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Tag Archives: roman reyna

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→

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→

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→

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→

Newcomer to Santa Ana politics announces campaign for Ward 5

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Democratic Party, Elections, Karina Onofre, Latinos, Loretta Sanchez, Politics, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana 20 Comments

Karina Onofre has announced that she is running for Ward 5 on the Santa Ana City Council, which is currently represented by Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez, who has apparently termed out after serving for three four year terms.  Alvarez reportedly is going to sue to get on to the ballot.

Onofre works for a fellow named Mike Dalati, at Santa Ana Property Management, a company that manages rental properties.  She is also apparently the publisher of Mundo Latino Magazine, but their website appears to be defunct.  You can however learn a bit about this publication at this link.  Onofre states on that website that “Our goal with MUNDO LATINO WORLD magazine is to Strengthen Latinos & the Whole WORLD in unison with tips on healthcare, eating, excercising, love poem.”  I have never seen nor heard of this magazine but apparently Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez gave her an award for publishing it.  Sanchez must have dug those love poems! Continue reading→

SAUSD schools suck again – why do the Trustees keep getting elected?

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Democratic Party, Education, Politics, Santa Ana 27 Comments

How depressing.  The OC Weekly posted a number of articles featuring the worst Orange County elementary, middle and high schools.  The Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) dominated all three worst ten lists.  Now we know why SAUSD Trustee Audrey Noji sent her son to a high school in Irvine.

Noji was of course reelected last year, after her fellow Trustee, John Palacio (who maintains a second home in Arizona and is only here in CA on a part time basis) endorsed her.  Yes, he too was reelected. Continue reading→

New SAUSD textbook policy straining students’ backs and hurting learning

Posted on by Posted in Education, Health and Medical, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana, SAUSD, Youth Activities 13 Comments

SAUSD students and parents, as well as teachers and administrators are in an uproar over an ill-advised cost-cutting measure adapted by the SAUSD, apparently on the sly.

As of this year, SAUSD schools are not stocking extra “class sets” of textbooks in the classrooms.  Instead students are now required to carry their textbooks to and from school everyday without the opportunity of leaving them in lockers nor in the classroom. The total weight of carrying some of these textbooks can exceed 25 pounds. These books can contain over 400 pages each and the health issues related to students carrying these textbooks are immense.

“Over 92% of children in the United States carry backpacks that are typically loaded with 10% to 22% of their body weight,” write the researchers. “Thirty-seven percent of children aged 11 to 14 years report back pain, the majority of whom attribute the pain to wearing a school backpack,” according to WebMD. Continue reading→

Can Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez run for two more terms?

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, Elections, Politics, Santa Ana 4 Comments

Our reader, Cook, has often said that Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez is eligible to run for two more terms.  The thinking is that Measure D, which extended City Council term limits to three successive terms, also reset the clock for the incumbents who were in office when Measure D prevailed.

What this means is that Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez is not terming out in 2012.  Instead she will be able to run for two more terms.

I scoffed when Cook first mentioned this, but I am now hearing that folks in City Hall agree with him.   Get ready for two more terms of Mayor Pro Tem Alvarez!

This is of course bad news for SAUSD Trustee Roman Reyna, who was clearly getting ready to run for Alvarez’ Ward.  That option is now off the table.

Will anyone challenge Alvarez?  She has won with the most votes of any candidate every time she has run for the City Council.

If Alvarez can run for two more terms, it means she will be able, most likely, to continue to manage the Council Majority.  They have done incredible work this past year – bringing real change to City Hall and to our City Commissions.  I hope they can continue as a Majority in 2012!

Santa Ana’s progressive City Council majority may not be in charge for long

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Elections, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 21 Comments

A few folks in Santa Ana have been mighty perplexed about the current City Council majority.  I would definitely include failed Santa Ana Mayoral candidate Alfredo Amezcua in that number, along with former Mayoral candidate Thomas Gordon, and many former Santa Ana City Commissioners – who were give the boot by the current City Council majority.

You need four votes on the City Council in order to get anything done.  Currently the majority on the City Council is made up of Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez, along with Council Members Michele Martinez, Vincent Sarmiento and Sal Tinajero.  Mayor Miguel Pulido primarily goes along with the majority, although at times they differ.  Council Members David Benavides and Carlos Bustamante are sitting at the little kids’ table – utterly bereft of power and influence at City Hall.

But that could change in 2012.  Alvarez will be terming out.  I am not sure what she intends to do at that point.  She could run for Mayor, or for the SAUSD School Board.  Or she could walk away and concentrate on her job as a O.C. Deputy District Attorney.

