Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Category Archives: Elections

Will SAUSD Trustee John Palacio run for Santa Ana’s Ward 3?

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Brett Franklin, Carlos Bustamante, Charles Hart, Democratic Party, Elections, Eric Alderete, Politics, Republican Party, Santa Ana, Shane Ramon Barrows 9 Comments

Editor’s Note: This picture is not doctored. This is John Palacio.

I am hearing from multiple sources today that SAUSD Trustee John Palacio is inexplicably considering running for our City Council’s Ward 3.  There are already several candidates including Planning Commissioner Eric Alderete, who has the support of almost the entire City Council (Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez has not endorsed anyone yet); O.C. middle manager Charles Hart, a Republican; former Santa Ana City Council Member Brett Franklin, who has Mayor Miguel Pulido’s endorsement; Park Santiago resident Shane Ramon Barrows, a cop in Irvine; former Orange School Board Member Steve Rocco, and Ana Rebecca Valencia-Verdin, a friend of current Ward 3 Councilman Carlos Bustamante, who lives in Floral Park.

Palacio was first elected to the SAUSD School Board in 1998 and re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He was appointed Board President in 1998, re-appointed in 1999 and served again in 2001.  He is involved in the Hispanic Education Endowment Fund, but I am not sure in what capacity as his name does not show up on their financial reports.   Continue reading→

Tinajero running for Mayor, making Benavides an afterthought

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, David Benavides, Democratic Party, Elections, Labor, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana 31 Comments

Popular Santa Ana Council Member Sal Tinajero pulled papers today to run for Mayor of Santa Ana.  Tinajero served on the SAUSD School Board before getting elected to the Santa Ana City Council in 2006, when he beat a candidate backed by Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido.  Tinajero won by just under a thousand votes against Jennifer Villasenor, according to Smart Voter.

Tinajero just missed being the top vote-getter when he won a seat on the SAUSD School Board in 2004.  He was the top vote-getter when he first won a school board seat in 2000. Continue reading→

Benavides announces campaign for Mayor of Santa Ana

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, David Benavides, Democratic Party, Elections, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Santa Ana 3 Comments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 30, 2012
Contact: Benavides for Santa Ana Mayor,  714.475.1630, david@davidbenavides.com

Santa Ana Councilmember David Benavides announces candidacy for Mayor; thanks incumbent Mayor for over 25 years at City Hall.

Santa Ana, CA (July 30, 2012) – “Santa Ana is ready to once again be the thriving urban center and heart of Orange County. I am ready to be the Mayor with the vision and commitment to help our city realize its potential,” Benavides said. “As Mayor I will engage our residents and businesses and bring our community together around the common goals of safe neighborhoods, strong businesses, and building our city into a cultural destination – a city in which we can all take pride.” Continue reading→

Why I won’t be voting for Benavides in November

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Carlos Bustamante, David Benavides, Democratic Party, Elections, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Santa Ana 36 Comments

Is it any surprise to anyone that Santa Ana Council Member David Benavides chose to break the news that he is running against Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido on the Republican OC Political blog?  That is exactly what I have come to expect from Benavides. 

When Benavides was first elected, back in 2006, he had a great story to offer.  He had come to Santa Ana as part of a ministry and he decided to stay here and put down roots.  But he very quickly was compromised by Santa Ana’s racist old guard – the Usual Suspects.  Mostly old and angry Republicans they brought him up through the Neighborhood Association movement – which pretends to represent the people of Santa Ana but realistically represents at most 1% of our community – and is heavily subsidized by our tax dollars.  He declared on his Smart Voter page that he was the winner of the “Neighborhood Hero Award,” the penultimate badge of honor for these metiches.  Continue reading→

Why they can’t beat Miguel Pulido – and he will win again this year

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Brett Franklin, Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Elections, Eric Alderete, Julio Perez, Latinos, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Paul Walters, Politics, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, SAUSD, Transportation, Valerie Amezcua 10 Comments

UPDATE: Council Member Sal Tinajero has pulled papers to run against Mayor Pulido this November.  Chisme has it that Benavides will be pressured to get out of the race ASAP.

UPDATE: Council Member David Benavides has announced that he is running for Mayor.  Pulido has nothing to worry about.

