New Santa Ana | Category Archives: Sal Tinajero

Loretta Sanchez, Sal Tinajero and Brett Franklin all vying for the RSCCD College Board this November

Posted on September 13, 2020 by Editor Posted in 2020 Elections, Anaheim, Brett Franklin, Education, Loretta Sanchez, Mike Gonzalez, Orange, Orange County, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Loretta Sanchez must surely regret walking away from a safe House seat a few years ago, when he ran instead for the U.S. Senate and got trounced by Kamala Harris, who beat Sanchez by over 2.5 million votes. How galling it must be for Sanchez to now watch Harris run for Vice President while Sanchez has continued to lose. Sanchez moved from Santa Ana to Orange and ran against Don Wagner for the 3rd O.C. Supervisorial District in 2019. He beat her by 4,000 votes.

Sanchez will however be back on the ballot this November as she vies for Area 7 of the Rancho Santiago Community College District. Sanchez is running against another Democrat, Tina Arias Miller, who is a Community College Director. Read Miller’s candidate statement here. You can also check out her campaign website here. Read the Sanchez candidate statement here.

Miller’s Linkedin Page shows that she currently works for the North Orange County Community College District and she previously worked at Santa Ana College.

As for Sanchez, her Linkedin Page shows she has done nothing of import since unwisely leaving the House of Representatives.

Sanchez may have a tough time in her latest campaign as Area 7 includes Villa Park and most of the City of Orange. There are a lot of conservative voters in that Area and they won’t likely be moved to vote for Sanchez.

Ironically former Santa Ana City Councilman Sal Tinajero is also running for the Rancho Santiago Community College District, in Area 3. It is ironic because he was the one who coached Sanchez for her televised debate with Kamala Harris. It was Tinajero who allegedly advised Sanchez to dab during her presentation. Well that did not work out well for Sanchez, who was ridiculed nationally for dabbing. You can read Tinajero’s candidate statement here. Tinajero forgot to mention in his statement that he was the architect of the failed Santa Ana Measure X sales tax increase that accomplished nothing for Santa Ana, except for paying old debts and giving the police union a huge raise.

Tinajero, like Sanchez, lost his last campaign, in 2018, when he ran for Mayor of Santa Ana. The incumbent, Miguel Pulido, won by less than a thousand votes. Pulido terms out this year and he lost his race for the O.C. Board of Supervisors in this year’s March Primary Election.

Curiously neither Sanchez nor Tinajero are publicizing their respective campaigns for the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Board of Education. Neither has a campaign website up and both have failed to launch a Facebook campaign page as well. Perhaps they are assuming victory? That is a dangerous play as the voters have choices and may opt to vote for their opponents.

Tinajero is running against the very successful Santa Ana businessman Mike Gonzalez, who has operated a security guard business for many years while also operating a number of local restaurants and nightclubs. Read Gonzalez’ candidate statement here. He has a personal connection to Santa Ana College as he took coursework there when he was younger that later helped him as he started to open his own businesses.

Former Santa Ana City Councilman and successful businessman Brett Franklin is also running for the Rancho Santiago Community College District this November, in Area 5, which extends through north Santa Ana all the way to Euclid and includes the Floral Park Neighborhood and part of the Park Santiago Neighborhood. Click here to read Franklin’s candidate statement.

Brett Franklin and his family at the Grand Canyon

As a two-term City Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem, Brett oversaw a balanced city budget in each of 8 years. He’s also been a strong supporter of the museums, arts and culture movement and helped spearhead the Reading City literacy program, which is now a model nationwide.

Franklin grew up in Santa Ana. His dad was a Marine Corps jet pilot and his mom was a Registered Nurse. Franklin graduated from Santa Ana public schools, including Santiago Elementary, Willard Intermediate, and Santa Ana High. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business from Westmont College.

Franklin met his wife Rossette while attending language school in Costa Rica. She worked as a teacher’s aide for disabled children in the SAUSD and they raised their son and daughter here in Santa Ana. Rosette attended Santa Ana College, where she learned English and earned an AA degree before moving on to Vanguard University where she completed her degree in psychology.

Franklin is opposed this November by two political neophytes, David Crockett and Samuel Ulloa. While Crockett bought a candidate’s statement and has a campaign website, Ulloa did not. Crockett says he is an Affordable Healthcare Manager. Ulloa’s Facebook page says that “Samuel Ulloa is a 1st generation American and 1st generation college graduate focused on making sure our community colleges are safe, affordable, and providing quality education.”