Current SAUSD Trustee Romany Reyna is an ally of Benavides.  Reyna previously ran for the Council seat held by Alvarez and now all he has to do is wait for her to term out and run again.

I have however heard that Reyna is having second thoughts, as well he should.  If he runs for the Council in 2012, he will vacate his School Board seat.  If he loses his Council race he will be done in local politics.  I don’t know that he is willing to take that chance.  It depends on who ends up running against him for Alvarez’ seat on the City Council.

If Reyna does run for the Council, and he wins, and Bustamante is re-elected, they will surely team up with Benavides and likely with Mayor Pulido – and the new City Council majority will be quite different from the current majority.

Both Reyna and Benavides are religious conservatives.  Bustamante is a Republican.  Pulido is more moderate than that bunch, but he has been pulled to the left by the current Council majority.  There is no telling what this new right-leaning majority might do, once empowered.

Pulido will also face a few challengers in 2012, including the aforementioned Amezcua.  Past Republican Assembly candidate Otto Bade also told me recently that he intends to run for Mayor in 2012.  Bade lost his concession this year at the Santa Ana Zoo, where his La Perla restaurant will be replaced by a Knowlwood’s restaurant.

I think Amezcua and Bade would ally with the new, conservative faction if either one of them were to prevail against Pulido.

I also think that failed Mayoral candidate Charles Hart intends to run again in 2012.  Hart was recently appointed to the Republican Party of Orange County’s Central Committee, representing the  69th Assembly Caucus.  If he were to somehow win in 2012, perhaps as a result of a Latino vote split, I think he too would end up allying with the new, conservative faction.

To make matters worse for Alvarez and company, Councilman Sarmiento is likely to be running for Assemblyman Jose Solorio’s seat in the 69th Assembly District.  Sarmiento will be tough to beat.  As such, he will be vacating his City Council seat – and the Council majority will have to find someone to fill that spot.  That will happen after the November election, so if the new faction takes over, guess who will be appointing Sarmiento’s replacement?

And that’s not all.  I fully expect at least one or more of the other Council Members to run against O.C. Supervisor Janet Nguyen.  Either Sal Tinajero or Michele Martinez would have good odds of beating Nguyen, unless she redistricts her seat and adds more Vietnamese voters to it, while weakening the Latino vote, which she just might do.

So where does all this leave the people of Santa Ana?  It leaves us two years for our Council majority to get the job done, before they dissolve and/or get replaced.  That is a small window and it is closing fast.

If the majority fails to replace itself, the fact is that many of the ousted and bitter former City Commissioners will be back and business as usual will return to City Hall.  Imagine that – in two short years our progress might well be stopped and reversed.  That is a chilling thought.

Could SAUSD Trustee Roman Reyna beat GOP Supervisor Janet Nguyen in 2012?

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Elections, Janet Nguyen, Politics, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana, SAUSD 10 Comments

Well, it looks like none of the Santa Ana City Council Members are going to challenge Republican Supervisor Janet Nguyen in 2012, so are there any viable Democrats out there who might consider taking her on?

There are a few Democratic School Board Members in Anaheim, but Santa Ana still dominates Nguyen’s First District.

The only guy I can think of who might contend is Santa Ana Unified School District Trustee Roman Reyna.  He is up for reelection too, in 2012, but the Supervisorial election is in the spring, while Reyna would have to run for the School Board in November.  That means he could conceivably run against Nguyen in June – and even if he lost he would have increased his name I.D. considerably.  He could even re-use his signs and get a multi-use website, such as www.reyna2012.com. Continue reading→

Who will run for the Santa Ana City Council in 2012?

Posted on by Posted in Alfredo Amezcua, Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, David Benavides, Democratic Party, Elections, Janet Nguyen, Jose Solorio, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 7 Comments

This year’s Santa Ana City Council elections were a mixed bag.  On the one hand, mayoral challenger Alfredo Amezcua proved he could run a serious campaign – but he lost badly to Mayor Miguel Pulido, despite spending a quarter million, from what I hear.

The Council incumbents won handily.  Michele Martinez and David Benavides ran unopposed.  Sal Tinajero was challenged by Nam Pham and Helen Martinez.  They were not competitive.

But 2012 will be a different bag altogether.  Vice Mayor Claudia Alvarez is termed out.  Councilman Carlos Bustamante will be running for his third term – but this time he figures to draw heavy competition, after he was caught campaigning for Republican Assemblyman Van Tran, who challenged Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.  And Councilman Vince Sarmiento might leave the Council and run for Assemblyman Jose Solorio’s seat in the 69th A.D., creating an open seat on the Council.

Amezcua could run for Mayor again, but he ought to consider challenging Bustamante, who has been in cruise control for a few years.  If Amezcua does that, he might pick up support from folks who support Pullido but want Bustamante, who is the last Republican on the Santa Ana City Council, off the Council.

