There are quite a few key races coming up in the November 6, 2012 General Election, here in Santa Ana.
I have written dozens of posts in recent weeks about many of the candidates for the City Council, the SAUSD School Board, and the Rancho Santiago Community College District. After much deliberation, here are my endorsements:
Santa Ana City Council:
Ward 1 – Estela Amezcua
Comments: the incumbent, Vince Sarmiento, is not a bad guy but he has chosen to ally himself with mayoral candidate David Benavides. I cannot as such support Sarmiento. This is of course a protest vote since Sarmiento should win this contest easily against an opponent who is not running a campaign.
Ward 3 – Brett Franklin and Shane Ramon Barrows
Comments: Santa Ana Planning Commissioner Eric Alderete is the leading candidate, but he, like Sarmiento, is with Benavides. As such I am endorsing Barrows, a neighbor of mine in the Park Santiago Neighborhood who is an Irvine police officer, and former Council Member Brett Franklin. I like Barrow’s measured views and willingness to tackle the tough issues. However he is not running a big campaign – he seems to be more interested in getting out the issues. Franklin on the other hand is leading the race, according to inside polls. He is working hard and he has a great shot at taking back his Council seat.
Ward 5 – Karina Onofre
Comments: Onofre disappointed me by becoming a Republican, but I cannot vote for Roman Reyna as he too is backing Benavides. And I think we should have more women on our City Council. It is also important not to elect a Council of lemmings. We need a few new voices to mix things up.
Mayor – Miguel Pulido
Comments: I spent years attacking Pulido on the old Orange Juice blog but he came around on the issues and is doing a great job. His major opponent, Benavides, is unproven and appears to lack any concrete new ideas. His move to sell the Santora building to his church backfired as well.
SAUSD School Board:
We can vote for three candidates. I am supporting three of them: Ceci Iglesias, Myriam Tinajero and Jose Alfredo Hernandez.
Comments: Rob Richardson voted not to hire our amazing new Superintendent, Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana. So no way am I voting for him. Tinajero’s brother, Sal, was a great SAUSD school board member and he is doing a fine job on the City Council. Let’s hope his sister is made of the same stuff. Jose Alfredo Hernandez voted to hire our new Superintendent and in so doing he has my gratitude and my vote.
Rancho Santiago Community College District Board of Education:
Area 3: Tony Tapia. I have known Tony for some time. He is a great guy and a true man of the people. No way I can support Thomas Gordon, a partisan Republican who serves on the OC GOP Central Committee. Gordon’s views are against the working poor. And I cannot support Nelida Yanez. She doesn’t seem to have any new ideas and I am not sure why she is even running.
Area 5: I am co-endorsing Claudia Alvarez and Dave Chapel. Alvarez is fiscally conservative, which I like, and Chapel is an educator, which I also like. May the best candidate win!
Local Ballot Measures:
Comments: Our City Council had a chance to fix term limits with Measure D, a few years ago. Instead they punted at the time on Mayoral term limits and instead extended their own terms to 12 years! Now they want to limit the Mayor to 8 years while keeping their 12 year terms. That is unfair and unbalanced and you know that if Benavides wins they will quickly act to extend the Mayoral term limits to 12 years. This is a self-serving bunch and we ought to reject this latest flawed term limit measure. As voters we can boot the Mayor every two years. That we don’t do so is a measure of how bad the mayoral opponents have been and continue to be.
Measure Q – Oppose
Comments: We are already paying higher property taxes due to two previous SAUSD school bonds and one previous Rancho Santiago Community College District bond. I am sorry the Rancho Trustees wasted our money. That is not a good enough reason to vote to increase our taxes again.
Congress:
46th Congressional District – Loretta Sanchez is the incumbent. I was going to vote for her but an not happy that she has not endorsed Mayor Pulido. And she has made a lot of awful endorsements, including backing some of the Benavides cartel members. I can’t vote for her Republican opponent, Jerry Hayden, as he refused to clarify his position on the Dream Act and on immigration, so I am sitting this one out.
State Assembly:
69th Assembly District – No way I can vote for Tom Daly. I am voting for Jose “Joe” Moreno.
Click here to see my Voter Guide for info on the other races in Orange County.
Click here to read the OC Weekly’s Santa Ana Election Guide.
