Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Tag Archives: Michele Martinez

Martinez and Reyna flee the Council meeting early to escape Walters’ fans

Posted on by Posted in Angelica Amezcua, Civic Affairs, David Benavides, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Paul Walters, Politics, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 22 Comments

Michele Martinez and her pals

Martinez left early tonight.  Perhaps she had a party to get to?

Mission accomplished!  So many fans of Santa Ana City Manager Paul Walters showed up at tonight’s Santa Ana City Council meeting that Council Members Michele Martinez and Roman Reyna got up and fled the meeting early, breaking quorum and rendering the meeting useless, as Council Member David Benavides was in Mexico and new Council Member Angelica Amezcua was a no-show again.

Martinez has been pestering Walters for years – accusing him of arresting her half brother when she ran for Santa Ana Mayor.  That is of course total BS as her half-brother has a different name and he was arrested for legitimate reasons – busting parole.  This year Martinez has taken her battle to another level – calling for Walters’ dismissal even though he saved our city from a budget disaster last year. Continue reading→

Stand up for our City Manager at the Council meeting set for this Monday

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, David Benavides, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Paul Walters, Politics, Public Safety, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 52 Comments

Paul Walters, Behind the Badge

Supporters of Santa Ana City Manager Paul Walters are expected to turn out in large numbers at this Monday’s City Council meeting, on Jan. 7, 2013, at 5:45 pm, at the Council Chambers, at 22 Civic Center Plaza, in Santa Ana.

Walters has come under fire as the current Santa Ana City Council majority has decided to come after him even though he saved our city from a budget fiasco last year and is even now our best hope to resolve the State of California’s demand for the return of some $56 million dollars in redevelopment funds. Continue reading→

Santa Ana Political Chismes: is the Benavides Council cabal out of control?

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, David Benavides, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Taxes, Tom Daly, Vince Sarmiento 15 Comments

David Benavides supports the PBID

SARMIENTO WANTS TO CREATE A COMMITTEE TO DISCUSS DISSOLVING OTHER COMMITTEES

“The City Council has taken another step toward reducing the mayor’s authority by voting to give the council, rather than the mayor alone, the power to appoint members to council committees,” according to the O.C. Register.

I have no problem with that – in fact the Council Members hate serving on most of these committees and often run away from these assignments.  Now they have no excuse.

But here is the funny part: Continue reading→

Santa Ana City Attorney to resign if the Council fires Walters?

Posted on by Posted in Angelica Amezcua, Civic Affairs, David Benavides, Lawyers, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Sonia Carvalho, Vince Sarmiento 31 Comments

Sonia Rubio Carvalho

Santa Ana City Attorney Sonia R. Carvalho has apparently had enough of the amateurs on the Santa Ana City Council and she is allegedly planning to resign – if the Council fires City Manager Paul Walters, according to my sources at City Hall. 

Carvalho, a partner in the Municipal Law practice group of Best Best & Krieger LLP, currently serves as the city attorney for the City of Claremont as well.  She previously served as city attorney of Azusa (1998-2012), Colton (1998-2001) and Yorba Linda (2001-2010). Ms. Carvalho is also the co-chair of her law firm’s Public Policy and Ethics sub-practice group. Continue reading→

Exclusive – City Council to fire City Manager Paul Walters in January

Posted on by Posted in 2014 Elections, David Benavides, Labor, Miguel Pulido, Paul Walters, Politics, Public Safety, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 16 Comments

Paul Walters, Behind the Badge

EXCLUSIVE – The Santa Ana City Council met today in a last-minute closed-session to consider the fate of City Manager Paul Walters.  Don’t buy the B.S. that they were also reviewing the City Attorney’s performance.  She was tossed onto the agenda to make this look like less of a kangaroo court.