Who else might challenge Bustamante?  Well, how about past Assembly candidate Armando de la Libertad, who lives in the new CityPlace center?  He is very popular and he is very well connected in the O.C. business community.

Guess who else lives in Bustamante’s ward?  Popular SAUSD Trustee John Palacio, an ally of Amezcua.  Palacio just won a new term on the SAUSD School Board.  He would have a free shot at Bustamante’s seat.

What about Alvarez’ Ward?  The obvious leading candidate would have to be SAUSD Trustee Roman Reyna, who ran for the City Council before.  He works at the new Santa Ana YMCA and previously worked at the Boys and Girls Club.  He knows a lot of families in town, and he is also popular in the faith community.  He would be a formidable challenger, if he could raise enough money.

But it is unlikely that Tinajero, Martinez and Councilman Vince Sarmiento would back Reyna.  The danger for the progressive Council majority would be that Reyna would team up with Benavides, Pulido and Bustamante (if Bustamante won reelection) and form a new conservative Council majority.

Then again, who knows?  It is still very early in the game.  Alvarez’ ward includes the Artesia-Pilar and Washington Square Neighborhood Associations.  Both are full of activists and community leaders, including past SAUSD candidates Gloria Alvarado, Cecilia Aguinaga, Oscar Garza and Irene Ibarra, and past Rancho Santiago CCD candidate Lynette Verino, as well as former Councilman Tom Lutz and his wife Nancy, who lost to Alvarez many years ago.  And I think that Amezcua’s daughter Valerie might live in this Ward too.  She also ran for the SAUSD Board a couple years ago.

If Sarmiento leaves the Council to run for Solorio’s seat he might well end up running against AUHSD Trustee Jordan Brandman – and Solorio may go with Brandman instead of backing Sarmiento.  Of course Solorio will have to be careful as he may end up running against Supervisor Janet Nguyen in 2012.

So who might run for Sarmiento’s seat?  Community leader Jim Walker did pretty well in 2008, when he challenged Sarmiento.  He might run again.  But most likely we will see a number of Commissioners and Neighborhood leaders run for this Ward.

What about Pulido?  He won handily, again, this year.  I doubt anyone will challenge him this time, except for perhaps Amezcua.  Oh, you might see a few underdog candidates arise, but no one is going to defeat Pulido.  And don’t forget that 2012 will be a presidential election year.  Pulido will be helping Obama – and that means Obama will be helping him.  Game over for anyone who wants to take on Pulido…

Santa Ana YMCA Bill Night will prep young adults to be leaders

Posted on by Posted in Entertainment, Politics, Santa Ana, Youth Activities Leave a comment

California YMCA Youth & Government Santa Ana YMCA Delegation 63rd Model Legislature/Court would like to cordially invite you to the YMCA’s Annual Bill Night, on Wednesday, December 1st, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

City of Santa Ana’s Council Chambers, located at 22 Civic Center Plaza, in Santa Ana.

The YMCA Youth and Government Program is committed to preparing our young adults to become the next generation of leaders in business, politics, education and community activism. Youth participants discuss issues facing California, as well as ways to implement solutions through legislative and judicial process.

Bill Night is a hand-on learning experience where participants have the opportunity to promote a bill that they are passionate about. They will present to a panel of local community members who will select the most debatable bill to carry on to a five-day government experience in Sacramento. There students will role play as elected officials and take over the historic halls and chambers of the State Capitol and Supreme Court. The YMCA is the only non-profit organization that is able to take over the Capital and debate on the Assembly and Senate Floors.

For more information or if you would like to RSVP, please contact Roman Reyna at the YMCA (714) 865-9118 or rreyna@ymcaoc.net.

City leaders play hard in Nutrition Fair basketball game at Godinez High School

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Latinos, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Sports, Vince Sarmiento, Youth Activities Leave a comment

The Santa Ana 714 Nutrition and Fitness Fair was held today at Godinez High School, located adjacent to Centennial Park.  The highlight of the event was the basketball game between Santa Ana City Council Members, Santa Ana School Board Members, community organization activists, high school students and other city leaders.

Council Member Michele Martinez captained the red team, which included Councilman Vince Sarmiento and SAUSD School Board Member Roman Reyna.  Councilman Sal Tinajero captained the blue team, which featured businessman George Pla, and two members of the Santa Ana Planning Commission.  Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido was also supposed to be on the blue team, but he was late, having attended a function involving his daughter, and so he did not play, although he did stay and cheer for the blue team.

Watch the second video, below, to see which team won!

Click here  to see a list of the full rosters of the two basketball teams. Continue reading→