Well the dust has finally cleared and we now know who is running for the Santa Ana City Council in this November’s General election.
The Mayor’s race lost many of the candidates who had pulled papers, including State Senator Lou Correa and Santa Ana Councilman Vince Sarmiento. The incumbent, Mayor Miguel Pulido, is running again and he will be facing off against first term Council Member Roman Reyna and a fellow named Mark I. Lopez, who is an entrepreneur/soldier, according to the Voice of OC.
Incumbent Santa Ana council member Michele Martinez is running for reelection in Ward 2 and will be challenged by Mirna Velasquez and Gilad Salmon. Velasquez is a businesswoman who also works for a local ministry. Salmon is a web developer.
Councilman David Benavides lost badly when he challenged Pulido in 2012. Benavides will be running for reelection in Ward 4. He is being opposed by a new challenger, paralegal Alex Padilla.
Mayor Pro Tem Sal Tinajero is also up for reelection. Business owner Miguel “Mike” Gonzalez is Tinajero’s sole opponent as insurance advisor Nam Pham withdrew his papers, according to the Voice of OC.
Pulido figures to have an easy time beating his opponents. That does not bode well for the other Council incumbents who are running for reelection as it means that Pulido will be able to help the other Council challengers. And he will. I know for a fact that Pulido is sick and tired of dealing with a lame Council that has spent 90% of their time going after him instead of conducting city business.
The Council challengers will have plenty of ammunition for their campaigns. Crime has spun out of control since the Council majority got rid of former SAPD Police Chief Paul Walters and while the new City Manager says the budget is balanced that doesn’t include the huge amount of money we will have to come up with to pay the pensions and health benefits of retired Santa Ana city workers, including police and firemen who get to retire at 55 with pensions that are often in the six figures per year. And huge swaths of the city including the more affluent northern areas are full of vacancies as one business after another packs up and leaves town.
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Roman Renya has 400 FB friends admin. Pulido better look out!
LOL! That was what Benavides was counting on too.
Hey Miguel all the pot shops you busted last week are open again with grand opening signs outside there shops.......your not fit to run this city anymore..please no more close door negotiations .....
Why do you keep blaming Miguel when the Council majority is in charge?
He is the mayor and he sits in the middle of the council if he's not in charge why is he the mayor ?
Apparently you don't realize you need 4 votes to approve motions on the Council.
Despite that Pulido as Mayor runs the meetings and he serves on two commissions.
And this November we can get rid of three of the Council members and hand the majority back to Pulido.
I would rather have mayor who's not being investigated by the state ,it's time for someone new if he's so great why don't the other council members agree with him...
Sorry to pop your bubble but the transaction in question was voted for unanimously by the entire City Council and there is zero evidence that Pulido ever asked them to do so. At most he will get a slap on the wrist.
And you are forgetting that Council Members Tinajero, Martinez and Benavides have all had campaign finance issues too.
I was going to vote for Roman, but he did not show up for the last council meeting after suggesting they all get pay rasies.
Come to think of it only 4 of them were there.
We shamed them into voting against their own pay raise notion!
Why do we care more about Santa Ana than the paid elected officials do? Mystery of the ages.
Good point. Apparently Sarmiento doesn't even live here!
There could be some infighting erupting. Alex Flores, Michelle Martinez's campaign manager is openly supporting Alex Padilla vs. Benavides. Padilla has said he has no problem going after "family man" Benavides. This should be good.
Nice! That is good news!
Vote for Mark I. Lopez he was raised in Santa Ana and truly understands the issues unlike Mayor Pulido who has failed and is under investigation.