Surprise! It turns out that Angelica Amezcua, the mystery candidate who somehow got elected to Ward 3 on the Santa Ana City Council this Tuesday, doesn’t go by that name. She probably did years ago but she has been living in the Morrison Park neighborhood since 2011, as Angie Oliver, the wife of attorney Rob Oliver.
I am surmising that the Olivers are friends of Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez, particularly as Rob is a shareholder at Alvarez ally Ruben Smith’s law office.
So Angelica dropped her married name and went from calling herself Angie to filing to vote as “Angelica.” Brilliant! This is what U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez did when she dropped her original married name of “Brixey” and started using her maiden name – back when she first beat Bob Dornan.
According to an old Morrison Park Neighborhood Association newsletter, the Olivers have two kids, ages 4 and 7, and Angelica works as a 1st grade schoolteacher at Carver Elementary.
I doubt that Angelica thought she was going to win. The whole thing was a prank orchestrated to get back at the Team Benavides candidate, Eric Alderete. Well, mission accomplished I guess. But now Angelica has to serve on the City Council for the next few years.
The good news is that she is going to be a major upgrade as compared to the disgraced outgoing Council Member, Carlos Bustamante.
Tilly’s Life Center’s (TLC) recently raised over half a million dollars to support their youth…
On November 25, 2024, at approximately 1:46 PM, Fullerton Fire and Police personnel responded to…
OCFA fire crews responded to two significant vehicle accidents in Garden Grove last Friday, requiring…
On November 24th, 2024, at approximately 1:00 a.m. Newport Beach Fire Department units NE63, NT63,…
‼️UPDATE‼️ Earlier today, our robbery detectives arrested November 20, 2024, #WantedWednesday suspect Izaya Cuellar (35)…
Late Friday night, police officers responded to Balearic Park regarding a vehicle doing “donuts” on…
This website uses cookies.
View Comments
As a mother I'm thrilled that Angelica won! We need a moms perspective in the city. It's not always the same as a man or as a single woman like Martinez.
I'm still not sure why a candidate or her husband would not surface to talk openly to the press or neighbors organizing forums until after the campaign is over. That's a new technique which seems to have worked well for Angelica.
If she can win in a landslide with no money or P.R., just imagine what the future holds. There are lots of people (Correa, Solorario, Alvarez, Sarmiento, Benavides, Tinajero, Marinez, Nguyen, etc) waiting for Congresswoman Sanchez to move on but I now believe the person who will take her place one day is Ms. Amezqua. Mark my words...you heard it here first. She has 12 years to build up the resources needed.
It's sad that Eric's political career was cut short before it even started because it seems he really wanted to get into politics but I agree with Fisher Park Mom that he may be better suited to work helping other get elected and serving on the Planning Board. There is no shame in that and it's a fine way for him to give back to our community. I hope he does not move out of Santa Ana. We have seen too many candidates run, lose, and leave town. That would be sad.
Didn't Ruben Smith run campaigns for Nativo Lopez and help fun his campaigns? I guess Nativo gets the last laugh Santa Ana! And right in the Council ward that refused to build a school on the old Farmers site. Take that Floral Park!
Ruben Smith also created Nadia Davis Locker as a Santa Ana school board candidate. How long until we see him getting business from the City? Rumor has it Ruben just bought a house on N. Towner between Santa Clara and Riviera. Interesting.
So where does Angelica stand on the bike trail in Santiago Creek? Can we get that built now please?
Bustamante was on the fence on this issue though his family uses the unmaintained trail often. The inclusive needs of the many to connect our neighborhoods together via the creek trail outweighs the exclusive desires of a few to fence off the public creek for private use.
Go to http://www.neighbors4trail.org and sign the online petition. I hope Angelica gets a balanced perspective on this and with rest of the Council do what is right instead of avoiding it. A detour that is 4x longer on busy surface streets is not a family friendly/safe option.
Bustamante was on the fence? All the council members sit on the fence until somebody offers them a donation to get off it. duh.
A couple of observations:
1) It's both scary and telling that Robert Oliver and not the canidate is responding to this innocuous blog post. Given that the councilwoman elect has not revealed much information, it's premature for him to start getting defensive. PLUS, the last thing the political blogeshere needs is another lawyer blovating.
2) For a guy that disses the factual nature of the blogs, he struck back pretty fast!
3) Mrs. Whatever, better get used to speaking up. We didn't elect her husband, and he will get chewed up and spit out. Leaving her political carcas on the table. This is not Fullerton.
With that being said, I congrtatulate the council member elect and wish her strength and resolve in her position. I look forward to her public comments on her positions.
Puppetmaster makes some great points. Residents will also be watching to see how deep Ruben Smith is into her. (Remember..Rueben made Nadia Davis and then hooked her up with his buddy Lockyer.) Ruben Smith was also Nativo Lopez's best friend and made Mr. Oliver and the rest of his firm bucket loads of money that should have gone to school kids while Nativo and Sal Mendoza where raping the district for hidden insurance fees. So welcome to politics Mr. and Mrs. Oliver. Your lives are now subject to public review. Ms. Amezcua/Oliver would be better serverd by speaking for herself and not hiding behind her lawyer husband. That said, we wish her the best and hope against hope that she is not another Nativo/Nadia Davis creation.
Art, Won't the Oliver family have to also do a public disclosure of all forms of income and investments now that she is elected? That should be interesting as well.