New Santa Ana | Category Archives: 2016 Elections

The campaign to recall Mayor Pulido failed to collect enough nominating signatures

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2016 Elections, 2018 elections, Angelica Amezcua, Benjamin Vazquez, David De Leon, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Santa Ana 7 Comments

David De Leon and Angie Amezcua

Do you remember Angie Amezcua? She was accidentally elected a little over four years ago in Santa Ana’s Ward 3. She did not campaign at all that year. But her ballot title, “teacher” and her last name helped propel her to victory. She finished out her accidental term then walked away from the City Council, endorsing David De Leon, who proceeded to lose badly to Jose Solorio last November.

I guess Angie missed politics because she and her husband, Robert Oliver, joined ten other individuals, including the bitter loser De Leon, in signing a Notice of Intention to Circulate a Petition, on March 14, 2017. The group of 12 wanted to gather signatures for a campaign to recall Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, who easily beat a socialist candidate in November, Benjamin Vazquez. Continue reading→

Should the Santa Ana City Council issue a formal apology to Nativo Lopez?

Posted on December 7, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2016 Elections, Education, immigration, Mark McLoughlin, Miguel Pulido, Nativo Lopez, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, SAUSD 3 Comments

Do you remember Nativo Lopez? He was a Santa Ana School Board member who was recalled in 2003 due in part to allegations that he was impeding the implementation of Proposition 227 in the 62,000-student school system. Prop. 227 was the measure backed by wealthy Republican Ron Unz that put a stop to bilingual education in California. Unz also spent $100,00 to gather the signatures that put the Lopez recall on the ballot.

But in the November General Election this year California’ voters reversed Prop. 227 – by passing Prop. 58 they restored bilingual education in the Golden State. And this week the Santa Ana City Council passed a Sanctuary City resolution. Continue reading→

SAUSD Trustee Ceci Iglesias beat the Santa Ana teachers’ union

Posted on November 20, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2016 Elections, Alfonso Alvarez, Angie Rosario Cano, Beatriz Mendoza, Bruce T. Bauer, Cecilia Iglesias, Education, John Palacio, Mark McLoughlin, Politics, Republican Party, Rigo Rodriguez, Santa Ana 14 Comments

The Santa Ana Educator’s Association – the union that represents local public school teachers at the SAUSD, spent months attacking SAUSD Trustee Ceci Iglesias and her fellow conservative Republican, Angie Cano, while promoting their own slate of SAUSD School Board candidates – Rigo Rodriguez, Mark McLoughlin and Alfonso Alvarez. But in the end Iglesias emerged as the top vote-getter in the 2016 General Election while Cano barely lost by only 183 votes.

As for the teacher’s slate, only Rodriguez and Alvarez emerged victorious (assuming that Cano doesn’t edge out the latter when the final vote tally is announced this week).
Continue reading→

Councilman Sal Tinajero is now advocating for Ward-Specific City Council elections

Posted on November 14, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2016 Elections, Angelica Amezcua, David De Leon, Elections, Jose Solorio, Joshua Mauras, Santa Ana 2 Comments

Santa Ana City Councilman Sal Tinajero

Santa Ana City Councilman Sal Tinajero is finally getting behind an idea that we have been touting for years – changing Santa Ana’s City Council elections to a Ward-Specific model, according to the O.C. Register.

Currently the City Council candidates have to live in the Wards they represent but the voting is conducted at-large, or citywide. That favors well-funded candidates who will sell out to special interests while the Ward-Specific model would be a boon to grassroots candidates as it is possible to walk an entire Ward but almost impossible to walk the entire City of Santa Ana. Continue reading→

The Nov. Election results prove once more that Santa Ana is not a liberal city

Posted on November 13, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2016 Elections, Democratic Party, Politics, Republican Party, Santa Ana 12 Comments

The early election results are proving that Santa Ana is not a liberal city. Although Democrats make up about 55% of our electorate they don’t get behind overly liberal candidates. Consider what just happened in the November General Election: Continue reading→

Mayor Pulido is back in charge with a new City Council majority firmly on his side

Posted on November 9, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2016 Elections, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Santa Ana 11 Comments

While the Democrats are completely stunned this morning by the loss of the White House to Donald Trump here in Santa Ana another big upset has occurred as our embattled Mayor, Miguel Pulido, has not only won his reelection campaign – he now has regained control of the Santa Ana City Council.