The incumbents on the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Board of Trustees have piled on vast amounts of debt via multiple bond measures in the past few years then have squandered much of that money on union-only Project Labor Agreements. We hope that the businessmen and other candidates running for this Board in November will prevail and bring with them increased fiscal prudence and better oversight of taxpayer proceeds.

The architect of Santa Ana’s failed Measure X tax increase wants your vote again this November

Posted on September 5, 2020 by Editor Posted in 2020 Elections, Education, Elections, Orange County, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Taxes Leave a comment

As Santa Ana City Councilman Sal Tinajero was terming out of his office he doomed Santa Ana with a parting gift – a massive sales tax increase known as Measure X.

Measure X increased the local sales tax by an extra 1.5 percent, with a promise that the new money would go toward things like neighborhood safety, homeless prevention and essential city services such as street and park maintenance, according to the O.C. Register.

The increase pushed our local sales tax in Santa Ana to a whopping 9.25 percent, the highest in Orange County!

Over the next ten years the new tax is projected to increase the city’s general fund by about $60 million a year. But guess what? It turns out Measure X was a shell game. Most of the money, about $43 million a year, is being used to pay down city debts.

The City of Santa Ana also spends more than half of its taxpayer-funded general fund on public safety, specifically the police department, which this fiscal year accounts for $133 million in city spending and includes salaries for employees, according to the Voice of OC.

The taxpayers were fooled by Tinajero, who signed the ballot statement in favor of Measure X.

Tinajero is running in this November’s general election for the Rancho Santiago Community College District Board of Trustees seat that was vacated by Nelida Mendoza, who is now on the Santa Ana City Council.

Tinajero is a public school teacher so no doubt many voters will be swayed to vote for him but take a moment and ponder if it is a good idea to vote for a guy who totally screwed Santa Ana residents with Measure X?

Fortunately Tinajero will have an opponent this November, local businessman Mike Gonzalez. Unlike Tinajero, who has spent his whole adult life working for the government, Gonzalez has opened, bought and managed quite a few businesses over the years. He is a job creator and right now that is the mindset we need at Santa Ana College.

The COVID-19 pandemic has left a terrible mark on Santa Ana with thousands of people out of work, hundreds of business bankrupt and students unable to attend classes. What we need now is visionary leaders who can help our institutions to make their way in this uncertain world, not bureaucrats who always resort to raising taxes instead of corralling waste or trying to improve government services.

A preview of this November’s Santa Ana Mayoral election

Posted on May 23, 2020 by Editor Posted in 2020 Elections, Benjamin Vazquez, Cecilia Iglesias, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, Elections, Jose Solorio, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 1 Comment

The recently concluded Santa Ana Recall Election was a grueling experience but it won’t be long before we start getting bombarded by mail yet again from the candidates for the Santa Ana Mayor’s race. This November we will be asked to choose the successor to longtime Mayor Miguel Pulido, who is finally going ot term out after over 20 years in office.

The City of Santa Ana has not yet posted the candidates who are running for Mayor, but here is a rundown of the candidates I know are running and those who might be considering running:

Jose Solorio, Santa Ana City Council Member and former State Assemblyman
Cecilia Iglesias, former SAUSD Trustee and recently recalled Santa Ana City Council Member (the Recall results have not been certified yet but it is pretty much over a this point)
Claudia Alvarez, Rancho Santiago Community College District Trustee, former Santa Ana City Council Member and a prosecutor at the O.C. District Attorney
Vince Sarmiento, Santa Ana City Council Member
Benjamin Vazquez, SAUSD teacher and a past failed Santa Ana Mayoral candidate
Sal Tinajero – Former Santa Ana City Council Member and former SAUSD Trustee, and currently a debate coach and teacher at the SAUSD

All of the above candidates are registered Democrats except for Iglesias. Folks always count her out but Iglesias has a history of winning tough races. She may have been recalled from the City Council this month but she could win a mayor’s race where all the other candidates are talking from the same liberal playbook.

Solorio is expected to have the biggest campaign warchest. He was a champion fundraiser for the Democratic Party when he was in Sacramento and today he works at a law firm doing essentially lobbying. He has major connections both in Orange County and in Sacramento. But the NIMBY’s hate him and he lost his last big race, when he challenged then State Senator Janet Nguyen a few years ago.

