It’s bad enough that Santa Ana City Council Ward 5 candidate Roman Reyna is supporting every single tax increase measure on the November ballot. But yesterday he actually was the only City Council candidate to blow off and skip the Candidates Forum hosted by the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, at the Delhi Center. And to make matters worse, I am told that he was a no show because he feels he has the election in the bag and he doesn’t need to “waste his time” showing up to meet business owners and voters.
Wow. This from a guy who has never held a job in the private sector, as far as I can tell. His last job was at the Santa Ana YMCA and before that he worked at the Santa Ana Boys and Girls Club. Both are non-profits.
To be fair, Reyna apparently no longer works for the YMCA. According to Linkedin, he is now an insurance agent for New York Life. Good for him! But according to his Facebook page he now works for the City of Santa Ana. That is a bit presumptuous isn’t it?
So where does he work? Well, if you click on the “About Me” page on his campaign website what you get is an error. There is no info loaded there.
But when you click on Reyna’s “Issues” guess what? He tells you that he is for transparency but he doesn’t tell you much else. His issues apparently are “Coming Soon.” The election is about a month from now. So when will Reyna tell us about his life and his issues?
Luckily we can find his bio elsewhere. Click here to see what he had to say about himself when he first ran for the Santa Ana City Council, in 2004. Apparently he used to work for the Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Department. But that was years ago, before he worked for the Santa Ana Boys and Girls Club.
So again, this guy has never apparently worked for a private company – until perhaps now if indeed he is working for New York Life. He has however set up volleyball games for the City of Santa Ana’s Parks and Rec Department, the Santa Ana Boys and Girls Club and the Santa Ana YMCA.
Is it any surprise then that Reyna blew off approximately forty business owners last night at the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce Candidates Forum?
One issue that Reyna touted in 2004 was his involvement with Santa Ana’s Neighborhood Associations. Santa Ana is the only city in Orange County that spends hundreds of thousands of dollars subsidizing Neighborhood Associations. But very few of our residents are actually involved in these organizations. I would guess that perhaps half a percentage of our population goes to or has gone to Neighborhood Association meetings. But our taxes are paying for their operation! And we know that Reyna is a big fan of raising our taxes.
So what are we to make of this fellow? He supports the new Santa Ana “Sunshine Ordinance” that labor leaders say will kill jobs – and it will, by stopping development. Part of that new law is “Transparency” but Reyna is not being transparent about who he is or what he wants to do to our city.
You have to wonder if he has what it takes to lead in our city. According to his SAUSD School Board bio “He is working towards a bachelor’s degree in Youth Development from Springfield College in Los Angeles, Calif.” Now I understand getting your degrees as an adult – I did the same. But his opponent already has her degree – and unlike Reyna she has lived outside of Santa Ana, indeed she has traveled the world.
I am talking about Reyna’s opponent, businesswoman Karina Onofre. She has a complete campaign website that includes her bio and the issues she is running on. She is much younger than Reyna but she finished her college degree, at a prestigious national liberal arts college. She has worked in private business since she graduated, in property management. She already knows far more than Reyna does about business – and unlike Reyna she has been at every single Santa Ana Council candidates forum. She is not taking us for granted. Reyna is – and he has not even been elected yet.
What we do know about Reyna is that he is leaving the SAUSD School Board after only one term. He says our young people are important to him but he is abandoning him, so he can climb the political ladder.
Reyna thinks he has victory in the bag. Let’s make sure he is wrong by voting for Onofre, not Reyna, on Nov. 6.
