Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Category Archives: Politics

State Senator Lou Correa’s 4th of July Message

Posted on by Posted in Anaheim, Democratic Party, Family, Fullerton, Historical, Lou Correa, Orange County, Parks and Recreation, Patriotism, Politics, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Dear Friends,

More than 200 years ago, our nation’s Founding Fathers set out to create a blueprint for our freedom and democracy by writing the Declaration of Independence. On July 4, 1776, they built a foundation for democracy, as immigrants from around the world came to America in search of a better life. Every Fourth of July, we are thankful for the blessings of our great country.

As we join our families and friends for Fourth of July festivities, let’s take some time to appreciate the freedoms we have in the United States. This is also an appropriate time to give thanks to our service members, past and present, for their strength and courage protecting our country every day. Continue reading→

Exclusive: Emails from one of Bustamante’s alleged lovers

Posted on by Posted in Carlos Bustamante, Orange County, Politics, Republican Party, Santa Ana 42 Comments

 

Editor’s Note: Santa Ana Council Member Carlos Bustamante has been arrested on multiple felony charges.  We are taking this opportunity to bring back a post featuring exclusive emails from one of his alleged lovers.

Carlos Bustamante, an executive manager with the county’s Public Works department and a Santa Ana city councilman, has been placed on paid administrative leave from his county job, the county’s Human Resources director confirmed Thursday.  The leave was imposed after the county received an anonymous letter last month detailing allegations of a sexual nature against Bustamante, an executive manager overseeing Public Works’ Facilities and Fleet Services divisions, according to the O.C. Register.

I have known about this since May 19, 2009, when I first started to receive emails from an anonymous lady who claimed that she was having an affair with Bustamante.  In her emails, which continued through March of this year, she outlined everything that had gone on between her and Bustamante. Continue reading→

Alvarez gets the last laugh as Bustamante gets arrested

Posted on by Posted in Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, Courts, Crime, David Benavides, Democratic Party, Orange County, Politics, Republican Party, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 15 Comments

Alvarez couldn’t help but smile at tonight’s City Council meeting…

Remember when Santa Ana Council Member Carlos Bustamante went after his colleague, Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez, after she compared landlord and developer Irv Chases’s business practices to Adolf Hitler’s ethnic cleansing?  Well, last week the Orange County Grand Jury found that Alvarez was right about Chase and his friends at Downtown, Inc. – in a report that slammed the Santa Ana PBID tax.  And Bustamante?  Well he is now rotting in jail after being arrested today on multiple felony and misdemeanor counts.

When Bustamante raises bail he will have quite a few decisions to make – like hiring a lawyer, but eventually he will also have to write his formal letter of resignation.  His time on the Santa Ana City Council is done.

I expect that one of our City Commissioners will be named to replace him – perhaps one of the many Planning Commissioners who live in Ward 3.  Bustamante’s seat will be available this November in the General Election and his replacement will have a leg up on the rest of the competition. Continue reading→

City Council to decide the fate of the Downtown PBID tax tonight

Posted on by Posted in Business, Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, Courts, Dave Ream, David Benavides, Development, Fraud, Latinos, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 12 Comments

July 4 falls on a Wednesday this year but there will be fireworks early this week, at Monday night’s Santa Ana City Council meeting, on July 2, at 5 pm, as Council Member Sal Tinajero and Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez have placed an 85 A item on the City Council agenda to disestablish the Downtown Santa Ana property tax – the PBID.

Here is the 85 A PBID agenda item: 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→

Will Orange County Democrats run away from Obama in November?

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Democratic Party, Elections, Loretta Sanchez, Politics, Republican Party, Santa Ana, Tom Daly 1 Comment

Will Orange County’s Democratic candidates run away from the increasingly unpopular President Barack Obama in November? He is likely to win the State of California, but I can’t see him doing well in Orange County. Obama won U.S. Representative John Campbell’s district in 2008. That is highly unlikely to happen this November. In fact the only Congressional District that Obama might pick up is the one held by his fellow Democrat, Loretta Sanchez.

On the other hand, I expect Republican nominee Mitt Romney to come to Orange County perhaps more than once. He should be a boon to the local Republican candidates, with the exception of Jerry Hayden, who is running against Sanchez in the 47th Congressional District. That district’s Latino voters won’t likely be very impressed by Romney, who has been very harsh on immigrants during his campaign this year. Continue reading→

Mayor Pulido to speak at Chamber of Commerce’s State of the City event

Posted on by Posted in Business, Civic Affairs, Entertainment, Politics, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County

Community: Mayor Pulido to Address Business Community at Annual State of the City Event

SANTA ANA, CA (June 19, 2012) – Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido will once again deliver the annual “State of the City” address at a breakfast scheduled for Wednesday, June 20th, at 7:30 am, at the Bowers Museum.

The Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce presents this special address by the city’s chief executive to hundreds of business leaders. Community-minded businesspersons have a chance to show their civic pride and support for the city by attending the State of the City event. Each year, Mayor Pulido shares up-to-the-minute news and anecdotes outlining the civic progress made during the past twelve months, as well as future goals and projects. Continue reading→

Santa Ana’s voters could help decide the winner of the 72nd A.D.