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…
On Friday night, the Garden Grove Police Department conducted a DUI checkpoint to help raise…
Early this morning, just after midnight, a black Honda CRV traveling east on Chapman Avenue…
This website uses cookies.
View Comments
Like your picks for the most part Art epecially Barrows. With crime such an imporant issue in Santa ana we need an officer to help us get tough on crime.
"Like your picks for the most part Art epecially Barrows"......... Hmmmmmmm
I was watching candidates forum rerun couple days ago and must conclude that Barrows is stupid as door knob.
However, good affirmative action loser.
In addition, I believe that people who can't take care of their own body and healthy lifestyle, can't take care of other people's one neither.
But he will bring some weight to the council.
If Loretta Sanchez is "hands down" the best choice - why does she refuse to debate her challenger, Jerry Hayden? She is pro abortion in all circumstances, the "cheerleader" for the high speed rail, she gives congressional awards to Scientologists, but what does she do for her consitutents who suffer with a plus 12% unemployment rate. Hmmmm.
What are Jerry's positions on immigration and the Dream Act?
Good job, I support most of the above, Art. May the best candidate with the right Godly values win in each seat.
Amen to that!
Art, do you work for or have you received money from any of the candidates?
Currently? No and No. Back in June I did design Jose Moreno's campaign website. I do own a PR firm and in the past I have been hired by consultants, not candidates, to design campaign websites.
I have met in recent weeks with several candidates and dispensed free advice. And from time to time I do sell campaign ads. In this cycle I have sold one such ad and another is pending.
I do not, for the record, get "paid to blog." What I write here is my opinion, with the exception of the many press releases we publish.
Have you ever received any funds whatsoever from Miguel Pulido, his campaign, or an affiliated group in order to promote him?
I have designed quite a few websites over the past few years. I am not however generally in the habit of publicizing who I do work for. And to be clear I get paid to design websites, not to promote people or campaigns.
I remember back in the day when I had to ask folks to be my webmasters. Well, I learned how to do all that myself and it has been a nice boon.
Great suggestions. Btw Art, the hyperlink to Shane Barrows is not working?
Oops! I will fix that tomorrow. In the meantime you can also click on his banner. Have a good night!
Claudia Alvarez, who just cost the city $35K?
"Fiscally conservative", yeah right...
I don't know what you are talking about but I do know that Alvarez was the one who caught Ream and his team ripping us off - and helped boot them out the door. Were it not for her we might still be stuck with them...
The $35K that it cost the city to fight Ms. Alvarez' attempt to get a fourth term as councilmember...
That is what happens when vague laws are written. Note that the entire Council supported Measure D including Benavides.
It was written by Alvarez with an intent to commit a fraud as I have explained in my early comments and the judge concurred.
Alvarez is gravely fraudulent person and should be disbarred!
FYI, I have objected to the council but they voted on it anyway.
What about all the money that Jeff Dickman and company cost us with their frivolous lawsuits? I never hear anyone mention that.
The anon comments here and at the Lib OC get out of hand at times. But for the record the comment you are referencing had a reference to a "WH%$E" whatever that is.
And you will find that the Lib OC bloggers already approve all sorts of awful comments about us, so I doubt they will have any problems approving yours as well.
Now can we get back to the subject of the upcoming Santa Ana elections?
Art's Strict Rules and Guide to Voting:
1. Is the person David Benavides?
If you answered Yes, do not vote for that person.
If you answered No, vote for that person.
2. Does that person support David Benavides?
If you answered Yes, do not vote for that person.
If you answered No, vote for that person.
LOL! Thanks for simplifying that for my readers.
Benavides isn't ready for prime time. Anyone who supports him is suspect.
Brian thanks for the formula that will make voting much easier come election day. Anyone who thinks David is ready to step up from the kiddies table in the corner is sadly mistaken.
You're welcome guys! Just trying to make it easier for readers on this site to understand what the heck is being posted here since most post consists of a fancy way of saying "I hate" and "my feelings are hurt;" and most people who comment seem unintelligent. Just doing my part to contribute to the election process and to our community!
I will Vote for Cecilia "Ceci"Iglesias for Santa Ana School Board. She has the support of the Parents and the Students.. PUT STUDENTS FIRST!!!!
Ahhh come on, everyone knows that the ketchup king (Rocco) is the only choice.