Santa Ana Councilman Vince Sarmiento has reportedly pulled papers to run for Mayor of Santa Ana, hours after State Senator Lou Correa also pulled papers.
There is still no word as to whether or not longtime incumbent Mayor Miguel Pulido will in fact run again this November.
Sarmiento barely won re-election in Santa Ana’s Ward 1 in 2012, edging out the unknown Estela Amezcua by just 4% of the vote, according to Smart Voter. Amezcua did not campaign and did not spend any money while Sarmiento may have spent over $150K in his weak campaign.
So why would Sarmiento enter the Mayoral race now that Correa is in? I suspect this is pure ego on display by Sarmiento. He cannot possibly compete against Correa. But I suppose it is his way of saying that he will not lay down for Correa. Apparently he was fine with his Council colleague, Roman Reyna, running for Mayor even though Reyna may be the least qualified Mayoral candidate on the Council.
Don’t be surprised if former Santa Ana Council Member Claudia Alvarez jumps in to this race as well. But she has burned so many bridges that I can’t see her prevailing in this one.
Correa already has hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars on hand. And he doesn’t have the taint that the Council Members have been tarred with as they have steered Santa Ana into one mess after another. I think the voters will strongly appreciate Correa’s ability to leverage his connections in Sacramento and in DC on behalf of our city.
Correa, as a Mexican-American, also has broader appeal to Latino voters in the area than Sarmiento, who is of Bolivian extraction.
Vincent doesn’t even live in Santana and I’ll soon reveal his address in Orange Park Acres.
Yes that would be his mom’s house.
His mom lives around the corner.
Vince and Eva live in Orange Park Acres and the kids go to private school in the area.
This would seem to be the split the anti-Pulido gambit. Why would they do this? Possibly because they (the council) has Pulido where they want him and they don’t think that they can do that with Correa … ?
Yes I believe that is their plan. They are so lame.
Interesting development.Certainly he is the most well spoken and polished of anyone on the council. But he is a weakling, afraid to stand for anything.
I have one eye on this but, watch the battle of the J’s (Janet and Jose). Thats the prize here. Solorio is going to look even lamer after he loses and tries for Janets sloppy seconds there.
Once the smoke clears that could be a Pulido seat for TEN years! count em (2 Special election) + two four year terms. This could be the arrangement from the king makers.
Pulido is the only candidate that can and always has garnered white votes. This does give him a distinct advantage.
How entrenched is Vince with the others?
We know ANY of these councilmembers would sell their mothers,children, wives and whomever for political gain (we’ve seen that last cycle). Which is to say nothing of their absent souls.
But, where do they stand with one another? If Benavides and Martinez win, aren’t they DONE, lame ducks with no chance of mayoral positions? Neither seemed posied for much more than realtor of the month or the winner of a pie eating contest. So what do they gain by backing a particular candidate? Are they smart enough to think four years forward?
It’s not like Martinez has kids to hold her down, and Benavides family life is well…….
So what is the political future in the city?
All I know is that Sal and Michele are not too happy with David. But Sal is not a David ally either.
I don’t know how Sarmiento rolls but he is pretty weak.
Remember pulido is not angel as the editor describes him lots people thru out the city see him as crook…and with a legal defence fund who’s he foolin if he’s so innocent why have a legal defence fund if people have voted for him it’s because they have gotten brainwashed ….
I like that “CC” more and more despite the Christian trappings.
Pulido is obviously a slave boy to Samueli,Chase,Fainberg, and Jakosky Cabal. Wake up Santa Ana.
Benavides is Chase’s boy. You should know that by now.
Pulido does have a large network of backers but Correa has more campaign cash than any of the other mayoral contenders.
I challenge you to fund a post where I stated that he was an angel. He was certainly preferable to Benavides and Amezcua who have ethical issues of their own. Now at last we have a better option in Correa. If only Reynard and Sarmiento would get out of the way!
Editor, I have seen that Pulido, Martinez, Sarmiento, and Tinajero are all on the regular payrolls of Chase-Fainberg. (Through regularly scheduled campaign donations every
6 months. This is part of why they recently wanted to increase campaign donations per cycle. This is bought governance by a private entity. You know it. I know it. Everbody needs to know it! But how is “Chase boy” benavides being compensated, corrupted? He is not listed as receiving these donations. At least not in the two halfs of 2013.
Yet he doesn’t appear to have any real estate listings either so how is he making a living?