Alvarez has always had mayoral ambitions. But she she stepped in it big time a few years ago when she compared a DTSA landlord to Hitler only to find out he was the descendant of Holocaust survivors. She has a sweet smile but you always have to worry about the knife she is holding behind her back.

Sarmiento has steadily drifted to the left over the years but he has a history of turning on his friends. Pulido helped him to get onto the City Council years ago and sure enough Sarmiento turned on him. Recently Sarmiento flipped on his longtime supporter, Ryan Ogulnick, as Sarmiento came out against the 2525 N. Main St. apartment project that he had previously supported. Sarmiento has been so squishy on the issues over the years that he has failed to build much of a voter base.

Tinajero has not yet announced that he is running but he barely lost to Pulido last time around so the thought of running again must surely be on his mind. The amiable Tinajero is a master at working with the national media and he recently was able to get the Santa Ana High School Valedictorian onto a national T.V. program honoring 2020 graduates. And while Sarmiento allied with Bernie Sanders, Tinajero has been connected with both Barack Obama and Joe Biden for years. He would be a compelling candidate if he jumps in again.

The rabble-rousing Vazquez, like Sarmiento, is a Berniecrat. His biggest beef is with the police. He is, like Tinajero, a local public school teacher, but he is very far left. He has run for Mayor before and I can certainly see him doing so again as none of the others on the ballot will be socialist enough for his taste.

There may be other candidates emerging in a few months. None of the candidates noted above appeals much to the NIMBYs or the Asian voters. One guy who does is current Santa Ana Council Member Phil Bacerra but he tells me he has only been on the Council for a year and he doesn’t think it is his place to run for Mayor yet. But I could see him changing his mind if enough people ask him to jump into the race.

Who will you vote for in November for Santa Ana Mayor?

Santa Ana High School’s Valedictorian was featured on national TV

Posted on May 16, 2020 by Editor Posted in Education, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, SAUSD Leave a comment

Santa Ana High School Valedictorian Priscilla Arceo gave an amazing televised speech tonight as she represented our city in the #GraduateTogether telecast, for the Class of 2020, with President Barack Obama and Lakers great Lebron James.

Arceo credited her mom, during her speech, for having the courage to leave her abusive husband, and for working so hard to help Arceo to succceed. She is now heading to U.C. Santa Barbara.

Arceo was one of several students highlighted in an O.C. Register article published in 2013 about the effort to educate people about the dangers posed by diabetes. At the time Arceo was a student at Heninger Elementary School.

Our graduates missed out on having formal graduations and proms because of the COVID-19 pandemic but Arceo has reminded us how awesome our young people are. They have a bright future despite our grim present.

I am told by the way that former Santa Ana City Councilman Sal Tinajero, a debate coach and teacher at the SAUSD, had a lot do to with getting Arceo onto the TV program tonight. Kudos to Tinajero for doing this!

Mayor Pulido will not advance to the First District General Election in November

Posted on March 16, 2020 by Editor Posted in 2020 Elections, Andrew Do, Elections, Miguel Pulido, Orange County, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Sergio Contreras Leave a comment

The Orange County Voter Registrar has just about tied up the results of this year’s March Primary Election. It is safe to say now that Westminster City Councilman Sergio Contreras will advance to the November Primary to face off against incumbent Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do, in the First District of the O.C. Board of Supervisors.

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido trails Contreras currently by 2,147 votes. That number has not shifted in some time.

It is a surprise end to Pulido’s political career that few expected. He is terming out this year as Mayor of Santa Ana after over 20 years. In that time he brought a lot of positive change to our city but he antagonized the liberals because he was always a pro-business moderate.

In hindsight perhaps we should have seen this coming as Contreras was assisted from the start by Pulido’s old nemesis, former Santa Ana City Councilman Sal Tinajero. You might recall that Tinajero barely lost to Pulido in the last Santa Ana Mayoral race.

Contreras was very active in social media and he garnered the endorsement of the Democratic Party of Orange County, which has shifted far left over the past few years. He also got a lot of support from the area’s more liberal unions.

That said it is highly unlikely that Contreras can beat Do. While the First District has shifted to the blue column Contreras is very liberal and the voters in the district tend to be more moderate. Do also will outraise him by a country mile.

