Santa Ana City Councilwoman Nelida Mendoza is going after the Santa Ana City Attorney, Sonia R. Carvalho, in an 85A agenda item that the City Council will consider at their next meeting, on Nov. 17.
In the agenda item Mendoza is asking the City to explore transitioning from a contracted City Attorney to a directly hired City Attorney. Guess what? That means our City would then be on the hook for more pension and health benefits and probably a higher salary too.
Why would Mendoza do this?
My sources tell me Mendoza is doing the bidding of her handlers at the Santa Ana Police Officers Association (POA), the powerful union that represents our police. The POA paid for the recall of former City Councilwoman Ceci Iglesias after she opposed their irresponsible raise a a couple years ago. That paved the way for Mendoza to replace Iglesias. Now the POA apparently want Carvalho out of the way so she can be replaced with a City Attorney who will do their bidding.
Who on the City Council might go along with this scheme? Well, for starters, probably Mayor Miguel Pulido. But perhaps he should reconsider? Every candidate Pulido backed in the November election lost even after Pulido helped to raise over $200K to help his slate.
You can probably expect Councilman Jose Solorio to go along with Mendoza as well. If Solorio and Pulido side with Mendoza then she only needs one more vote to pass her 85A measure. That vote could come from Councilman David Penaloza, but I doubt it as he appears to have more integrity than that.
Here is how you can submit a public comment that will be included in the next City Council meeting:
TO PROVIDE PUBLIC COMMENTS: (1) SUBMIT VIA EMAIL TO ECOMMENT@SANTA-ANA.ORG BY 4:00 P.M. ON COUNCIL MEETING TUESDAY OR (2) BY PHONE CALL (669) 900-9128, ENTER MEETING ID: 315-965-149# OR (3) BY MOBILE APPLICATION VIA ZOOM AT https://us02web.zoom.us/j/315965149. PLEASE JOIN THE QUEUE BY 5 P.M.ONCE A CALLER HAS ENTERED THE MEETING, THE CALLER WILL BE PLACED IN A HOLDING QUEUE. AFTER THE CLERK UNMUTES THEM, THE CALLER MUST DIAL *6 TO SPEAK OR SELECT UNMUTE ON COMPUTER. IN ACCORDANCE WITH COUNCIL PROCEDURES, CALLS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AFTER THE PUBLIC COMMENT SESSION BEGINS.
TO WATCH THE MEETING: LIVE STREAM AT YOUTUBE; CABLE CHANNEL 3 (SPECTRUM) OR CHANNEL 99 (AT&T U-verse).
Santa Ana voters have elected Councilman Vicente Sarmiento to replace termed out Miguel Pulido as Mayor and three relatively young council members: Thai Viet Phan, in Ward One, Jessie Lopez in Ward Three and Johnathan Ryan Hernandez in Ward Five.
What can we expect from this new City Council? They will be working with Council holdovers David Penaloza in Ward Two; Phil Bacerra, in Ward Four; and Nelida Mendoza, in Ward Six.
Will there be a new City Council Majority? The most liberal Council members include Sarmiento, Lopez, Hernandez, Penaloza and Phan. Bacerra is more of a moderate and you can say the same for Mendoza.
The City Council Members will differ when it comes to law enforcement. Penaloza, Mendoza and Bacerra have been supported by the Santa Ana Police Officers Association in the past and the POA also contributed to PACs that helped Phan this year. Sarmiento, Lopez and Hernandez will likely be at most odds with the POA even though Sarmiento voted for their massive pay increase a couple years ago.
Lopez told the O.C. Register that she would support an independent police commission with subpoena powers and investigative authority. Hernandez, Phan and Sarmiento also said they also would take a look at creating an independent police oversight commission – an idea rejected by previous councils.
Phan, Hernandez and Sarmiento told the O.C. Register that they would take a closer look at issues affecting youth, low-income residents, families and the city’s immigrant community, including those who are undocumented.
