So it begins. I am told, on good authority, that a Santa Ana businesswoman and resident named Cherie Kerr allegedly went to City Hall today to begin the process of recalling Santa Ana Council Member Michele Martinez. This is, no doubt, fallout from Martinez’ attack on Mayor Miguel Pulido and City Manager Paul Walters. Martinez, and the Council Majority, have recently declared war on Walters, even though he has done a fine job as our City Manager and previously as our Chief of Police.
I have been saying for awhile that eventually the Council’s ridiculous behavior would end up in a recall and here we are. Remember that Pulido and his supporters previously recalled former SAUSD Trustee Nativo Lopez, who at the time was allied with current Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Sal Tinajero – who previously served on the SAUSD School Board.
Martinez has made bad headlines before. She told OC Metro Magazine that “My mom was a drug addict and my uncles were drug dealers.” And she admited that she was making $2,000 a week selling drugs, when she was 17 years old.
Worse yet Martinez has bragged that when selling drugs she was working for the “Godfather” of the Mexican Mafia in Orange County, Peter “Sana” Ojeda. Ojeda, who is currently serving a life sentence after being convicted on R.I.C.O. charges, also has close ties to Martinez mentor and failed Mayoral candidate Alfredo Amezcua. Those ties were noted in a 2011 article that stated, “Santa Ana defense attorney Alfredo Amezcua was Ojeda’s favorite, and he was also the legal and political advisor to Eme and Calli Cartel associate Art Romo. Alfredo Amezcua was also an advisor to the Orange County Gang Council. This friend and advisor to the Ojeda faction made a run to be elected as Santa Ana’s mayor in 2010.”
Last year Martinez was overhead talking loudly about money that a gambling tribe was going to spend on her Assembly campaign, which failed, in the form of independent expenditures, according to the Voice of OC.
And Martinez was embarrassed when her half brother was arrested during her failed mayoral campaign in 2008.
Will the recall sweep up other Council Members? Maybe. But Martinez, Tinajero and Council Member David Benavides are all up for re-election in 2014. But should we let them continue to screw up our city in the meantime?
This is the same sad bunch that Tinajero dubbed the “Santa Ana Spring.” Well that turned out to be a fraud. These lame politicians are not about change. They are about power. They have no good ideas. They just want to take over and get their way, as previous crooked Councils have done repeatedly in East Los Angeles, where Benavides was born and raised.
With the R word now raised will the Council bullies back off and let Walters do his job? We shall see about that…
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to have a recall for any of the councilmembers or mayor, you need to find 12 to 18 thousand voters to sign on to it.
A paid signature gathering campaign could collect those signatures very easily.
that does not seem to be a likely scenario then.
Tell you what. At the next artwalk, have two booths set up in the promenade.
One for "Recall Martinez"
One for Support Michele Martinez for such and such political office. Have it manned by the party girls in that picture you posted. lets see how it all works out.
A) Where were those votes for Michele in June?
B) How many of those Art Walk hipsters actually live and vote here?
C) What percentage of young people actually vote frequently in Santa Ana?
This will be the easiest recall ever.
it is your job to get young Santa Ana people turned onto voting.
Unless you have no faith in Santa Ana Democracy.
My kids will be voting to recall her too.
I thought I should reclaim my name before I become a victim of N.S.A. Identity Theft.
You left your name off your last few comments. It wasn't identity theft. Just user error. I fixed it for you just now.
Have a great weekend!
Like cook says: 20K signatures; NO PROBLEM.
Here's how this works:
Beggining this weekend: RECALL posters and banners get posted Gurrilla style all over Santa Ana.
POUND THE RECALL message home. Make her respond.
Michele responds = POLITICAL DEATH.
Hopefully she drags the other losers into the fray, Roman Reyna opens his mouth = POLITICAL DEATH.
Let the foam rise to the surface. Beat them at thier own game: Benavide's Brags that he plays East LA politic's. The Recall plays Tijuana politics: AT EVERY PUBLIC EVENT: RECALL.
Get the fringes of society involved. Get the Non voting population to OPPOSE MICHELE.
She will be done by Easter.
She can go back to her $104K per year TAX FREE drug dealing (which was a lie to begin with. Nobody nets $2K a week at the street level).
Michele is TOAST.
"It’s amusing to hear the rants and raves of the afflicted"
How funny is it Joe? When a broad based group of Santa Ana residents from across the city come together to voice their anger at the Gang of 5 led by Martinez...is that funny? When and if you walk for her Joe you are going to find out she now has a record (or lack their of) she has to run on. Michele has disrespected the residents of Santa Ana and they will recall her and replace her with someone who is willing to sit through a councilmeeting even when it's not fun and really listen to the voices of our community.
Joe's wife Nelida was just elected to the Santa Ana College Board of Education. Please note Joe's comments and be ready to replace her in four years!
I don't think it would be easy, just two years ago no one would run against her. And she does represent a significant portion of the voting population.
So why did she get only 4,651 votes, or 16.7% of the vote, in the June 69th AD election? http://www.smartvoter.org/2012/06/05/ca/state/race/caasm69/
Julio Perez, a total unknown, got over a thousand more votes than she did! And he spent a fortune wrecking her in the mail. That damage will linger...thanks Julio!
easy answer, Tom Daly was the chocen one by the machine.
Daly benefited from a Latino vote split but the voters rejected Martinez. That is an undeniable fact. And Perez badly damaged her. Thanks Julio!
