Mayor Miguel Pulido, with Angels owner Arte Moreno, and Council Members Vince Sarmiento and Michele Martinez

I have spent years fighting the folks at Santa Ana’s City Hall, and have been, quite frankly, brutal in writing about our Mayor, Miguel Pulido and our City Council.

The high point of the “revolution” was beating Pulido’s hand-picked candidates, Tino Rivera and Jennifer Villasenor, in 2006.  Michele Martinez beat Rivera, in Ward 2, and Sal Tinajero beat Villasenor, in Ward 6.  Both benefited from vote-splits that occurred when other challengers took votes away from Pulido’s picks.

The low point, for me, was when Tinajero allied with the Pulido majority.  I was not pleased, to say the least.

In 2008, Martinez inexplicably challenged Pulido.  I found out later that Alfredo Amezcua put her up to it.  He later denied it, but the source of that tidbit was Supervisor Janet Nguyen, with whom Amezcua is still allied.

The Janet Nguyen alliance with Alfredo Amezcua is most disturbing

I have a real issue with Amezcua’s alliance with Nguyen.  She already took over the Garden Grove City Council.  She got her carpetbagging former Chief of Staff, Andrew Do, elected in 2008.  She got her husband, Tom Bonikowski, appointed to the Planning Commission – even though he owns a restaurant that has been cited by the O.C. Health Department too many times to count.  She is planning, I hear, to run Bonikowski for the Garden Grove City Council, in 2012.  Hell will freeze over before I will let her take over the Santa Ana City Council as well!

After Martinez lost, she, like Tinajero, joined the Pulido majority.  I had long since buried the hatchet with Tinajero.  I came to see that he had no choice.  Nor did Martinez.  If they wanted to be effective Council Members they had to count to four – four votes on the Council.  Sans those votes they could not accomplish anything.

Since Martinez’ defeat however something unusual has happened.  She has pulled the Pulido majority to the left.  Tinajero has been a huge part of that as well, as has Councilman Vince Sarmiento.  And Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez has concurred.

One more down, one to go…

The result has been the unprecedented expulsion of the Usual Suspects from City Hall.  One by one the Usual Suspect City Commissioners have been booted off their Commissions, or asked to leave.  After Monday’s meeting, only one will remain, their Queen Bee, Julie Stroud.

The Pulido majority passed a resolution honoring Harvey Milk Day.  They passed a resolution condemning Arizona’s racist SB 1070 law.  And they refused to join Councilman David Benavides in honoring Lupe Moreno and her Minutemen.

Amezcua was lockstep with Pulido all those years I was fighting City Hall.  Even in 2008, he drove to Pulido’s election night party, in a limo, abandoning Martinez.  Only now, as the Pulido faction finally has come into good form, is Amezcua launching his ridiculous attempt at change.  Why change the Council now that they are doing good things?

As our recent post about Amezcua and his alliance with Janet Nguyen indicates, he has built a strange coalition of Latino activists, xenophobes, Usual Suspects and Republicans.  That is no change I want anything to do with!

Charles Hart?  No bueno…

Nor am I inclined to vote for the Usual Suspect Charles Hart.  I have supported George Collins in the past, but I think he is running just to get a few of his issues out, during the debates.  And I am not comfortable with his views on immigrants.

Ultimately our next Mayor has to be able to count to four – four votes on the Council.  None of the challengers will be able to do that.  The only one who can is Pulido.

The City of Santa Ana is at a crossroads.  Our city has a massive structural deficit.  Businesses are closing in droves.  Now more than ever we need a Council that can take action, not one that will be hamstrung by clueless hacks.

So after all these years I am voting for the only candidate that is at all reasonable and effective.  Miguel Pulido.  Be disappointed if you want, but I have always fought for the betterment of our working people.  We cannot take a chance now on a gasbag like Amezcua.

The Pulido majority helped me move the Santa Ana Zoo free day to the third Sunday of the month

Will I agree with everything Pulido does?  No.  But I have found him and the Council to be very accessible.  Many of the my proposals have been implemented this year.  They changed the free day at the Santa Ana Zoo to a Sunday, at my request.  They swept the brush at Santiago Park and conducted a decoy sweep that resulted in the arrest of numerous perverts.  They are considering my dog park proposal.  They have started to use the Google language translator widget on their city website.  All of these were my ideas – and they were open to them.

Pulido and his team know that if I don’t like their position on an issue they will be hearing from me.  And I know they will take my comments seriously.  What more can I ask for?

This Council majority is advancing affordable housing; supporting new developments that will bring jobs to our city; and doing what they can to serve our residents even in these tough times.  For those reasons and more Pulido has my vote, as do Council Members Martinez and Tinajero.  I will not be wasting my vote on Benavides, although he does not face an opponent.  He, like Amezcua, is allied with the Usual Suspects.  Some people never learn…