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Democratic Party, Elections, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Joe Dovinh, Little Saigon, Politics, Republican Party, Santa Ana, Travis Allen, Troy Edgar, Van Tran, Vietnamese, Westminster Leave a comment

Chris Nguyen, over at OC Political, wrote a very complete analysis of the election results in the 72nd Assembly District, where two Republican candidates, Travis Allen and Troy Edgar, will face off again in November.

Nguyen analyzed the vote in each city in the 72nd and found that Edgar and Allen were in the top two in the Cities of Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach,
and Rossmoor.  Edgar also came in second in the City of Garden Grove. Continue reading→

Is Barragan to blame for Perez’ loss in the 69th A.D.?

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Anaheim, Democratic Party, Elections, Francisco Barragan, Jose Moreno, Julio Perez, Michele Martinez, Politics, Republican Party, Santa Ana 6 Comments

The Orange County Voter Registrar finally closed the ballot counting from the June 5 Open Primary, yesterday.  Ultra liberal 69th Assembly District candidate Julio Perez lost by 242 votes to Republican Jose “Joe” Moreno, who will now face off against top vote-getter Tom Daly, a corporate Democrat, in the November General Election.

Perez and his union allies spent a small fortune and all they got out of it was third place.  I have argued in a previous post that Perez and fellow Democrat Michele Martinez both erred by not attacking Daly, but there might be more to this story. Continue reading→

The open primary ballot counting is done – and so is Julio Perez

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Anaheim, Democratic Party, Elections, Jose Moreno, Julio Perez, Orange County, Politics, Republican Party, Santa Ana, Tom Daly 16 Comments

The Orange County Voter Registrar announced today that “We have finished all of our ballot counting and required audit functions from the June 5th Primary Election. Registrar of Voters, Neal Kelley, will certify the final results tomorrow following the preparation of the Statement of Votes. Our election results this evening indicate “unofficial” until we finalize tomorrow. We will be including write-in votes tomorrow as well.”

What does that mean?  It means the ballot counting is basically done.  And so is ultra-liberal union hack Julio Perez, who continues to lose in the race for the 69th Assembly District.  Even better, he is barely losing, to Republican candidate Jose Moreno, who barely spent any money in the primary.  Perez is about 250 votes behind Moreno, according to the updated June 14 results that were released tonight at 5 pm.  I hope the final margin is even closer than that! Continue reading→

Multi-partisan Sounds of Truth Festival set for 7/7 in Irvine

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Charities, Democratic Party, Elections, Entertainment, irvine, Libertarian Party, music, Orange County, Politics, Republican Party, Santa Ana, Youth Activities Leave a comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Michael Maxsenti, Mobile: 714.745.9830

REBELLIOUS TRUTHS PRESENTS SOUNDS OF TRUTH FESTIVAL
A Visionary Experiment in Empathy, Good times and Understanding.

Think it’s impossible that Occupiers, Tea Partiers, Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians could ever sit down together in a civil conversation? Rebellious Truths doesn’t.

The nonprofit Rebellious Truths is making modern history by hosting the very first “Sounds of Truth Festival” on Saturday, July 7th, 2012 at Mason Regional Park in Irvine, California from 10 AM to 5 PM. Continue reading→

Did Martinez and Perez lose because they failed to attack Tom Daly?

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Democratic Party, Elections, Jose Moreno, Julio Perez, Michele Martinez, Orange County, Politics, Republican Party, Santa Ana, Tom Daly 8 Comments

The 69th Assembly District is Orange County’s most Latino legislative district and it is currently represented by Jose Solorio, a former Santa Ana City Council Member and OCTA lobbyist. But in this month’s Open Primary Election the candidate who got the most votes was Orange County Clerk-Recorder Tom Daly. That was due in part to the presence of four Latino candidates on the ballot – all Democrats except for one Republican. But did Daly come out on top because the Latino candidates failed to attack him? Continue reading→

Jose Moreno requesting investigation of deceptive pro Daly mailers

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Anaheim, Democratic Party, Jose Moreno, Politics, Republican Party, Santa Ana, Tom Daly 2 Comments
Jose “Joe” Moreno, Candidate the 69th Assembly District
Press Release, For Immediate Release
June 11, 2012
Jose “Joe” Moreno to request an investigation of deceptive mailers that promoted Tom Daly
SANTA ANA – Jose “Joe” Moreno, one of the two two candidates for the 69th Assembly District, is formally requesting that candidate Tom Daly, running for the 69th Assembly District, publicly denounce and disassociate himself from any involvement in a series of campaign literature, paid for by JobsPAC.  Continue reading→

The Sanchez sisters don’t have much to worry about in November

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Democratic Party, Janet Nguyen, Latinos, Loretta Sanchez, Orange County, Politics, Republican Party, Santa Ana 1 Comment

U.S. Representative Linda Sanchez doesn’t have much to worry about in November, over in the 38th Congressional District.  She easily outpaced her two Republican opponents, Jorge Robles and Ben Campos, in this week’s Open Primary Election.  Campos is currently leading Robles by 532 votes, according to the California Secretary of State, for the right to face off against Sanchez in the fall.

Can Campos beat Sanchez?  Well, she has over 28,000 votes right now – and Campos and Robles together have under 23,000 votes.  Those are long odds for Campos.

Meanwhile, in Orange County, the other Congressional Sanchez, Loretta, has over 24,000 votes, in the 46th Congressional District, and she did not campaign at all – no signs, no mailers, and no robo calls. Continue reading→