Thu. Nov 21st, 2024

We already posted about the Santa Ana Police Officers Association money that is funding mailers for the Thai Viet Phan campaign for Ward 1 of the Santa Ana City Council. Now it turns out there are more special interests jumping on board her campaign, as reported on the Santa Ana Stands Up Facebook page.

Phan’s backers include the Chase Family, which led the gentrification charge in downtown Santa Ana that displaced quite a few Latino-owned companies; and phan has also received contributions from McWhinney, the developer that aimed to buy off the Willowick Golf Course in a closed session, with little community input.

Turns out McWhinney has also been lining the pockets of the Garden Grove City Council Members, hoping to convince them to see Willowick to them. However the Willowick Golf Course was not sold because the Garden Grove City Council violated the Surplus Land Act.

Garden Grove City Council Member Kim Nguyen endorsed Phan today and that figures as Nguyen has sided with McWhinney.

Other contributors to Thai’s campaign include Nguyen’s boyfriend, Santa Ana City Councilman David Penaloza and other special interest groups.

The puppet master making all these arrangements is Santa Ana City Councilman Phil Bacerra.

Bacerra, who is half-Filipino, was the first Asian-American elected to the Santa Ana City Council in decades. I cannot blame him for trying to get another Asian-American onto the City Council as well but getting dark money from scurrilous developers is the wrong way to do it.

We have endorsed Cynthia Contreras for Ward One.

author avatar
Art Pedroza Editor
Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

By Art Pedroza

Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

3 thoughts on “Developer dark money backing Thai Viet Phan for Ward One”
  1. I saw Trump train today here in Santa Ana first and Bristol. They where all Asian. Therefore this Asian person ain’t getting my vote. Did anyone else know little Saigon was voting trump ?

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.