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido’s detractors are befuddled about how exactly he keeps on winning, every two years.  What they don’t understand is that their views don’t reflect the views of the residents at large in our city.

Santa Ana is a huge city.  The “inside baseball” and chismoso/gadfly set is fairly small, perhaps a hundred people at most.  In 2010, mayoral challenger Alfredo Amezcua lined up a lot of these folks – and combined them with the dwindling “Usual Suspects.”  Amezcua spent a quarter million dollars and he thought he had victory in the bag.  But you see what he was listening to was an echo chamber – and he failed to reach the majority of voters in Santa Ana. Continue reading→

Judge rules that Alvarez cannot run again for the Santa Ana City Council

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, Courts, Democratic Party, Elections, Karina Onofre, Miguel Pulido, Republican Party, Rob Richardson, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana 18 Comments

 

An Orange County Superior Court judge has ruled that Santa Ana City Councilwoman Claudia Alvarez may not run for a fourth council term, according to the Voice of OC.  I have also confirmed this with my own sources – Alvarez’ political career is over – or is it?  She can still run for Mayor of Santa Ana, although that is not likely as Mayor Miguel Pulido supported her attempt to run again.  And she could run for the Santa Ana Unified School District’s Board of Education, or for the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Board of Education. 

The unfortunate side affect of this ruling is that it decreases the chance that an opponent to Pulido will arise.  If someone does challenge him then Alvarez will likely run for Mayor and count on a vote split putting her in office, particularly if one of her male colleagues opts to run against Pulido.  Her defeat in this lawsuit likely means Pulido will sail to an easy victory in November. Continue reading→

SAUSD Board of Education Candidate Filing Information

Posted on by Posted in Elections, Politics, Santa Ana, SAUSD 1 Comment

If you are interested in becoming a candidate in the upcoming SAUSD Board of Education election, click here to be directed to the Orange County Office of Registrar of Voters’ website for information on how to proceed with the process.

 Important Dates

Alvarez joins Madrid’s term limits lawsuit against the Santa Ana City Clerk

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Claudia Alvarez, Courts, Democratic Party, Elections, Max Madrid, Orange County, Politics, Santa Ana, Term Limits 12 Comments

Courtroom video courtesy of George Collins, Santa Ana Insight TV

Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez has joined Santa Ana Parks and Rec Commisioner Max Madrid’s lawsuit to compel the Santa Ana City Clerk to issue nomination papers to Alvarez, as “a party to the action.”

Adding Alvarez to the lawsuit dispenses with the issue of whether or not Madrid had standing to bring the lawsuit to the court.  Now he does, end of story. Continue reading→

Legal brief by Attorney General implies that Alvarez can run again in Nov.

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, california, Claudia Alvarez, Courts, Democratic Party, Elections, Karina Onofre, Orange County, Politics, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana 13 Comments

California’s Attorney General, Kamala Harris, wrote a legal brief regarding local municipal term limits that should have a considerable bearing on tomorrow’s hearing regarding Santa Ana Park and Rec Commissioner Max Madrid’s lawsuit to compel the Santa Ana City Clerk to issue nomination papers to Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez.

In the brief, which is dated July 17, 2012, Harris concludes that “a term served on a town council that was served prior to the effective date of a local initative term-limit ordinance may not be counted against that term limit by that ordinance.” Continue reading→

Bustamante was the one who advised Onofre to switch to the GOP

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, Democratic Party, Elections, Karina Onofre, Politics, Republican Party, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, SAUSD, Women 21 Comments

Brainwashed by Carlos Bustamante?

When we revealed in an earlier post that Santa Ana City Council candidate Karina Onofre had switched parties and become a registered Republican, some folks in town started pointing fingers.  Liberal OC editor Dan Chmielewski, for example, wrote a post wondering “What led Onofre down this path?  Could it be a lunch with Santa Ana Council member Sal Tinajero several weeks ago?”

Well, Onofre did meet with Tinajero and he gave her very good advice.  He cautioned that she should run for the SAUSD School Board instead.  Let’s face it, Onofre is very young and she has no record of working in the community.  The voters don’t know her.  But they do know SAUSD Trustee Roman Reyna and Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez, the Ward 5 City Council candidates Onofre is hoping to beat. Continue reading→

Solorio to run for the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s B.O.E.