Here is Contreras’ bio:

Sergio Contreras, a husband, father, homeowner, and registered Democrat, has served on the Westminster City Council since 2012, where he successfully championed the largest upgrade to Westminster’s park system since 1996, encompassing 22 park facilities and representing a $10.4 million investment in the community. Contreras oversaw the city’s first general plan update in decades. He also placed emergency call boxes in all Westminster parks to enhance public safety, and fought to place outdoor exercise equipment in local parks to improve public health Contreras accomplished all of this at no cost to the city’s General Fund, showing how to do more with less.

Contreras previously served on the Westminster School Board from 2004 to 2012, including serving as president of the board in 2012. On the School Board, Contreras helped pass a $130 million school bond to modernize Westminster’s school facilities and make them safer. In that role, he established an all-day kindergarten system, making Westminster School District the first in Orange County to provide day-long kindergarten at all school sites. Contreras also increased access to music and arts programs districtwide, while expanding afterschool programs.

Contreras works as the Senior Director of Education and Healthy Schools for the Orange County United Way, where he helps oversee dispersal of funds to students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

Born and raised in Orange County, Sergio attended Westminster High School and Orange Coast Community College before transferring to California State University Long Beach, where he received his BA and MPA.

Sergio currently lives in Westminster with his wife Adriana and their daughter and son.

Former SAUSD School Board member Nativo Lopez passed away today

Posted on May 19, 2019 by Editor Posted in John Palacio, Nativo Lopez, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, SAUSD 2 Comments

Nativo Lopez, Executive Director of Hermandad Mexicana, died today, at the age of 68, according to a press release issued by his organization.

Last week, Hermandad Mexicana, shared that López had been diagnosed with a gastrointestinal malignant tumor in March and sought chemotherapy treatment at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange, according to the OC Weekly.

Hermandad Mexicana will be hosting a memorial service in remembrance of Lopez’ life and legacy, in the coming days. In the meantime they are asking for donations to pay for his funeral expenses, which you can make online here.

Lopez, born in Los Angeles, grew up in Norwalk, California. He became an activist in 1968, inspired by Bert Corona and Cesar Chavez. Prior to college at UCLA and California State University, Dominguez Hills, Lopez who was born Larry Nativo Lopez, changed his name to Nativo Vigil Lopez.[1] He organized student walk-outs from high schools in order to demonstrate for education reform. He was involved in successful efforts to win a large-scale amnesty for undocumented immigrants in 1986, and became involved in a campaign to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain drivers’ licenses in the 1990s, according to Wikipedia.

Lopez was elected to the SAUSD School Board back in 1997, where he formed an alliance with his fellow board members John Palacio and Sal Tinajero. But he was ultimately recalled from office in 2003 after multi-millionaire Ron Unz sided with local moms who wanted their kids to be taught in English, not in Spanish. Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido supported the recall, which was stunningly successful. Lopez lost in every precinct and the recall got 71% of the vote.

Lopez then sued to challenge the use of English-only recall petitions as a violation of the Voting Rights Act, and won in the Ninth Circuit federal appeals court.

A major factor in the recall was an effort by Lopez and his allies to build a neighborhood elementary school in north Santa Ana, which at the time was populated mostly by white Republicans. They joined forces with Unz to knock Lopez out of office.

Ironically Lopez and Palacio were both Republicans back during the Nixon/Reagan era. But they left the GOP a long time ago and Lopez used his Facebook page to slam President Donald Trump quite regularly.

In 2001, Nativo’s group, Hermandad Mexicana, put out ads on Spanish-language radio station KKHJ-AM 930 which called then-California governor Gray Davis a “pinche güerito”–a “f*cking little white man,” according to the OC Weekly.

Lopez later told the Weekly “That particular version of our ad is not in line with the philosophy of Hermandad, and we do not approve of it. It distracts from the main message and is racially offensive to Anglo-Americans.”

Lopez then tried to claim that it was the radio station that put in the word “pinche,” an assertion quickly refuted by station management–and not only that, when the “cleaner” version came back, it still called Davis a “güerito,” and Lopez stood by it, despite it still had the part he deemed “racially offensive to Anglo-Americans.”

Lopez also inadvertently helped the notorious Curt Pringle to get elected Mayor of Anaheim, in 2002, when they both supported the efforts of Gigante, a Mexican supermarket chain, as they tried to get a liquor license for a new location in Anaheim, as reported by the OC Weekly.