My sources tell me that a decision was made – the City Council will fire Walters at the second Council meeting in January, even though he has meant so much to this city over the years, building and managing a state-of-the-art prison that has turned a profit by leasing space to other police agencies; saving our city budget last year when things looked so bleak; and lowering crime throughout his tenure as our Chief of Police and City Manager, to levels not seen in our city in many, many years. Continue reading→

Our top ten Santa Ana news stories of 2012

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Angelica Amezcua, Bicycles, Carlos Bustamante, Cecilia Iglesias, Churches and Religion, Civic Affairs, David Benavides, Elections, Francisco Barragan, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Nadia Lockyer, Politics, Santa Ana, Tom Daly 1 Comment
Angelica Amezcua - or Angie Oliver, courtesy of the OC Register

Angelica Amezcua, courtesy of the OC Register

The year 2012 was a great year for news in Santa Ana.  I have reviewed all of our readership data and come up with our top ten stories in Santa Ana this year. Here they are:

  1. Mayor Miguel Pulido easily reelected as Council Member David Benavides loses badly, as we predicted.
  2. Council Member Carlos Bustamante busted for alleged sex crimes – and his twin brother Alfonso faced a civil suit too.
  3. The unknown and unfunded Ward 3 Council candidate Angelica Amezcua soundly defeats Team Benavides ally Eric Alderete. Continue reading→

Update: When will the Benavides Council dump Griset from the MWD Board?

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Alfredo Amezcua, Civic Affairs, Dan Griset, David Benavides, Democratic Party, Elections, John Palacio, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento, Water 52 Comments

Update: So now that the Benavides cartel is running the Santa Ana City Council, are they really going to be all about change?  If so when are they dumping Dan Griset from the Metropolitan Water District’s Board of Directors?  Don’t hold your breath – they already cut a deal with him.  Here is what we had to say on the subject back on Sep. 21, of this year:

Do you remember Dan Griset?  His father Lorin was the Mayor of Santa Ana from 1969 – 1973.  Dan followed suit, serving on the Santa Ana City Council from 1979-1992.  He was our Mayor for a time too.

Why am I bringing him up?  Well he can’t get elected to anything in Santa Ana anymore, but for many years he has been our city’s appointed representative to the Metropolitan Water District’s Board of Directors. Griset was appointed years ago by Mayor Miguel Pulido back in February of 2005, and even though some of our current Council Members have groused about it, he has stayed put for some time. Continue reading→

The Benavides Council cabal snaps up all the choice commission appointments

Posted on by Posted in Angelica Amezcua, Civic Affairs, David Benavides, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento, Water 9 Comments

Santa Ana City Council

The David Benavides cabal on the Santa Ana City Council didn’t wait long to show their true colors.  Their pals at the union-funded Voice of OC wrote that they “took another step Monday toward making good on their vow to strip Mayor Miguel Pulido of some of his power by taking away the mayor’s authority to make council subcommittee appointments.”  But what they really did was appoint themselves to all of the choice municipal commissions, thereby padding their paychecks.

Appointments included, courtesy of the Voice of OC: Continue reading→

Angelica Amezcua will pick the next Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Angelica Amezcua, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Elections, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 7 Comments

Angelica Amezcua – or Angie Oliver, courtesy of the OC Register

Can you believe it?  Newly elected Council Member Angelica Amezcua is now in a position to be the key vote that will determine who our next Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem will be.  How this happened is an interesting tale.

The “Santa Ana Spring” failed miserably this November, particularly when Amezcua beat her Team Benavides opponent, Eric Alderete.  She spent not a dime and he raised and spent a small fortune, for naught.  Now the Benavides cabal is down to three votes – David Benavides, Michele Martinez and newly elected Roman Reyna. Continue reading→

Pulido opposes the Downtown Santa Ana PBID tax!

Posted on by Posted in Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Estela Amezcua, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Taxes, Vince Sarmiento 14 Comments

“Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido said Monday he opposed allowing a controversial downtown property tax to continue, the mayor’s first declaration on the issue since he was given the OK by the city attorney to vote on the tax district,” according to the Voice of OC.

