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Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Category Archives: Roman Reyna

The Republicans who are trying to take back Santa Ana

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Alfredo Amezcua, Brett Franklin, Carlos Bustamante, Cecilia Iglesias, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Democratic Party, Elections, George Collins, Janet Nguyen, Jerry Hayden, Karina Onofre, Loretta Sanchez, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Nelida Mendoza-Yanez, Politics, Republican Party, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana, SAUSD, Thomas Gordon, Tom Daly, Tony Tapia, Valerie Amezcua Leave a comment

Robert Hammond, promoting the GOP

Orange County’s Democrats are generally clueless, but this past June they were particularly out of sorts.  They inexplicably gave Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen a free pass, allowing her to focus on electing her fellow Republican, and gay-basher, Robert Hammond as he won a seat on the O.C. Department of Education’s Board of Trustees.

And the Democrats managed to fumble away Orange County’s most Latino seat, allowing it to go to Orange County Clerk-Recorder Tom Daly, who has since been charged with sexual harassment in the workplace.  If they had gotten behind Santa Ana Council Member Michele Martinez she might have prevailed in June.  Instead organized labor put up their guy, Julio Perez, splitting the Latino vote and allowing Daly to prevail. Continue reading→

Palacio and Amezcua are driving the so-called “Santa Ana Spring”

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Alfredo Amezcua, David Benavides, Democratic Party, Elections, Eric Alderete, John Palacio, Miguel Pulido, Myriam Tinajero, Politics, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, SAUSD, Valerie Amezcua, Vince Sarmiento 17 Comments

It has become increasingly obvious that the so-called “Santa Ana Spring” is actually a collection of Santa Ana politicians with different axes to grind, who have come together as their mutual petty hatreds have temporarily converged.  This alliance is a shaky one at best.

The drivers of this movement are failed Santa Ana mayoral candidate Al Amezcua, who resigned from the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Board of Education a few years ago, after he got caught living outside of the area he was elected to represent; Santa Ana Unified School District John Palacio, who survived the recall of his close friend and ally Nativo Lopez; Santa Ana Councilman Vince Sarmiento – who is bitter because he didn’t run for the 69th Assembly District and who has designs on the Santa Ana Mayor’s office; Santa Ana Council Member Michele Martinez, who was soundly defeated by Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido back in 2008 – and who did poorly again this June as a candidate for the 69th Assembly District; and Council Member David Benavides, who is embroiled in a controversy regarding allegations of infidelity and divorce. Continue reading→

Solorio to host Capitol in Your Corner, with Reyna, on 8/17

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Entertainment, Jose Solorio, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana 1 Comment

Capitol in Your Corner with Santa Ana Unified School Board Member Roman Reyna

State Assemblyman Jose Solorio, along with Santa Ana Unified School Board Member Roman Reyna, invite you to a “Capitol in Your Corner” event. The Assemblyman and Board Member will be on-hand at Super Antojitos Restaurant to greet constituents, answer questions and give updates on work in Sacramento and locally. Complimentary breakfast burritos and refreshments will also be provided. Continue reading→

Zeke Hernandez to run against Reyna and Onofre in Ward 5

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Carlos Bustamante, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Democratic Party, Elections, Karina Onofre, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana, Zeke Hernandez 4 Comments

Zeke Hernandez is pictured on the right

It looks like SAUSD Trustee Roman Reyna won’t be winning easily after all, in his campaign for the Santa Ana City Council’s Ward 5.  Zeke Hernandez has pulled papers to run against Reyna and the third candidate, Karina Onofre.

Hernandez has been involved in community affairs for many years, as a member of LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens, SACReD and Los Amigos.  He is well known in Santa Ana and has run for office before. Continue reading→

Lupe Moreno, Minuteman, running for Mayor of Santa Ana

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, David Benavides, Lupe Moreno, Politics, Republican Party, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana 11 Comments


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:

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→

Updated: Verino and Amezcua to run for the SAUSD School Board

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Carlos Bustamante, Democratic Party, Education, Republican Party, Rob Richardson, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana, SAUSD, Sergio Verino, Valerie Amezcua 20 Comments

Valerie and Al Amezcua

UPDATE: Valerie Amezcua has pulled papers to run for the SAUSD Board of Education.  She last ran for the SAUSD School Board in 2008, when she lost by less than a hundred votes to Roman Reyna.  Reyna is running for the Santa Ana City Council in November and is walking away from the SAUSD School Board.  Amezcua had a chance to run for the SAUSD School Board in 2010, but she declined to do so. 