Lopez got busted in 2009 by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office when he switched his voter registration to the Boyle Heights, Los Angeles office of Hermandad Mexicana, the group he led, and allegedly cast an illegal ballot in Los Angeles County in the 2008 presidential primary, rather than Orange County. He was charged with eight felony counts, including voter-registration fraud, perjury, filing a false instrument, and fraudulent voting.

The trial did not go well. Lopez was jailed twice after conflicts with judges. He then underwent several hearings and evaluations to determine his mental competency to stand trial, and he then suddenly fired his lawyer and chose to represent himself in mid-2009.

Lopez eventually pleaded guilty to one felony count of voter registration fraud and the seven other felony charges were dropped. Lopez was sentenced to one year of probation by Judge William C. Ryan, and ordered to perform 400 hours of community service.

That was a low point in Lopez’ career but he later was instrumental in passing a law, AB 60, which resulted in one million undocumented immigrants being granted drivers licenses in California. He also led a statewide effort in 2018 to convince Latino residents of California to not cooperate with the police, according to the Mercury News.

Lopez is survived by his wife, Maria Rosa Lopez, and their four children: Taina, Xel’ha, Olmo and Aime.

What really happened at last Friday’s botched Santa Ana City Council meeting

Posted on January 7, 2019 by Editor Posted in Cecilia Iglesias, Civic Affairs, David Penaloza, Jose Solorio, Juan Villegas, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Raul Godinez, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 3 Comments

Santa Ana City Councilmembers Vincent Sarmiento, Jose Solorio, Roman Reyna and David Penaloza tried to pull a fast one last Friday at a last minute special session of the Santa Ana City Council.

What this boiled down to was an attempt by Solorio to fire the current Santa Ana City Manager, Raul Godinez, who was a terrible hire, and replace him with an interim manager of his choice.

But Solorio, who should know better, got punked when Mayor Miguel Pulido, Mayor Pro Tem Juan Villegas and City Councilwoman Ceci Iglesias blew off the special meeting on Friday. You see firing Godinez takes five votes – and Solorio was only able to come up with four votes on Friday.

Solorio and Sarmiento spent the last year ripping the Santa Ana Police Officers Association but now that union is allegedly playing footsie with Solorio, who they believe is going to be our next Mayor, in two years, when Pulido terms out. Which is why Penaloza went along with Solorio on Friday.

Solorio may have fashioned an ad hoc City Council majority, with Penaloza now in league with him, but he won’t be able to fire Godinez without a fifth vote. And that simply is not going to happen.

Make no mistake – Godinez is toast. But he will leave when Pulido decides to oust him. And Pulido won’t let Solorio decide the terms of Godinez’ ouster – or his replacement.

As for Solorio, he needs to calm down. He may have a boatload of campaign cash but he won’t be the only Democrat running for Mayor in two years. It is very likely that former City Council Members Sal Tinajero and Michele Martinez, and maybe even Claudia Alvarez, will run for Mayor.

Now imagine if a fiscal conservative, like Iglesias, decides to run for Mayor in two years? She will easily win if the Democrats split their votes three or four ways.

The Santa Ana Police Officers Association is really blundering by getting in bed with Solorio. Now they have antagonized Pulido and Villegas. Iglesias was already upset with them after they spent a small fortune trying to beat her in last November’s election. They are giving Penaloza bad advice by asking him to team up with Solorio, Sarmiento and Reyna. I am shocked that they would have anything to do with Reyna after they ripped him mercilessly for his alleged connections to the Mexican Mafia!

Cooler heads will ultimately prevail. I expect Penaloza will realize his error and team up with the real City Council majority – then Godinez can go his merry way and we can finally hire a competent City Manager.

Remember Godinez only got the job because he is Hispanic. That is what Tinajero told Pulido at the time. That sort of racist thinking will hopefully be set aside now. We need a great City Manager – irrespective of his or her race.

Mayor Pulido finally has a City Council majority he can work with

Posted on December 18, 2018 by Editor Posted in Civic Affairs, Miguel Pulido, Raul Godinez, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana 1 Comment

The last few years have been very tough on longtime Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido. He has had to contend with a veritable cast of clowns as Councilman Sal Tinajero and his cronies took over the Santa Ana City Council majority.

Tinajero and company hired two awful City Managers in a row – and vastly overpaid them. Even worse they hired these yokels primarily because they were Hispanic – not because they were any good at their jobs.