Hernandez also told the O.C. Register that he wants to bring rent control to the city, providing more funds for libraries and community centers, and prioritizing youth and family services.
We cannot discern much about Phan’s plans from her campaign website as it does not know her opinions on any specific issues. However we do know that she is an attorney for a major law firm that provides legal consultation to cities in Southern California. She will come to the City Council with more knowledge about municipal affairs than most new City Council members.
Lopez does offer up her priorities on her campaign website and they include:
Hernandez also posted his Issues on his campaign website:
I have noticed that, since the election, more homes appear to be for sale in Santa Ana. One has to wonder if we will see a trend of more people giving up on Santa Ana and leaving as a result of this election.
The new City Council members will have four years to figure things out before they have to run for reelection but Sarmiento will only have two years as the Santa Ana Mayor has two-year terms. That means Sarmiento will have to start raising money right away for his next campaign and he will have to restrain himself and be more moderate or risk attracting more candidates to oppose him in 2022.
The Santa Ana City Council must figure out what to do with our homeless problem and the huge number of drug addicts roaming and causing chaos in our city. They must also contend with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and shore up an economy that has ruptured as so many businesses have shuttered or are now on life support.
Who will lead this new City Council? Sarmiento is not know for being a vocal leader. Nor is Mendoza. Bacerra has a chance to take up that role but he must also deal with the fact that in two years Mendoza will have to run again and she lives in the same ward as Bacerra. Thus the first order of business for the new Santa Ana City Council may be to redraw the ward maps, using the new data from the U.S. Census, so Mendoza and Bacerra can be placed in different wards.
SANTA ANA, Calif. – Councilmember Nelida Mendoza was sworn in as the new Ward 6 representative on the Santa Ana City Council on Tuesday, June 2.
The City Council also declared the results of the May 19 special recall election in which former Ward 6 Councilmember Cecilia Iglesias was removed from office. Councilmember Mendoza was chosen by voters to serve the remainder of the term that expires in December 2022.
The Orange County Registrar of Voters certified the election results last week.
“I’m proud to serve on the Santa Ana City Council during this challenging time,” Councilmember Mendoza said. “I will help guide our community into a future of safe neighborhoods, economic growth, well-maintained roads, positive collaboration with our law enforcement agencies and greater transparency at City Hall. One of my top priorities is to continue food distribution to needy families during the COVID-19 pandemic. I also intend to find long-term solutions to the homelessness crisis through a collaborative, multi-agency effort.”
Mayor Miguel A. Pulido welcomed Councilmember Mendoza.
“Councilmember Mendoza’s long history in Santa Ana, her community involvement and her varied educational and professional experience will be a welcome addition to the Council,” Mayor Pulido said.
A U.S. Army veteran who has lived in Santa Ana since 1965, Councilmember Mendoza is returning full circle to where she began her professional life. In her early career, she served as a secretary in the City Manager’s Office and personnel clerk in the Human Resources Department for the City of Santa Ana.
She took a leave of absence from the employment arena to raise her family of five children, who are now adults and professionals in their own careers. Councilmember Mendoza has been a loyal Santa Ana property owner since 1986.
Upon re-entering the work force, Councilmember Mendoza secured a position as Court Clerk for the Orange County Superior Court and was a Paralegal with Orange County District Attorney’s Family Support Division, which later became the Department of Child Support Services, from 1997 to 2018.
Councilmember Mendoza was appointed as a Commissioner on the City of Santa Ana’s Environmental and Transportation Advisory Commission (ETAC) by then-Councilmember Claudia Alvarez, and as the Chairperson for the Community Redevelopment and Housing Commission.
Councilmember Mendoza was elected to the Rancho Santiago Community College District Board of Trustees in November 2012.
She earned Associate’s degrees in Liberal Arts, Paralegal Studies and Office Technology from Santa Ana College. Additionally, she holds a Bachelor of the Arts Degree in Sociology and a Master’s in Public Administration from California State University, Fullerton.