You have lost all perspective here, Art. I don't think you give a damn about Walters, other than you are a paid attack dog for Pulido to retain power in the Council. You used to be paid by Martinez to increase her positive profile and now that you are being paid Pulido, you happily trash her.
Now that the majority appears to question whether Walters is the best City Manager for the job (he has, after all, been on the job for less than two years, including his interim tag). What makes you think Walters is the right choice, particularly as he appears to be enabling Pulido's continuing and unprecedented grip on City Hall? Is it because of his incredible and unprecedented move (note sarcasm here) to outsource the fire department to the county to "save the city from financial ruin."? Quite frankly, there is nothing in Mr. Walters' resume that indicates he has what it takes to lead the management of all facets of a city better than any other candidate that a city such as Santa Ana could attract. Put simply, a police chief does not necessarily make a good city manager. And the fact that Mr. Walters was voted 5-0 as City Manager in June of last year doesn't mean he should stay on indefinitely.
And why is Pulido spending so much political capital defending the City Manager position? Is it out of an altruistic love for a long-standing city employee who he feels is best suited to lead the city, or is it out of self-interest to protect all of Pulido's self-dealing that has gone on in city hall for ages? Again, why has the mayor pulled out all the stops to protect this position? Wshat is wrong with a City Manager that is not beholden to any one individual, but rather a City Council as a whole?
By the way, have you ever stopped and wondered how Pulido has been able to rise from an apartment to a near two-acre estate in Floral Park during his time at City Hall? Is it as a successful businessman? I don't think so. Almost all his businesses have been suspended by the California Secretary of State for failure to pay taxes. And the compensation he receives from all the boards he serves on, when added up, could not possibly support the lavish lifestyle the mayor leads.
How could you defend this? And that is exactly what you are supporting by calling for this recall, simply because Michele has the guts to call out a City Manager who serves at the beck and all of the mayor for whatever the mayor (not the Council as a whole) wants.
You may not like Michele anymore (now that she does not pay you), and we may not all agree with everything Michele has done. But do not pretend you give a damn about transparency in government, which is all what Michele (and a majority of the Council) is seeking by asking that the City Manager and staff provide the information the Council requires so that they (and the informed public) can make informed choices as to city business. Are you afraid of what will be found if there are finally true audits of the city's books and records and true transparency from the mayor down to the staff level? Because that is what the council and us Santa Ana residents want and what you seem to be fighting against.
Thanks for that Dr. Lomeli.
You would have much more credibility if you used your real name.
In response:
1) Less than seven months ago your Council "Majority" unanimaously approved Walters contract. What's Changed?
2) Walters has performed well (saving the city from BK) in the short time he has been in the position.
3) Pulido has lived in the same house for twenty years, everyone of us in the surrounding homes know this, know him and his family. A lot of peoples fortunes raised since 1992. I bet your's has.
4)YOU are not a Santa Ana resident. You are a business owner. YOU HAVE AN ECONOMIC INTEREST. You have no vote, you are concerned with your pocketbook (or your wife is). YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM, ALONG WITH IRV CHASE and the others EXPLOITING the city.
I would love to see you be so passionate about your community.
Instead, why don't you let Michele and her drug dealing ilk, Roman Reyna and his convict brother, or even David Benavide's move in with you in Orange Hills.
Now, I know that last comment was out of line: you have teenage daughters, the kind that Benavide's likes to prey upon. Actually, you might be able to leverage a vote or two, I mean if she doesn't have college plans, and is just answering phones.........
Hey, Maybe she could move into the Daisy Street pad.
GO HOME LOMELI, TAKE YOUR MONEY AND SHADY MEDICAL SCAM WITH YOU!
LOL! You know I did Michele a favor a few years ago and designed a campaign blog for $300. Do you realize what a pittance that was? Do you really think that is some kind of motivation? Quite frankly she should have asked for my help against Daly. My advice was to rip him and she ignored it. and she lost.
I didn't turn on Michele - but she sure has taken a turn for the crazy. Since her failed Assembly campaign she has gone nuts and now we have no choice but to take her out.
You clearly have a weak grasp of local history. I am the one who brought change to this city via my old Orange Juice blog. And to this day I continue to stand for the hard working people and families in our city. This lame Council majority isn't about transparency or doing the right thing. They are greedy politicians who want more power, period.
Tinajero and Sarmiento better wake up before they get added to the recall.
I think you can't have a successful recall of Martinez without having at least the leader in it too...Councilman David B.
Considering Miguel's landslide win in November, which indicates there are plenty of voters against him already and adding the current political moves David brought on to the beloved Walters, a well run recall might seal his fate.
Consider that the voting electorate might think. " There is a voting block targeting Walters but only michele is being targeted...Why?" You want to avoid a gender, ethnic economic or even neighborhood reference in this recall? Meaning the person(s) who pulled the papers or running the recall should be a cross section of Santa Ana.
If a recall is done right it most be done not for what it sounds like the easiest way but what is the smartest way, getting the best bang for the buck and considering previous elections.
If anything while you are collecting one signature, it would be easy to get another.
Remove any false assumption that this is a targeted gender, ethnic, neighborhood, etc issue.
Make sure that if it the recall is approved and the subsequent candidates found by the recall movement are picked considering election history.
I'm sure you can find a lot of issues in both Michelle and David work in and outside the council chambers, so need to hire a good intell agent.
Good Luck!
My 2nd paragraph might be confusing but I was writing that Miguel has plenty of support shown in november election and David's has less support that with this political move toward Walters a recall of David will be highly successful if done right.