Tinajero also wrote and backed a ballot measure that imposed term limits on Pulido – although Tinajero has nothing to say about the lack of term limits on the SAUSD School Board, where his ally John Palacio has been in power almost as long as Pulido.

And Tinajero also fooled the voters into giving the City Council members a raise – and he also made sure all the fat cat executives at our City Hall got raises.

Tinajero’s worst move however almost bankrupted our city when he forced ICE out of our City Jail – leaving our City no way to pay back millions in construction bond measures.

Tinajer’s final overreach was trying to topple Pulido himself this year in the Mayoral race. But Pulido got the last laugh. It was a close battle but Pulido prevailed.

Even better most of TInajero’s City Council candidates were soundly rejected by the voters. The unhinged socialist that is Paul Gonzales lost in Ward 2 to David Penaloza and the lazy campaigner Nelida Mendoza lost to Ceci Iglesias in Ward 6. Tinajero only prevailed in Ward 4 when he engineered a terrible smear campaign that toppled Pulido ally Phil Bacerra, allowing former Ward 5 City Councilman Roman Reyna to sneak back onto the City Council.

However Pulido now has a terrific City Council majority he can work with. I expect him to ally with Penaloza and Iglesias in addition to veteran City Councilman Juan Villegas.

You only have to know how to count to four to be an effective City Councilman in Santa Ana. Now Pulido has four votes on the City Council. He is now the majority leader and Tinajero has been left out in the cold.

I expect that Pulido and company will be booting our awful City Manager, Raul Godinez, any day now.

What else can we expect in the days to come? Well you can bet that Pulido and his City Council allies will boot the rest of the Council Members from the local boards and commissions they serve on. And the new majority will also take over the City Council committees.

Pulido’s main goal this coming year is to see to it that the OC Streetcar gets completed. He has spent his whole life redeveloping our city and his legacy is beyond reproach. Everywhere you look you see the businesses and organizations that Pulido helped to bring to our city.

Santa Ana is a hot mess but at least now we have a fiscally conservative City Council majority. I expect they will do great things in Pulido’s last term.

It’s going to be up to the Millennials to save the City of Santa Ana

Posted on November 25, 2018 by Editor Posted in 2018 elections, Cecilia Iglesias, Civic Affairs, Dave Ream, David Penaloza, Elections, Juan Villegas, Miguel Pulido, Nelida Mendoza, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana 4 Comments

Santa Ana’s baby boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. I just missed that time period – marking me as a member of Gen X. The baby boomers love to point fingers at the up and coming Millennials but a new book suggests that it is the boomers who are to blame for many of today’s societal problems.

Bruce Gibney argues in his new book “A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America,” that the boomers have committed “generational plunder,” pillaging the nation’s economy, repeatedly cutting their own taxes, financing two wars with deficits, ignoring climate change, presiding over the death of America’s manufacturing core, and leaving future generations to clean up the mess they created. Continue reading→

Would you hire the Santa Ana political candidates you are voting for?

Posted on November 5, 2018 by Editor Posted in 2018 elections, Angie Rosario Cano, Art Pedroza, Cecilia Aguinaga, Cecilia Iglesias, Civic Affairs, David Penaloza, Education, John Palacio, Jose Solorio, Juan Villegas, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Nelida Mendoza, Paul Gonzales, Phil Bacerra, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, SAUSD Leave a comment

As voters we sometimes fail to recognize that electing someone to represent us on any elective body, such as the Santa Ana City Council or the Santa Ana Unified School District’s Board of Education, is similar to hiring someone to work for us. We are entrusting these candidates to do right by the community.

But if you were hiring someone to work for you, would you consider the folks who are running for local office in Santa Ana this year? In that case what factors would you weigh in trying to determine who to support for local offices? Continue reading→

Don’t let Santa Ana’s cop haters win in this year’s General Election

Posted on October 16, 2018 by Editor Posted in 2018 elections, Angie Rosario Cano, Art Pedroza, Benjamin Vazquez, Crime, David Penaloza, Irma Macias, John Palacio, Miguel Pulido, Mike Gonzalez, Mirna Velasquez, Nelida Mendoza, Paul Gonzales, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Sandra Pena, Santa Ana, SAUSD, Valerie Amezcua 4 Comments

I was at an SAUSD school board forum last week and was shocked when some of the boorish radicals in the audience booed when they heard that I got a contribution from the Santa Ana Police Officers Association. Most folks in Santa Ana don’t hate the police. But a small, very vocal minority does. And they are backing a slate of candidates that we need to steer clear of.