After her retirement, Councilmember Mendoza pursued a Teacher’s Credential from the Orange County Department of Education and currently teaches part-time at the high school level.
Councilmember Mendoza said she pursued this challenging Council seat because “I am strongly invested in my community.”
“I want to ensure that our communities are properly represented and have a voice at City Hall,” she said.
The Santa Ana City Council will have its regular meeting via teleconference today, June 2. In an effort to protect public health and prevent the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus), there will be no in-person public meeting location.
The meeting begins at 5:45 p.m., following a 5 p.m. closed session.
There are several ways to watch the meeting:
• Live stream at www.santa-ana.org/city-meetings
• Live stream at www.youtube.com/cityofsantaanavideos/live
• Spectrum TV channel 3
• AT&T U-verse TV channel 99
Prior to the regular meeting, Nelida Mendoza will be installed as the new Councilmember representing Ward 6 and the Council will adopt a resolution declaring the results of the Special Municipal Recall Election held on May 19, 2020. That special meeting will take place via teleconference at 4:45 p.m.
The regular meeting agenda includes the following business calendar items and public hearings:
• Review proposed City Charter amendments from the Ad Hoc Charter Review Committee;
• Consider the fiscal year 2020-21 draft budget and the seven-year capital improvement program;
• Hold a Public Hearing and adopt a resolution increasing the City curbside cart (trash bins) refuse rates by $1.90, effective July 1, 2020, and by $1.50, effective July 1, 2021;
• Adopt a resolution authorizing the City to apply for and administer the Permanent Local Housing Allocation Plan;
• Councilmember Phil Bacerra, Mayor Pro Tem Juan Villegas and Mayor Miguel A. Pulido are asking the Council to discuss and consider directing the City Manager to develop options that would encourage housing construction in an effort to overcome the negative impacts of the pandemic on our economy.
For the full meeting agenda, go to www.santa-ana.org/city-meetings.
To provide a comment on public hearings and non-agenda items, the public can call in by phone during the meeting. Go to www.santa-ana.org/cc/city-meetings/virtual-meetings for details on how to call in.
To provide comment on agenda items, submit your comments via email to ecomment@santa-ana.org by 4 p.m. today.
Emails received after the deadline will be uploaded to the City website at the earliest possible opportunity.
You may also call to comment during the meeting. Dial (669) 900-9128, enter meeting ID: 315 965 149# and DIAL *9 to let us know that you want to speak at the time the item is being discussed. Clearly state your name for the record and your position in support of or opposition to the specific item.
If you have any questions, please contact the Clerk of the Council office at (714) 647-6520.
The O.C. Voter Registrar has updated the results of yesterday’s Special Recall Election. The results don’t bode well for Santa Ana City Council Member Cecilia Iglesias. The Yes on the Recall vote has increased to 11,781 votes versus 9,375 votes against the Recall. At this point one must assume the Yes side will ultimately prevail.
Nelida Mendoza continues to lead the lineup of candidates seeking to replace Iglesias. She currently has over 43% of the vote – a bit better than yesterday’s initial results. Her victory also seems assured.
Yesterday’s Santa Ana City Council meeting was likely the last one for Iglesias. The election took place on the day of the City Council meeting, which was held virtually due to the ongoing pandemic.
Once the election results are certified, Iglesias will have been recalled and Mendoza will be sworn in to replace her, in Ward 6. This also means that the City Commissioners who represent Iglesias will likely be dismissed by Mendoza, if they don’t resign first.
The election results will be updated again in about 18 hours. The ultimate result however appears to be fait accompli.
The O.C. Voter Registrar has posted the early results in today’s Santa Ana City Council Recall Election and it is not looking good for Santa Ana City Councilwoman Cecilia Iglesias. The Recall Election is succeeding so far with almost 56% of the votes in favor of the recall. The No side is over 2,000 votes behind the Yes side.
