assemblyman — that millions of dollars in spending cannot yet be legally justified, concludes a county internal audit review released this week, according to the Voice of OC.
The corruption Daly fostered at the Clerk-Recorder’s office was astounding. And now it has been quantified – you can read the full audit report here. Continue reading
Cecilia Iglesias and Janet Nguyen
I have heard from several inside sources that SAUSD School Board member Cecilia Iglesias is considering running against Santa Ana Councilman Sal Tinajero next year, in Ward 6.
Tinajero also served on the SAUSD School Board before he ran for the Santa Ana City Council.
Tinajero won his first election in Ward 6 back in November of 2o06, when his main opponent was Jennifer Villasenor. She had Mayor Miguel Pulido’s support. Tinajero was hammered via direct mail for weeks and he actually ran out of campaign money. However Villasenor was undone by the presence of George Collins on the ballot. Collins ended up with over five thousand votes and Tinajero squeeked past Villasenor by 880 votes, according to Smart Voter. Continue reading
Several Santa Ana Council Members spent $10K of our money being wined and dined at the NALEO Conference in Chicago this year
Santa Ana Council Member Michele Martinez is hosting a “Re-Election Announcement Kick-Off” on Thursday, October 3, 2013
5:30p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at Chapter One-the modern local, located at 227 N. Broadway, in Santa Ana.
The Martinez campaign is asking Bronze Sponsors to donate $249.00, and individuals to donate $ 100.00. They want Gold Sponsors to pay $1000 and Silver Sponsors to pay $500.00. Continue reading
Several Santa Ana Council Members are going to have to run for re-election in 2014, including David Benavides, Michele Martinez and Sal Tinajero.
It may well be that by then a court will have already invalidated Measure D, which would mean these Council Members would be termed out, but that is by no means guaranteed.
So will anyone challenge these Council Members? Continue reading
From the OC Politics Blog
Orange County’s lame Republican leaders appear to be backing Supervisor Janet Nguyen for the 34th State Senate District. This week at the Azteca Mexican Restaurant in Garden Grove, California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte joined county GOP Chairman Scott Baugh and a host of key Republican financiers and elected officials from across Orange County for a “kick off” fundraiser for Nguyen’s state Senate bid.
It is highly ironic that Nguyen held this fundraiser at Azteca – their Orange County health permit was suspended in July of this year due to a cockroach infestation! Click here for the gory details.
Continue reading
For Immediate Release: August 12, 2013
For More Information Contact: Maricela Taylor – mobile: (714) 794-8431
Solorio Receives Early and Important Labor Endorsements for his 2014 Senate Race
These endorsements, plus a $450,000 campaign warchest, position Solorio as strong candidate in the 34th Senate District
Santa Ana, CA – Community College Trustee Jose Solorio announces he has received an important statewide endorsement from the California Nurses Association and several local endorsements from the Anaheim Firefighters (Local 2899), Carpenters Union (Local 803), International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (Local 441), Ironworkers Union (Local 443) and the Laborers’ Union (Local 652). Continue reading
I had a long talk this afernoon with a Santa Ana insider who had some amazing chismes for me. I was expecting that perhaps Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido would run for the Orange County Supervisorial seat that is currently held by Janet Nguyen, but apparently Councilman Vincent Sarmiento has decided to run, and Pulido is not going to oppose him.
But the biggest shocker was that Measure D may be in trouble – and that it could be reversed if it is challenged in court. That was the measure that extended the term limits of the Santa Ana Council Members by four years, from 8 years to 12. That measure was on the ballot in a special election but apparently it should have been put in front of the voters in a general election. What this means, if it does get wiped out, is that several Santa Ana Council Members will be termed out – including Michele Martinez and Sal Tinajero. Continue reading
If your idea of celebrating Cinco de Mayo involves hanging out with politicians, then this event is for you. RSCCD Trustee Jose Solorio, who just got elected in November last year and is now running for the 34th State Senate District, that will open up in 2014, will join Santa Ana Council Members Angie Amezcua and Roman Reyna, at Original Mike’s, on Friday, May 3, 2013, from 5 to 7 pm. Apparently they want to meet you. Continue reading
From the OC Politics Blog
Supervisor Janet Nguyen’s highest ranking aide, her deputy chief of staff Tam “Nick” Lecong, collected $105,420 a year while spending an average of just 13 hours a week at the county office – far fewer than the other 36 executive assistants working for the county’s supervisors, public records show, according to the O.C. Register.