The chief anti-police rabble rouser appears to be failed Socialist Mayoral candidate Benjamin Vasquez. His favored candidates this year include: Continue reading→

The City of Santa Ana has fined a local business for a mess made by a homeless vagrant!

Posted on October 6, 2018 by Editor Posted in 2018 elections, Crime, homeless, Michele Martinez, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana 1 Comment

Kim Riker moved her company, Rice Drywall Inc., a 45-year-old family business, to Santa Ana from its longtime home in South El Monte back in 2010. She must surely regret that now! The City of Santa Ana has actually fined her business $800 for the mess left outside their walls by a homeless vagrant, according to the O.C. Register.

This is outrageous! It is obvious that the city workers who issued a fine to Rice Drywall, Inc. are completely worthless and should be fired. This ridiculous action also means that we need to ensure that we get new leadership on the City Council. Fortunately several of the incumbents are termed out. One of them, Mayor Pro Tem Michele Martinez, was contacted by Riker – and did not bother to respond to her constituent. Continue reading→

Sal Tinajero’s entire team of City Council candidates is opposing his Measure X sales tax increase

Posted on September 30, 2018 by Editor Posted in 2018 elections, Ballot Measures, Nelida Mendoza, Politics, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Sandra Pena, Santa Ana, Taxes 2 Comments

Santa Ana City Councilman Sal Tinajero

I attended two Santa Ana City Council candidate forums recently and was astonished to hear every single candidate for the Santa Ana City Council come out publicly against Measure X. Sal Tinajero, who is termed out and is running for Mayor of Santa Ana, is the only candidate still publicly backing Measure X (although he doesn’t mention it on his campaign website).

It is generally a very bad idea for a political candidate to run on a platform based in raising our taxes. Perhaps this is why Tinajero’s City Council candidates – Roman Reyna in Ward 4; Sandra Pocha Pena Sarmiento in Ward 2; and Nelida Mendoza in Ward 6 have all publicly turned their backs on Tinajero’s Measure X.

Measure X, if it passes, will result in Santa Ana having the highest sales tax in Orange County. That will result in several awful consequences: Continue reading→

Why do Santa Ana’s overpaid local politicians keep trying to raise our taxes?

Posted on August 14, 2018 by Editor Posted in Civic Affairs, John Palacio, Politics, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, SAUSD, Valerie Amezcua 2 Comments

If you see a meth addict begging for money outside a McDonald’s and you give him twenty bucks chances are that he will buy one item off the restaurant’s dollar menu and spend the rest of the money on drugs. Local governments act the very same way. No matter how much tax money they take from us they always find a way to blow most of it and then come back to us for more money.

That is precisely what is happening in Santa Ana right now. The Santa Ana Unified School District has already begged us for millions twice before with two previous bond measures. Now they are back with their hat in hand begging for millions more – even though other area school districts are finding ways to improve their facilities without passing bond measures. Continue reading→

Who you will be voting for in November for the Santa Ana City Council and the SAUSD School Board

Posted on August 11, 2018 by Editor Posted in 2018 elections, Angie Rosario Cano, Art Pedroza, Ballot Measures, Bond Measures, Cecilia Aguinaga, Cecilia Iglesias, Civic Affairs, David Penaloza, Education, Irma Macias, John Palacio, Miguel Pulido, Mirna Velasquez, Nelida Mendoza, Paul Gonzalez, Phil Bacerra, Politics, Roman Reyna, Sal Tinajero, Sandra Pena, Santa Ana, SAUSD, Valerie Amezcua 6 Comments

When I spoke with Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido earlier this week he was not yet sure if he was going to run for what will be his last two-year term. Since them Pulido has indeed pulled papers and he will be on the November 6 ballot. He will face off against termed-out Santa Ana City Councilman Sal Tinajero, who has been garnering a lot of media attention of late due to his leadership of the SAUSD Debate Team. The path for Tinajero was cleared when his colleague, Mayor Pro Tem Michele Martinez, opted to not run for Mayor after all. She too is terming out from the Santa Ana City Council.

No question about it – the Tinajero versus Pulido race will be the big contest in the General Election. But the race for Santa Ana’s Ward 2 will also be sure to garner a lot of attention as no less than six candidates have pulled papers. Here are the Ward 2 candidates: Continue reading→