Surprisingly the leading candidate to replace Iglesias, should the Recall prevail, is Nelida Mendoza, who lost to Iglesias in the 2018 Ward 6 election. Mendoza has been serving as a Trustee on the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Board of Education. She currently has 42% of the vote and is leading Thai Viet Phan by about one thousand votes.
The Voter Registrar will update these results by tomorrow night.
I don’t believe the No side will be able to catch up. As this was a mail only election presumably most of the ballots were turned in a while ago.
The clear winner in this election, besides Mendoza, is Gerry Serrano, the President of the Santa Ana Police Officers Association. He did not back Mendoza in 2018 but presumably she will cater to him now as will most of the rest of the City Council.
Serrano will now look to replace termed out Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido with a candidate of his choosing in the upcoming November election. Right now that looks to be City Councilman Jose Solorio.
Iglesias by the way is already running for Mayor. While the Recall results are a bitter pill to swallow I believe she will continue her Mayoral campaign. She may benefit from the vote split between Solorio and his Council colleague Vince Sarmiento, who will be fighting for the same voters.
The Santa Ana Recall Election is coming up soon, on May 19. Not long after that we will find out if Santa Ana City Councilwoman Cecilia Iglesias will be able to stay in office.
If the Recall Election prevails Iglesias will be removed from office. The top candidate in that election will replace her. The Recall Election you see has two elements to it. First – do you approve of the Recall? And secondly, who should replace Iglesias if the Recall passes?
If Iglesias is removed from office she will still be on the ballot in November as she is running for Mayor of Santa Ana.
If Iglesias stays in office she will still be on the ballot in November.
Iglesias will be the only fiscal conservative on the ballot in November. And she will, at this point in time, be the only woman on the ballot. Her odds of winning are very high.
The Recall Election will cost taxpayers $700K and there is no telling how much money the Santa Ana Police Officers Association is going to end up spending to try to recall Iglesias. But in the end what will likely happen is Iglesias will move on to the Mayor’s office.
If the Recall Election succeeds and Iglesias is removed from office then it is likely that Thai Viet Phan will replace her. I don’t think Nelida Mendoza has a chance. She is not running much of a campaign. And the only other candidate, Angie Cano, is not raising or spending any money on her campaign.
I do not however expect the Recall Election to succeed. We just saw a similar Recall campaign fail in the City of Westminster. The pandemic has resulted in a mail only election. Turnout will be super low. How that pans out we will not know until after the election, but rest assured the turnout will be historically low.
WIll Iglesias’ supporters vote? Or will the police union prevail with their odd coalition of union hacks, leftist partisans and NIMBYs?
In either case buckle up. This election is just a precursor to what is sure to be a very interesting Mayoral race in November.
The ongoing Santa Ana Recall Election against Santa Ana City Council woman Ceci Iglesias has become a fairly partisan campaign, with the full endorsement of the Democratic Party of Orange County.
However the local Democrat powerbrokers did not endorse Nelida Mendoza, a Rancho Santiago Community College Trustee, to replace Iglesias on the Santa Ana City Council.
Who did the Democratic Party of Orange County endorse to replace Iglesias? Well they sure weren’t going to endorse conservative candidate Angie Cano. The Democratic Party of Orange County endorsed Thai Viet Phan.
The campaign to recall Santa Ana City Councilwoman Ceci Iglesias is in the end exactly what it appears to be. It is a partisan attempt by the Democratic Party of Orange County, in cahoots with the Santa Ana police officers’ union and the embittered public school teachers that fought against Iglesias when she was an SAUSD Trustee, to remove from office a duly elected City Council Member because they don’t agree with her politics.
And what politics are those? Iglesias is guilty of one thing – looking out for the local taxpayers in Santa Ana. We have an entire City Council that is in cahoots with the public employee unions. They will spend our city into bankruptcy – with the exception of Iglesias and Mayor Pro Tem Juan Villegas.
I suppose the only saving grace in this entire mess is that the Democrats endorsed Phan instead of Mendoza. Phan is a bright young lawyer while Mendoza is a longtime political hack. Replacing Iglesias with her would be a complete disaster for our city.
