Santa Ana Ward 3 candidate Eric Alderete is hosting another fundraiser – but this time it is going to be held in Los Angeles, not in Santa Ana, at the offices of mega-corporate law firm DLA Piper.
Here are the event details, courtesy of Facebook: Continue reading
The Registrar of Voters announced today that the nomination period has been extended until August 15, 2012, 5:00 p.m. for the Santa Ana offices listed below because the incumbent failed to file Nomination Papers by the August 10, 2012 deadline.
Any qualified person, other than the incumbent, can now file the Nomination Papers until August 15, 2012, 5:00 p.m., in the office of the Registrar of Voters, 1300 South Grand Avenue, Building C, Santa Ana, California. Business hours are: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. For further information, call the Registrar of Voters office at 714-567-7600, hit option “0″ and ask for the “Candidate and Voters Services” division. Continue reading
UPDATE: This post has been read 299 times as of August 13, at 11:30 pm. But only one Santa Ana Council candidate has been forthright enough to answer the questions posed below. Remember that on Election Day – if candidates don’t want to tell us where they stand on the issues that matter then they don’t deserve our votes!
Santa Ana City Council candidates usually run on pithy slogans and empty posturing – but as our city continues to struggle with budget issues, having essentially kicked the budget can down the road, it is time for our Council candidates to face the music – and tell us what they think about the issues we face in our city today. Continue reading
Santa Ana Council Member Sal Tinajero has dropped out of the Santa Ana Mayor’s race. The remaining candidates include:
Tony Tapia and State Senator Lou Correa
UPDATE: Santa Ana Council Member Sal Tinajero’s sister, Myriam Tinajero, has pulled out of the race for the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Area 3. The remaining candidates include Santa Ana Redevelopment and Housing Commissioner Nelida Mendoza-Yanez, LAUSD asbestos inspector Thomas Gordon and Construction Laborer Tony Tapia, for Area 3 of the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Board of Education. Mendoza-Yanez ran for the Santa Ana City Council in 2006, losing to David Benavides. She got over 10,000 votes in that election, according to Smart Voter. Continue reading
Santa Ana code enforcement officer Sergio Verino has dropped out of the race for the SAUSD School Board. Remaining candidates include the two incumbents, Jose A. Hernandez and Rob Richardson, and challengers Valerie Amezcua, Cecilia Iglesias and new candidate Myriam Tinajero (sister of Council Member Sal Tinajero).
None of these candidates are teachers. Amezcua works in probation and Tinajero is a social workers. I am told that their campaigns will be run by SAUSD Trustee John Palacio. He supported Trustee Audrey Noji two years ago and was allied with recalled SAUSD Trustee Nativo Lopez. Continue reading
Santa Ana Ward 3 candidate Eric Alderete’s campaign held a fundraiser tonight at Chapter One: the Modern Local, in Downtown Santa Ana. There were at least 80 attendees including quite a few elected and appointed officials. These included:
UPDATE: Cecilia Aguinaga will not be running for the SAUSD School Board after all this year. She was considering it but family committments are taking precedence this time around and she is concerned that too many candidates are running. I ran into her tonight at the fundraiser for Santa Ana City Council candidate Eric Alderete. Aguinaga received a nice ovation when Council Member Sal Tinajero introduced her to the audience. If she runs in 2014 she will surely be a top candidate for the SAUSD School Board.
My two favorite Cecilias have pulled papers to run for the SAUSD School Board. Cecilia Aguinaga and Cecilia Iglesias are both political veterans and more importantly they are moms – and our School Board definitely needs more moms!
Aguinaga almost won back in 2006, losing to Audrey Noji by less than a thousand votes according to Smart Voter. She ran again in 2008 and was just barely edged by Valerie Amezcua, by 2.5% of the vote, according to Smart Voter. This time I think she can pull it off. Continue reading
Estela and Angelica Amezcua pulled papers today to run for the Santa Ana City Council, in Wards 1 and 3. It initially appeared that they were running for each other’s wards, based on addresses I found online, however the Santa Ana City Clerk emailed me today to advise that someone on her staff had inadvertently transposed their names on the candidate status report that was posted yesterday. That report has since been corrected.
Angelica is running for the Ward 3 seat that is currently held by and Estela is running for Ward 1. Angelica is challenging disgraced Council Member Carlos Bustamante, who is facing serious sex crime and public theft charges, and Estela is running for the ward represented by Council Member Vince Sarmiento. Continue reading
Lupe Moreno, perhaps the most notorious of Orange County’s Minutemen, has filed to run for Mayor of Santa Ana, according to the O.C. Register.
Moreno has a long history of running for office in Santa Ana and in Orange County, as follows:
The hard hats aren’t with Tom Daly now!
The OC and CA Labor Federations held a meeting this week to meet the candidates for office here in Orange County. As one might expect, Tom Daly, the Democratic nominee for the 69th Assembly District failed to show up but he asked for their endorsement anyway. It turned out to be an epic fail for Daly.
Daly was completely rejected – and he should be. This two-faced hack says one thing to the Labor Federation then he goes over to the OC Taxpayers Association and says something else altogether. There is evidence, for example, that Daly has supported privatizing government jobs. Well, the CA Labor Federation figured it out and gave him the boot. Well, the CA Labor Federation figured it out and gave him the boot. Continue reading
The Santa Ana Mayor’s race is quickly growing crowded. Mayor Miguel A. Pulido will be facing off against two Council Members, David Benavides and Sal Tinajero, but there are others in the race as well, including retired engineer Roy Alvarado, CSUF student Miguel Angel Briseno, and possibly videographer George Collins as well.
You already know who Benavides and Tinajero are. Here is a rundown of the other candidates: Continue reading
City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County
Advisory: NOTICE OF ELECTION REGARDING CHARTER AMENDMENT (MEASURE) TO BE VOTED ON CITY OF SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA
SANTA ANA, CA (August 2, 2012) – NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the following measure will be voted on at a special municipal election consolidated with the general municipal election to be held in the City of Santa Ana, California on Tuesday, the sixth (6TH) day of November 2012: Continue reading
UPDATE: A four member city council voted tonight to unanimously put to the voters a four term limit of 2 years each for the office of Mayor.
I can understand why the Santa Ana City C0uncil Members are upset at Mayor Miguel Pulido. Let’s face it – he has been running circles around them for almost 20 years. But he is now dealing with a Council that, for the most part, he did not elect. He opposed Sal Tinajero and Michele Martinez when they first ran for the City Council. He did create David Benavides, but when Vince Sarmiento was appointed to the Council, to replace Jose Solorio, he was already his own man. Unlike Benavides, he was a polished product and a guy most people respected. Who would have forseen two Pulido allies going down in flames – Carlos Bustamante’s own alleged misbehavior did him in, and Claudia Alvarez could not undo the term limits she helped create. Now Pulido, like Julius Caesar, is surrounded by short swords and although we are headed into August, it might as well be the Ides of March.
Back in Pulido’s heyday, he and former City Manager Dave Ream knew how to work this bunch. Once they got elected, they would be warmly welcomed, even if they had initially been opposed. Commission appointments would be handed out like Halloween candies and just like that Council members would be subverted. But Ream is gone and so is his magic bag of redevelopment – and now even the developers that lived high on the hog in our town for so long are slinking to the Council’s side. Continue reading
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