The election last night of Jose Solorio in Ward 3 and Juan Villegas in Ward 5 has given Pulido a firm City Council majority as he can now count on Mayor Pro Tem Vince Sarmiento in Ward 1 as well. Sarmiento owes Pulido a huge debt as there is no doubt that Sarmiento only survived his battle against Jessica Cha because of Pulido’s support. Continue reading→

The Santa Ana voters passed a 700% pay raise for the City Council but Reyna got fired

Posted on November 9, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2016 Elections, Juan Villegas, Measure PP, Politics, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana 4 Comments

The voters in Santa Ana unfortunately approved a 700% pay raise for our City Council last night as Measure PP passed with over 67% of the vote.

However the man that this measure was designed to benefit, high school dropout and Councilman Roman Reyna, got the boot as he lost to Juan Villegas, a member of the O.C. Sheriff’s Department for over 25 years. Continue reading→

Mayor Pulido is leading in early election results as are Council candidates Solorio and Villegas

Posted on November 8, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2016 Elections, Santa Ana 2 Comments

The early 2016 General Election results are in and as we predicted Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido is cruising to an easy victory over his ultra-liberal opponent Ben Vazquez. And we are very excited to report that Santa Ana City Councilman and high school dropout Roman Reyna is losing right now to his opponent, Juan Villegas, in Ward 5, by about 1,600 votes. Meanwhile over in Ward 3 Jose Solorio is leading a large pack of candidates with over 44% of the vote and in Ward 1 the incumbent, Vince Sarmiento, is barely edging out his challenger, Jessica Cha, by about 1,300 votes.

The bad news is that Measure PP, which will hand the City Council a 700% pay raise, is easily winning, by a margin of two to one. The good news is that if Reyna loses he won’t be getting this money. Continue reading→

Several lame Santa Ana political candidates are blowing off almost half the voters…

Posted on November 7, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2016 Elections, Alfonso Alvarez, Angie Rosario Cano, Benjamin Vazquez, Cecilia Iglesias, Claudia Alvarez, Democratic Party, Education, Jessica Byulnim Cha, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Republican Party, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana, SAUSD, Vietnamese, Vince Sarmiento 2 Comments

You are probably as sick of this year’s general election as I am. The last few weeks have given us all plenty to dislike about the top two presidential nominees – Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. And here in Santa Ana several candidates aligned with the Democratic Party have tried to use Trump against Republicans running for non-partisan offices, in one of the most underhanded schemes I have ever seen in my over 20 years of covering Orange County politics.

These candidates, including Rancho Santiago Community College District Trustee Claudia Alvarez and the slate of SAUSD School Board candidates sponsored by the Santa Ana Educators’ Association (the teachers’ union) – including Rigo Rodriguez, Mark McLoughlin and Alfonso Alvarez, have forgotten that Santa Ana is not quite as Democratic as they think it is. Continue reading→

Santa Ana City Council Ward One Candidate Jessica Cha is hosting a reception on 10/20

Posted on October 17, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2016 Elections, Jessica Byulnim Cha, Politics, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Santa Ana City Council Ward One challenger Jessica Cha is hosting her second campaign fundraiser on Oct. 20, at 6 p.m., at Robbins Nest Wine Bar and Bistro, located at 207 W. 2nd St., in DTSA.