Remember by the way that the local Democrats also endorsed the recent recall in Westminster – and that one failed too.
Recall elections are low turnout affairs. My guess is that Iglesias’ supporters will vote and she will prevail. Even worse for her partisan enemies she will emerge from this recall election stronger than ever – and she is already running for Mayor in November. By trying to recall her they just might have made her an unstoppable juggernaut. She very well might end up replacing termed out Mayor Miguel Pulido. And she will, no doubt, remember those who stood against her…
Click here to join the No on the Santa Ana Recall campaign.
When Santa Ana City Councilwoman Ceci Iglesias ran for the City Council back in 2018 she was considered an underdog as the powerful Santa Ana Police Association, the union that represents our local cops, was backing one of her opponents, Mirna Velasquez. There was also a third candidate, Nelida Mendoza, a Rancho Santiago Community College District Trustee who was backed by then Santa Ana City Councilman Sal Tinajero’s cabal.
Iglesias beat both Velasquez and Mendoza, garnering over 21,000 votes in the process.
Iglesias had won two terms previously on the Santa Ana Unified School District’ Board of Trustees. She won resoundingly in both of those campaigns.
Iglesias’ victories are befuddling to her detractors. She is a fiscal conservative in a City, Santa Ana, where Republican voter registration is now under 30%. Yet she keeps on winning.
Iglesias however incurred the wrath of the aforementioned Santa Ana Police Officers Association, specifically their President, Gerry Serrano, when she refused to support a huge raise for the Santa Ana police officers.
Here is the part that is tough to understand – Serrano prevailed. He and his cops got the raise. Iglesias and her City Council colleague Juan Villegas voted against the raise but it was approved by the rest of the Santa Ana City Council.
Serrano however decided to take out Iglesias – in a fit of pique that has resulted in this year’s ridiculous Recall election.
The City Council had an opportunity, for the record. to place this Recall Election on the March Primary Election ballot but they didn’t. Now the Recall Election is going to cost the taxpayers over $700,000.
Is it some sort of misbegotten machismo? Is Serrano upset that Iglesias keeps reminding voters about the DUI incident that derailed his run for the Garden Grove City Council in 2018?
Under the police union’s contract with the city, Serrano is completely released from his city job duties, while remaining a police sergeant and receiving his full city salary, plus premium pay equivalent to an additional 35 percent of his salary, according to the Voice of OC. While his salary is paid entirely by the Santa Ana Police Officers Association’s members it does stand in stark contrast to the very little money made by most households in Santa Ana. Serrano makes $353,568 a year in a city where the average household makes $61,000 a year and per capita income is only $19,000 a year, per the U.S. Census.
Serrano gets paid a fortune and he does not have to do any police work. He seems to spend all his spare time conniving to get more political power. And taking out Iglesias will solidify his control of the Santa Ana City Council.
It is unseemly for a city employee to be using the system to attach a duly elected City Council member. But that is exactly what has happened.
Understand this about Iglesias – her family fled war torn El Salvador after she was born in 1972. That is the time period when desperate socialists started a civil war in El Salvador as they took on the rich oligarchs and the corrupt military that ran that country at the time.
Today Iglesias is still fighting against corruption and political thugs. Her family may have escaped El Salvador but we have a real mess here in Santa Ana too.
The City of Santa Ana has been teetering on the brink of financial collapse for years. The Tinajero cabal routinely handed out raises to city employees that we just cannot afford now. Even worse the pensions and health benefits promised to all these people, like Serrano, are going to come due and the City of Santa Ana is going to have a heck of a time paying these bills.
That is why we need a strong fiscal conservative like Iglesias on our City Council. Get rid of her and you will have mostly a bunch of left-leaning lemmings who will be too afraid of Serrano and the other special interests to do the right thing.
