Rogue bully Commissioners Leon and Stroud put in their place by a fellow Commissioner

Commissioner Tish Leon, feeling a disturbance in the force…

I was able to attend the Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Commission meeting tonight.  Our reader, Rob Cook, showed up too.

I half expected the rogue bully commissioners, Tish Leon and Julie Stroud, to skip out on the meeting, but there they were.  Commissioners Max Madrid and Kenneth Nguyen were there as well.

There weren’t many items on the agenda.  They whipped through it quickly and then came the time for public comments.  Cook spoke first.  He addressed a number of items.  He also stated that he supported Minuteman Lupe Moreno, who was honored last week by Santa Ana Councilman David Benavides.

Commissioner Julie Stroud

Then it was my turn.  I first thanked Gerardo Mouet and the Commissioners who joined him in removing the agenda item from tonight’s meeting that was originally going to result in Moreno receiving an award from the Commission.  For the record, Leon and Stroud placed that item on calendar in the first place.

Then I picked up the agenda and asked those in attendance to look at the front page, under Student Representative, where the word “Vacant” appears.  I told them that I had spoken to the young man that Leon and Stroud hounded until he quit the Commission.  He told me that they were angry because he would not support their candidate, Thomas Gordon, for Ward 6 on the Santa Ana City Council.  And both Leon and Stroud demanded that the high school student stop reading my blogs and de-friend me on Facebook.

I called on Leon and Stroud to do us all a favor and resign.

Commissioners Max Madrid and Kenneth Nguyen

Then came the surprise of the evening.  Madrid stood up and spoke not as a Commissioner but as a member of the public.  He lambasted Leon and Stroud, saying that he has known the former Student Commissioner for years – and reminding us all that the young man is only 16 years of age.  Madrid asked for an item to be placed on the next agenda – a full investigation of what Leon and Stroud did to the former Student Commissioner.

Stroud interrupted him at the end to blurt out, “Did you call us?”

I then asked, as I was leaving, if it was standard for Commissioners to berate members of the public during public comments.

It should be noted that Leon, who Chairs the Commission, received a loud phone call during the meeting.  She texted a response.  I later received a text message from a disturbed fellow who blogs elsewhere, asking me how the meeting was going.  I was not surprised to find him in cahoots with the likes of Leon and Stroud.

One of our readers sent us what Leon’s response to all this was on Facebook:

“I know that when you are in the public eye, one should expect to be attacked & criticized, but really!!??!!”

That was her status update, and then there followed a thread of comments…then she went on to update it with this when someone asked her if she was being bullied…

“Big time, they are the local bully’s of a blog…”

She ended the thread of comments with:

“thanks everyone, it was a tough day & meeting. I’m done & the sun will come out tomorrow….lalala”

Our reader found it ironic that the bully would call us the bullies, when she was the BIG bully that terrorized the student commissioner in the first place!

Leon and Stroud should not gloat for long.  I am fairly certain that one or both will be removed shortly.  Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido is surely still sore at Stroud’s husband, Glen, for leading a fraudulent investigation of the Santa Ana City Council, by the O.C. Grand Jury.  I cannot imagine he will be sad to see another Stroud tossed off a City Commission.