The event is being hosted by Briana Kim of Briana Kim, PC and Eric J. Dubin of Dubin Law Firm. RSVP: Martin Medrano (626) 422-0183 or martin@presidiosc.com. Continue reading→

Santa Ana 2016 General Election Voter Guide

Posted on October 16, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2016 Elections, Ana Urzua Alcaraz, Andrew Do, Angie Rosario Cano, Beatriz Mendoza, Benjamin Vazquez, Cecilia Aguinaga, Cecilia Iglesias, Claudia Alvarez, David De Leon, Jessica Byulnim Cha, Jose Solorio, Joshua Mauras, Juan Villegas, Mark McLoughlin, Matthew Schauer, Measure PP, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Nelida Mendoza-Yanez, Patrick Yrarrazaval-Correa, Santa Ana, Santa Ana Police Foundation, SAUSD, Steven Nguyen, Vince Sarmiento, Zeke Hernandez 2 Comments

The absentee ballots were sent to Santa Ana voters this week. So now it is time to vote! This is an important local election as the City Council majority is at stake. Our current City Council majority is trying to fool the voters into giving them a 700% raise via Measure PP. Needless to say we oppose Measure PP. If anything our City Council deserves less of our tax money, not more. Vote No on Measure PP!

Santa Ana City Council Election: Continue reading→

Is Council Member Vince Sarmiento’s law practice a sham? Who is he really?

Posted on October 15, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2016 Elections, Crime, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 2 Comments

Vincent Sarmiento

I received a call this week from a man who lives in Santa Ana, who said he has known Council Member Vince Sarmiento for many years. The man said his girlfriend used to work at Sarmiento’s nightclub, Festival Hall. And the fellow had quite a tale to tell.

Sarmiento would like us to believe that he is a family man who walks on water, but according to my insider that is a complete falsehood. Continue reading→

SAUSD School Board candidate McLoughlin ditches his colleagues Rodriguez and Alvarez

Posted on October 14, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2016 Elections, Alfonso Alvarez, Education, Mark McLoughlin, Politics, Rigo Rodriguez, Santa Ana, SAUSD 6 Comments

It looks like SAUSD School Board candidate Mark McLoughlin has ditched the other two candidates who were also endorsed by the Santa Ana Educators’ Association – Dr. Rigoberto Rodriguez and Dr. Alfonso Alvarez. McLouthlin’s campaign just dropped a mailer that omits any mention of Rodriguez and Alvarez and encourages voters to only vote for McLoughlin. Continue reading→

Mailer slams Council Members Reyna and Sarmiento for wasting taxpayer money

Posted on October 14, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2016 Elections, Civic Affairs, David Cavazos, Politics, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento Leave a comment

A new campaign mailer was delivered to Santa Ana voters this week that absolutely slammed City Council incumbents Roman Reyna and Vince Sarmiento for wasting $479,615 of taxpayer money by overpaying our City Manager, David Cavazos, and handing out needless raises and bonuses to Cavazos and his fellow city executive cronies. Continue reading→

Bauer endorsed for the SAUSD School Board by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in 2016 Elections, Bruce T. Bauer, Democratic Party, Education, Politics, Santa Ana, SAUSD Leave a comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Bruce Bauer, 949-293-5311 – bruce@bauer4sausd.com

GAVIN NEWSOM, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA, ENDORSES BRUCE BAUER FOR SANTA ANA SCHOOL BOARD

Santa Ana, CA – Demonstrating his potent force in the race for the Santa Ana Unified School District Board race, Bruce Bauer, currently the Vice-Chair of the City of Santa Ana Planning Commission collected yet another major statewide endorsement from California’s Lieutenant Governor, Gavin Newsom. Gavin Newsom is currently the Lieutenant Governor for the State of California and was elected to that position in 2010. Prior to Lieutenant Governor, Gavin Newsom was the Mayor of San Francisco. He is considered a top-contender for the 2018 governor’s race.

Responding to news of the endorsement, Bruce Bauer remarked: Continue reading→