The Register reported that “Lecong, showed up at the county hall an average of three days a week and spent only a few hours there on each of those days, according to an analysis of access cards for the county garage between February 2012 and February 2013. The card data, showing both entrances and exits, was obtained through the California Public Records Act.” Continue reading
Santa Ana Michele Martinez announced her intention to run for re-election in 2014, today on her Facebook page: “It’s with great excitement to announce my re-election campaign for 2014! Re-Elect Michele Martinez for City Council, Ward 2, Facebook Page and Website coming soon!”
Sigh. I supposed this grammatical disaster is about the best we can expect from Martinez, but what’s her excuse? She was born and raised here. She grew up speaking English – it wasn’t her second language. Yet after finishing college she still reels off “It’s with great excitement to announce my re-election campaign for 2014!” Wow. Continue reading
The Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Trustees voted 5-2 tonight to authorize their Chancellor to negotiate a Project Labor Agreement with the Los Angeles/Orange County Building Trades Council.
Impressively their Student Trustee, Ryan Ahari, voted against this debacle. I am told he is a fan of Ron Paul. He might be the smartest Trustee! His vote doesn’t count unfortunately. Republican Phil Yarbrough and Arianna Barrios were the only no votes.
What does this mean? It means that the RSCCD will hire only union contractors when spending the Measure Q bond money that is coming from our property taxes. This means they will have less bidders, as non-union contractors will be shut out. That means higher prices – which is to say that our tax money will be wasted in order to feather the union members’ nests.
Several of the Trustees said some incredibly stupid and incorrect things in the process. John Hanna, who told me a few years ago that he would never again vote for a PLA, tried to change the name of this deal from a PLA to a “community and student workforce agreement.” He admitted though that it was still the same deal – a union only PLA. The board voted unanimously to change the name of this disaster. But it is still a PLA.
Jose Solorio tried to delay the vote, sensing that he was giving a huge gift to his GOP opponent for the 34th State Senate District, Janet Nguyen. That didn’t fly either.
Hanna said that PLAs are important for safety. I have to call BS on that. Every contractor abides by the same Cal/OSHA standards.
Hanna also said PLAs equate top quality work. This guy really has no clue. Public construction projects have very tight specifications. Every bidder has to agree to do the work as it is mandated, using the same techniques and materials. And there are inspections at every step.
Solorio said that the non union contractors would now have the same benefits as the union shops. No. The workers will have to get into a union hall, which is damn hard to do, and they they will have to pay dues that they will never see in the future as they will just go back to non union contractors after the work is over.
Solorio also said that PLAs save money. Another lie. All public works contractors pay the same salary rates, and the lowest bidder always wins. But with a union only PLA there will be no non union bidders. The union contractors have to abide by silly work rules that just delay project completion and add unwarranted costs to these projects. Money gets wasted, not saved!
The unions will now pony up some of their dues money for Solorio’s campaign. Well, good luck to him. There is no way I am backing Nguyen but I am now quite unenthusiastic about Solorio. He voted to waste our money tonight and that is simply inexcusable.
This blog had over 5,000 views last November 6. My OC Politics blog had over 3,000 views on that same day. I now publish Anaheim and Fullerton blogs too. Every one of these blogs will now be pointing out Solorio’s shortcomings, through the general election in 2014. These blogs totalled over 70,000 views in the month of March, 2013. Sorry Jose. We don’t reward ineptitude.
One of our readers asked me to have a look at the information that the Santa Ana City Council will be reviewing and voting upon at tomorrow night’s Council meeting, regarding the medical marijuana dispensary ballot initiative that may end up on the ballot in November, 2014.
You can read the info yourself by looking over the Council’s agenda, however note that the medical marijuana info is way back towards the end of the document.
The initiative specifies that the dispensaries will be allowed in the City’s commercial, industrial and professional office zones, but they cannot be closer than 600 feet from any public or private schools, grades K-12. Continue reading
Diverse? No!
The last time someone tried to change our City Council elections from at large to ward specific the effort failed, primarily because white voters were told that the infamous Nativo Lopez was behind the scheme. And he was. At the time the only way anyone ever figured that we would have more Latinos on the City Council would be via ward-specific elections.
Well now we have an all-Latino City Council and they’re an embarrassment. As the city reels in yet another budget crisis they wasted weeks firing our City Manager, Paul Walters, so they could hire a temp, Kevin O’Rourke, who is costing us over $22K a month. In Santa Ana that passes for progress.
If we had a ward-specific election system it is likely that former Council Member Brett Franklin would have won in Ward 3 last year. Instead a total unknown, Angelica Amezcua, who did not even campaign, won. She of course joined the other Council Members in firing Walters, proving she too is worthless. Continue reading