Former Santa Ana City Council Member Sal Tinajero already succeeded in raising our local sales tax to the highest rate in Orange County via 2018’s Measure X. Imagine what a City Council run entirely by Serrano will do to us in years to come – to keep the millions coming to the city’s employees, particularly the cops? While Serrano did not support the 2018 Sales Tax Increase, Measure X, that money is being used primarily to pay for City employee pensions and benefits.
If the recall succeeds the candidate that gets the most votes in this election, to replace Iglesias, will take over in Ward 6. The aforementioned Mendoza is one of those candidates. Word is this time Serrano and company are backing her.
Click here to join the No on the Santa Ana Recall campaign.
Thai Viet Phan has raise the most money of all the candidates who are running in the upcoming May 19 Santa Ana Special Recall Election. Voters will be asked to decide on whether or not to recall current City Council Member Cecilia Iglesias. They will also be able to vote for a replacement. Here are the candidates:
Phan has raised over $8,500 dollars in campaign contributions. She also reported $1,000 in non-monetary contributions. Mendoza has raised about $3,000. Mendoza also loaned herself $5,000. Cano has not apparently raised any campaign money.
Phan also leads in individual campaign contributions. She has tallied over 30 individual campaign contributions. Mendoza has only listed five contributors.
Phan has been involved in local Democratic Party politics for some time while Cano has been involved in local Republican Party politics.
SANTA ANA, CA – Three people have been nominated as candidates for the Ward 6 City Council office designated to be filled if the recall of Councilmember Cecilia Iglesias is successful, Clerk of the Council Daisy Gomez announced.
The Special Municipal Election is to be held in the City of Santa Ana on Tuesday, May 19, 2020.
The qualified candidates and their ballot designations are:
The candidates all submitted qualifying paperwork by the 5 p.m., March 5, deadline. The candidate names as listed will be the official order on the ballot as determined by a randomized alphabet drawing conducted by the Secretary of State’s Office on March 6.
If the recall should prevail, the winning candidate will serve the duration of the partial term ending Dec. 13, 2022.
The voting period for the Special Municipal Election will be from May 9, 2020, through May 19, 2020, at select Vote Centers. On Election Day, May 19, 2020, select Vote Centers will be open between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.
The following are key dates for the May 19, 2020, Special Election:
• Public Review for Candidates’ Statement of Qualifications – March 6, 2020, through March 16, 2020
• Write-in Candidacy Filing Period Opens – March 23, 2020
• Last Date to Register to Vote – May 4, 2020
• Write-in Candidacy Filing Period Closes – May 5, 2020
• Select Vote Centers Open – May 9, 2020
• Election Day – May 19, 2020
• Deadline to Certify Election Results – June 18, 2020
Eligible Santa Ana residents can register to vote, check and update their voter registration status, and request a vote-by-mail ballot at https://www.ocvote.com.
For more information on the Santa Ana special election, please visit https://www.santa-ana.org/cc/city-elections and https://www.ocvote.com/vc/web/voting/current-election-information/city-of-santa-ana-special-recall-election.
Nelida Mendoza ran against Santa Ana Ward 6 City Councilwoman Ceci Iglesias back in 2018, garnering just over 18,000 votes. Mendoza lost but has announced that she is going to run again in the upcoming May 19 Special Recall Election.
Mendoza is currently a member of the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Board of Trustees.
Mendoza was born in Jalisco, Mexico, immigrated to the United States in 1965 and has been a resident of Santa Ana since then.
Mendoza earned an A.A. in liberal arts, an A.A. in paralegal studies, and an A.A. in office technology from Santa Ana College. She holds a B.A. in sociology and a Master’s in Public Administration from California State University, Fullerton. Mendoza also earned a Career Technical Education Teacher’s Credential from the Orange County Department of Education.
In her time as a Trustee for the Rancho Santiago community College District Mendoza has been slammed for supporting a ridiculous program education program in Saudi Arabia and for backing union-only project labor agreements that wasted taxpayer money generated by several bond measures.
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
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