Bustamante almost ended up on the state civil rights commission…

Everyone in Santa Ana is talking about the arrest of Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante, on multiple felony counts of various sex crimes, but most folks have forgotten that former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger once appointed Bustamante to the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission, back in January of 2008.

When I found out about the appointment I could not believe it.  Even then we knew Bustamante had some issues with women, but when I first wrote about the appointment, over at my old Orange Juice blog, I tackled the issue from a different standpoint – pointing out the fact that Santa Ana was a leader in home foreclosures – and Bustamante had done nothing at all about that.

The Fair Employment and Housing Commission is a quasi-judicial administrative agency which enforces California civil rights laws regarding discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations; pregnancy disability leave; family and medical leave; and hate violence, according to their website.

Imagine that.  Bustamante almost got appointed to over see the enforcement of California’s civil rights laws!  And the FEHC also oversees state sexual harassment training and education regulations.  That’s right.  Schwarzenegger almost got away with appointing an alleged sexual predator to the State Commission that is supposed to STOP sexual harassment.

But it didn’t happen because I went on the attack.  I wrote a second post, asking my readers to call the state legislators who were in charge of approving Bustamante’s appointment to the FEHC Board.  Then I wrote another post and included the emails of each of these legislators.  I also emailed each and every one of the legislators.  State Senator Lou Correa jumped on this and was instrumental in stopping Bustamante.

Then I found out that Bustamante’s appointment was actually a scheme by Schwarzenegger to get rid of the FEHC altogether, and I posted about that as well.

Then Bustamante made his sexist “waterbra” comments after Sandra Hutchens was appointed Sheriff of Orange County, replacing another pervert, Mike Carona.  I wrote another post and brought up Bustamante’s sexist remarks.  Again I asked my readers to contact their legislators and to call Schwarzenegger as well.

The battle finally ended in July of 2008, when Bustamante resigned from the FEHC Board and another State Board as well – the California Council on Criminal Justice.  Imagine the damage Bustamante would have done on these State Boards!  I was quoted in the L.A. Times after this happened:

“When he’s making these kind of remarks, how in the world could they put Mr. Bustamante into a body where he’s handling these kind of complaints?” said Art Pedroza, the founder and editor of the political blog Orange Juice. “Part of their work involves civil rights and complaints about this kind of behavior.”

I wrote a post about Bustamante’s resignation and called on the Democratic Party of Orange County to find someone to run against him.  And we know the rest of the story.  The DPOC gave Bustamante a free pass.  I ended up running against him and was stabbed in the back by my then supposed friend, Supervisor Janet Nguyen.  I asked her to stay out of the race and she ended up endorsing Bustamante.  It was a craven move that has now backfired on her.

I wrote this post tonight just to remind my readers that I have been battling Bustamante for a very long time – and he has been a pig for as long as I can remember.  We could have stopped him awhile ago, but he kept getting endorsements and kept getting money.

What about the Democrats?  Well they deserve a lot of the blame, as I have previously written.  They gave Bustamante a free pass and then they attacked me – Red County editor Matt Cunningham joined with Liberal OC editor Dan Chmielewski as they sent out a mailer attacking my Council campaign, along with OCEA boss Nick Berardino, Bustamante’s Republican allies – powerbroker Mike Schroeder, Van Tran’s cronies, and Ware Disposal.

Chmielewski wasn’t done attacking me by the way.  One of my supposed friends, Ryan Trabuco, ended up getting a job with Supervisor Nguyen.  Trabuco had set up a website for me when I ran for the City Council, against Bustamante.  I had helped Trabuco when he ran for the Assembly, against Jose Solorio, and he was returning the favor.  But after Nguyen endorsed Bustamante I went after her – and Trabuco ended up allying with her friends in the Democratic Party – Chmielewski and his fellow Liberal OC editor Chris Prevatt.  Trabuco sold my url to Chmielewski and when I retaliated by buying a few URLs with his name and the names of his accomplices, he retained a lawyer who was known for working with Muslim extremists and he sued me.  He almost ruined my life in the process.

That is all past me now but to this day I am amazed that these Democrats and Republicans tried so hard to destroy me, instead of going after the alleged predator Bustamante.  It is maddening to try to figure out what goes through these peoples’ heads.  Chmielewski even called Bustamante a good family man.

I ended up getting rid of my old Orange Juice blog – spinning it off to another liberal Democrat, Vern Nelson, who I thought was my friend.  But he turned out to be a partisan turncoat too.  Today the Orange Juice blog is an unreadable mess.  But my old posts about Bustamante live on, mute testimony to my long battle with a man who finally has paid a bitter price for his misdeeds.

I started a new Orange County political blog this January 1.  I call it the OC Politics blog.  And now, with Bustamante’s arrest, karma has come full circle as his demise is feeding both of my blogs with hundreds of new readers.  I am still here, still fighting the partisan creeps in Orange County, red and blue.  One hopes they will learn from all this, but my experience tells me otherwise.

How can we stop the future Bustamantes of Orange County?  Simple.  Next time you go to vote think twice about who you are voting for.  Don’t believe the lies spread by the red and blue partisan hacks.  Click here to see for yourself all the Democrats and Republicans who endorsed Bustamante in 2008.  Remember their duplicity!  One of them, SAUSD Trustee Rob Richardson, is running for reelection this November.  Please don’t vote for him.  Make these people pay by withholding your support.  That is the only way we will be rid of these useless and dangerous politicians.