Don’t mess with Santa Ana City Councilman Phil Bacerra! He finally prevailed in a battle against a developer that began way back in 2018, when Bacerra first ran for the City Council.
At the time Bacerra was, in his own words, “maliciously attacked with false claims funded by hundreds of thousands of dollars in dark money because I stood with the residents of Santa Ana and I would NOT support development projects proposed by out-of-town developers that would destroy the quality of life in our neighborhoods.”
Bacerra was referring to the failed attempt by developer Ryan Ogulnick to develop a property on Main St. and Edgewood, referred to as the 2525 N. Main St. development project. This was an office building that Ogulnick wanted to turn into an apartment complex however the site was not approved for that use by the City of Santa Ana.
Ogulnick knew he would have a tough time getting his development approved so his approach was to try to get a chosen City Council candidate, Roman Reyna, elected to the City Council.
Reyna flubbed this by failing to properly register at an address in the Ward. in question. That got him into such hot water after he won the election that he was booted off the City Council and severely fined. The seat went to Bacerra instead.
Ogulnick tried to help Reyna by attacking Bacerra with campaign mailers. But he and his wife and his consultant conspired to hide the true sources of the campaign contributions.
Bacerra then asked the State Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) to investigate and after 7 years they fined Ogulnick and his fellow conspirators $87,000 for the campaign violations.
Bacerra won reelection in 2022, when he defeated an anti-police candidate, Amalie Mejia.
As for Ogulnick, he may ultimately get the last laugh as the State of California is working to help developers to build housing with less or no approval from local cities.
Reyna now runs a party rental company and his house was liened by the City of Santa Ana as he still owes thousands of dollars in fines for his political ineptitude and fraud.
Nice! Wish there were more stories like this, but it’s usually just the opposite: corrupt local official sells out to deep pocketed developers. Gald some people have integrity and are willing to fight to defend it.