Amezcua is the daughter of local attorney Al Amezcua, who challenged Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido in 2010, losing badly.  Al and Valerie both served on the Measure G Campaign Committee – helping to pass a bond measure that raised our taxes for dubious purposes (the SAUSD School District remodeled their district offices after Measure G passed).  Both of the Amezcuas also supported liberal union hack candidate Julio Perez in the Open Primary, for the 69th Assembly District.  Perez spent a small fortune on that race, as did his labor allies, but he lost to a Republican, Jose Moreno, who spent almost nothing on his campaign. 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→

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→

SAUSD Trustee Roman Reyna will run for the Santa Ana City Council

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Education, Politics, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana 19 Comments

Pictured: Roman Reyna and Carlos Bustamante

SAUSD Trustee Roman Reyna has confirmed on this Facebook page that he is running for the Santa Ana City Council, again, this November.  Reyna will be a candidate for Ward 5, which is currently held by Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez.  She is termed out however a lawsuit filed by Santa Ana Parks and Rec Commissioner Max Madrid is seeking to compel the Santa Ana City Clerk to issue nomination papers to Alvarez, on the grounds that Measure D, which extended Council terms, reset the term limit clock for Alvarez. If Madrid’s lawsuit prevails Reyna will have to face off against Alvarez – again.  She already beat him once, back in 2004.  In that race Alvarez got over 26,500 votes while Reyna got only 10,720 votes, according to Smart Voter. Continue reading→

Santa Ana City Council establishes a term limits committee

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Democratic Party, Karina Onofre, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 2 Comments

Tonight’s Santa Ana City Council meeting, which was held at the SAPD’s Community Room, was, as predicted, a real zoo.  Media vans and news crews were everywhere and residents and out of town bloggers packed the proceedings.

As we stated in an earlier post, Council Member Carlos Bustamante, who is facing serious felony sex crime and public theft charges, was not likely to show up, and he didn’t.  This is his second unexcused absence.  After sixty days of not showing up to work, at City Hall, the City Council can dump him and appoint someone to fill out his term. 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→

Martinez pushes the Santa Ana City Council to review term limits on Monday

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Carlos Bustamante, Charles Hart, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, Dave Ream, Democratic Party, Eric Alderete, Karina Onofre, Latinos, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Paul Walters, Politics, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana 5 Comments

Play time is over – the Santa Ana City Council appears to be rebelling against Mayor Pulido

“The Santa Ana City Council is scheduled July 16 to consider a ballot measure that for the first time could place a term limit on longtime Mayor Miguel Pulido and change term limits for other council members,” according to the Voice of OC.

Council Member Michele Martinez placed an 85 A item on the agenda that reads as follows, “DISCUSSION OF POTENTIAL BALLOT MEASURE REGARDING MAYORAL AND COUNCIL TERM LIMITS.”

Both Martinez and her colleague, Council Member David Benavides, ripped Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez this week, on Facebook, when Alvarez’ ally, Santa Ana Parks and Rec Commissioner Max Madrid, filed a lawsuit to compel the Santa Ana City Clerk to issue nomination papers to Alvarez.  She is seeking to run again in November, for reelection, although she appears to be termed out. Continue reading→

Was Madrid’s Alvarez lawsuit timed to stop Roman Reyna?

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Democratic Party, Karina Onofre, Politics, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana 9 Comments

My old friend Max Madrid, a longtime member of the Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Commission and an employee of State Senator Lou Correa, has filed a lawsuit against the Santa Ana City Clerk, to compel her to issue City Council nomination papers to Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez.

Madrid could have filed this lawsuit anytime, but he did it this week.  The nomination period for City Council elections begins July 16, and continues for 30 days, according to the O.C. Register.  To me it sure looks like this lawsuit was timed to put Santa Ana Unified School District Trustee Roman Reyna on the spot. Continue reading→