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Democratic Party, Education, Elections, Jose Solorio, Politics, Santa Ana 1 Comment

Assemblyman Jose Solorio chose not to run against Supervisor Janet Nguyen in November, but he announced this afternoon, via email, that he is running for Area One of the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Board of Education.

Solorio’s wife is a public school teacher, I believe at Santa Ana’s Valley High School.  This would seem to be a good fit for him but it is a part-time job.  He has not yet announced what his other employment plans will be.

One  hangup for Solorio is that he voted in the past year to de-fund the County of Orange to the tune of about fifty million per year.  He was promised by Assembly Speaker John Perez that the State Legislature would find a way to return that money to the County of Orange.  That never happened and the County ended up in a lawsuit with the State of California.  If the State prevails the money will have to come out of the County’s education budget. Continue reading→

Council candidate Onofre now embracing her Republican identity

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, Democratic Party, Elections, Latinos, Loretta Sanchez, Orange County, Politics, Republican Party, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana, Women 12 Comments

Carlos Bustamante is the last Republican left on the Santa Ana City Council.  And his political career appears to be done, as he is facing numerous felony charges of sex crimes and public theft.  The dwindling Republicans in Santa Ana may however have a new champion – Karina Onofre, the young candidate who is running for the Ward currently represented by Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez.

That Onofre is a Republican may have escaped the attention of Dan Chmielewski, the editor of the Liberal OC, who introduced Onofre to his readers in a post a few months ago that described her as “a 29-year-old moderate who is liberal on some issues, Libertarian on others and fiscally conservative.”   Continue reading→

69th A.D. candidate Perez totally failed in his hometown of Anaheim

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Anaheim, Democratic Party, Elections, Jose Moreno, Julio Perez, Michele Martinez, Republican Party, Santa Ana, Tom Daly Leave a comment

Chris Nguyen, over at the Republican OC Political blog, spent a lot of time breaking down the vote in the 69th Assembly District, in the June 5 primary. It turns out that corporate Democrat Tom Daly won in Anaheim and in Santa Ana, which is no surprise as he spent a fortune and his friends in Sacramento and Anaheim spent even more.

Daly also benefited from being the only white candidate in a pool of Latino candidates. But the other story of note is that liberal union hack Julio Perez, who grew up in Anaheim, completely failed in that city. Republican candidate Jose Moreno, who barely ran a campaign, totally whacked Perez in Anaheim. Continue reading→

Did Barragan set a record by getting only 605 votes in the primary?

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Democratic Party, Eleazar Elizondo, Elections, Francisco Barragan, Politics, Santa Ana Leave a comment

When Francisco Barragan got only 605 votes, as a Democratic candidate in the Open Primary election for the 69th Assembly District, this year, according to Smart Voter, he may well have set a record for futility in Assembly races.  I spent a few hours searching for any comparable results and found none.  Barragan appears to be the most unpopular candidate for the California State Assembly in the history of our state.

Barragan is by no means the first Orange County Democrat to utterly fail on Election Day.  When Liberal OC blogger Chris Prevatt ran for the Garden Grove City Council, way back in 2002, he came in dead last in a field of five candidates, according to Smart Voter – but even with that stinky effort he got over 3,000 votes.  Barragan only got 605 votes. Continue reading→

Joe Dovinh announces he will run for the 34th Senate District in 2014

Posted on by Posted in 2014 Elections, Anaheim, Democratic Party, Elections, Joe Dovinh, Jose Solorio, Latinos, Politics, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Democratic 72nd Assembly District candidate Joe Dovinh, who came in third in the Open Primary on June 5, has announced that he will be running for the 34th State Senate District in 2014, in an email message he sent to supporters today.  The 34th S.D. is currently held by Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana).

Dovinh lives in Garden Grove, which appears to be entirely in the 34th.  Other cities in the 34th include Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, Westminster, Midway City, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, and part of Anaheim.  According to the final voter registration data for the 34th, 19.4% of the voters have Asian surnames and 24% of the voters in the district have Latino surnames. Continue reading→