Even worse for the corrupt PBID crew at Downtown, Inc., Pulido is now part of a 4-2 Council majority that opposes the PBID.  The only PBID supporters that I am aware of are Council Members David Benavides and his longtime pal Carlos Bustamante.  Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez has been a solid leader against the PBID for some time, as has been Council Member Sal Tinajero.  Council Members Michele Martinez can’t vote on the PBID, as I understand it.  But if they could I think that if she could she would support it. Continue reading→

Council Member Martinez claims City’s water fee transfers are illegal

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Michele Martinez, Santa Ana, Water 9 Comments

“For years Santa Ana has been transferring millions of dollars raised from water fees to the general fund to cover public safety costs, a budget-balancing method that city officials say is justified but an attorney with a taxpayers advocates group calls illegal,” according to the Voice of OC.

Santa Ana Council Member Michele Martinez was the one who called the taxpayer group – the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.  But Martinez also admitted that she and her colleagues have “been approving city budgets without knowing that the water fund transfers were taking place.” Continue reading→

Outside interests launch cowardly attack on Mayor Pulido’s family

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Costa Mesa, David Benavides, Elections, Eric Alderete, Gangs, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Santa Ana 30 Comments

Mayor Pulido’s cowardly opponents have targeted his children

By now you have probably seen the horrible anonymous mailers that have been attacking Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido – accusing him and his family of hosting a party where a teen was reportedly raped.

The story was reported by the Voice of OC, an online news website that I have at this point lost all respect for.  Their seed funding came largely from the Orange County Employees Association, a government workers union headed up by Nick Berardino, who has had some unknown beef with Pulido for some time.  And the Voice of OC’s board members include lobbyist Joe Dunn, who tried to move the O.C. Federal Court of Appeals to Irvine but was famously blocked by Pulido. Continue reading→

Santa Ana’s voters should reject East L.A. style candidates

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, 2014 Elections, Claudia Alvarez, Culture, David Benavides, Elections, Eric Alderete, immigration, Latinos, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 100 Comments

As the stumbling “Santa Ana Spring” movement continues to unimpress, it is becoming obvious that David Benavides, the bogus revolution’s candidate for Mayor of Santa Ana, is going to lose on Nov. 6.  He is barely campaigning.  He is using recycled signs and he has yet to send out any campaign mailers.  His campaign appears to be centered on Facebook ads and ubiquitous blog comments by his number one supporter, Art Lomeli, a resident of Orange Park Acres.

Benavides, and his number one Council ally, Michele Martinez, were born here.  Benavides hails from East Los Angeles, according to his bio.  Martinez was raised here in Santa Ana, but apparently wasn’t born here as that information is absent from her own bio.  But she most certainly was born somewhere in the U.S. Continue reading→

Is the Benavides Council majority’s Santa Ana discount drug program a wreck?

Posted on by Posted in David Benavides, Health and Medical, Michele Martinez, Santa Ana, Seniors 1 Comment

I posted a press release a few weeks ago from the City of Santa Ana touting a discount drug program that the Benavides City Council majority had crafted with a company called Paramount Rx.  This was supposed to be a discount card that Santa Ana residents could use at local pharmacies to save money.  But hold on, a new article by the California Health Report implies that this program has been a total bust.  While Paramount Rx claims that our residents have saved 31%, the anecdotal evidence says otherwise.  Here are a few excerpts from that article, by investigative health reporter Helen Afrasiabi:

A discount drug card offered by the city of Santa Ana to help shoulder the exorbitant costs of prescription drugs has left some users asking “where is the discount?”

Cary, North Carolina-based Paramount Rx was chosen by the city among a few dozen proposals reviewed to contract with local pharmacies and facilitate this discount. Continue reading→

Who will defeat Tom Daly in 2014?

Posted on by Posted in 2014 Elections, David Benavides, Democratic Party, Elections, Julio Perez, Michele Martinez, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Tom Daly, Vince Sarmiento 6 Comments

It looks like we are going to be stuck with Tom Daly as our Assemblyman in the 69th Assembly District, with the news we broke today that his opponent, Jose Moreno, has withdrawn from the contest after being threatened with the loss of his job, via the federal Hatch Act.

But Daly is going to be toast in two years – and there will be no shortage of viable candidates available to take him out.

So who will defeat Daly in two years?  Here are the top contenders: Continue reading→