Until last night I had never attended the “El Grito” event at Santa Ana’s annual Fiestas Patrias. Who knew I was missing out on an unbelievable spectacle?
Thousands of Mexican Americans filled Santa Ana’s Fourth Street, facing a huge stage at the end of the street, near the Northgate Market. A moderator introduced our city’s leaders at 8 pm, as Mayor Miguel Pulido and his family took the stage, along with Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez and traitorous Council Members Vince Sarmiento and David Benavides. The latter is running against Pulido in November and Sarmiento is supporting him.
To Sarmiento’s and Benavides’ chagrin, Pulido and his family whipped out guitars and sat down to entertain the crowd as Pulido’s father sang two Mexican classics. I shot video of this that I will put up later after I have finished editing it. When the musical performace was over, Pulido took the microphone to thank the crowd for the great turnout and to speak respectfully about Mexican independence, as a Mexican immigrant himself. You can see in the picture above that Sarmiento and Benavides were most uncomfortable as the spotlight shined on Pulido.
Alvarez however was very comfortable and charming as she made her remarks. She was resplendent in a red shawl and her smile lit up the stage. She, like Pulido, was clearly in her element.
I recently criticized Benavides and his sorry cabal for being a “pocho revolution” and sure enough of all the speakers last night, Benavides was the most verbally awkward. He also told the crowd that his father was an undocumented immigrant who got caught repeatedly and sent back to Mexico. I wonder if the Usual Suspects in town would have supported Benavides if they knew this?
Sarmiento took the microphone and proceeded to tell the crowd that even though he is not Mexican, his kids are. Apparently he married a Mexican-American. Both he and Benavides hammed it up, but I caught them texting during the event, as seen in the picture above, a clear sign of disrpect for “El Grito” and for Mexican culture.
One thing was very clear last night – the Pulido family is loved and respected in Santa Ana a fact that Benavides and his clown posse overlooked in challenging him. In fact several Benavides allies blew off the event, including Council Members Sal Tinajero and Michele Martinez.
The Fiestas Patrias event continues today in Downtown Santa Ana. It is going to be very hot again so remember to drink a lot of water and get in the shade when you can.
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Wow. If your intent is to portray Pulido as a tyrannical, vindictive third world despot by referring to his challengers as "traiterous," then you have succeeded.
Despots are also portrayed as beloved by the people by stooge propagandists such as yourself.
True democracy demands differing opinions. Even if Benavides is a douche, he has a right to run for Mayor. How many other douches have run for public office and lost?
Pulido has done some goods things for Santa Ana and will win or lose on his own strengths and willingness to listen to new voices from the community. [Editor's Note: vulgar comments deleted].
Benavides and Sarmiento voted with Pulido over 98 percent of the time over the past six years, according to mayoral challenger George Collins. This isn't a revolution, it's a mutiny.
These lame Council Members don't have different opinions, they just are greedy for more power.
Yes, Benavides has a right to run for Mayor, and I have a right to deflate his campaign. The vulgarity I had to delete from your comment is indicative that his supporters are as thin-skinned as Benavides and Sarmiento appear to be.
If you care to resubmit your vulgar comments using your real name and real email address I will be happy to post them.
Pulido never has appeared in any Mexican Immigrant events. Has only appeared at the last couple of Fiestas Patrias events.........only out of political necessity.
[Editor's Note: Benavides campaign propaganda deleted].
How is that for the hypocrisy of entertaining the Mexican Immigrant Fiesta Patrias crowd.
I have pictures of Pulido at every single Fiestas Patrias event I have attended.
Editor wrote,
"This isn’t a revolution, it’s a mutiny."
YES,PEDRAZA GOOD WORD!!!
Mutiny
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals (typically members of the military; or the crew of any ship, even if they are civilians) to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among members of the military against their superior officer(s), but can also occasionally refer to any type of rebellion against an authority figure.
The council majority do not wish to be under Pulido's AUTHORITY any longer.......and so the separation.
They are greedy pirates and nothing more. And like pirates they are already at each other's throats.
Benavides will lose big in November. This mutiny will be scuttled and then the time will come for a reckoning.
Editor says:
September 16, 2012 at 1:53 pm
I have pictures of Pulido at every single Fiestas Patrias event I have attended.
On this blog you wrote:
"Until last night I had never attended the “El Grito” event at Santa Ana’s annual Fiestas Patrias. Who knew I was missing out on an unbelievable spectacle?"
So according to your calculation Pulido has attended one Fiestas Patrias?
Remember this is the 34th Fiestas Patrias, has been Mayor for 18 years and councilman for I think 4 years before that.
I have attended many Fiestas Patrias events, particularly the parades. But this was my first El Grito.
We are talking about the Grito where he as Mayor officially addresses the crowd.
So , yes has only attended last couple for political necessity.
No matter how the Mayor's race turns out Benavides is with the majority council. Where the power is.
The Mayors office those not have the power. the Majority council does.
Benavides is in the decision making process whether he is Mayor or not.
Editor says:
September 16, 2012 at 2:22 pm
They are greedy pirates and nothing more. And like pirates they are already at each other’s throats.
Benavides will lose big in November. This mutiny will be scuttled and then the time will come for a reckoning.
SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE SAYING AND SUPPORTING A PULIDO THIRD WORLD DICTATORSHIP. NO WAY PEDROZA WE ARE A DEMOCRACY NO ONE SUPPORTS THIS BESIDES YOU AND THIS CAMPAIGN.
HE WINS EITHER WAY.
Hey Doc, Where was David's family?
Everyone else had their wife and kids there?
Except for David Benavides.
WHY?????
Carpet bagger,
I was there and a munch of other people too......we didn't have our spouses and kids there either.
Why????????
I don't klnow why your wife didn't go.
But, YOU'RE NOT RUNNING FOR MAYOR.
Admit it Doc, he cheated on his wife, PERIOD. Then we can move on to his ability (or lackthereof) to lead a city of 400,000 people.
After that we can move on to his invisible plan to save Santa Ana.
Just give us that. It is the TRUTH after all.
Hey Lomeli,
I am waiting for my flight. Thought I'd surf the internet:
http://santa-ana-sentinel.com/
Looks like a couple more hometown folks distrust your boy.
I'm just getting into his shady business dealings. His current Partner once worked for the cities housing district/authority. We'll have to have NSA take acloser look at this.
More soon.
Every day this Pulido propaganda machine is getting more and more ridiculous. Editor, if you could seriously take a step back and get a real glimpse of what you are doing, it's sad. Wouldn't you like to be known for more than a Pulido hack? Is that the legacy of this blog? I want to assume that you're better than this.
Pulido must have doubled your fee recently or something.
Editor, you are better than this. You live and blog about the best city in So Cal. I think you are probably it's number one blogger. Be someone, and give us something that our city can be proud of.
If you must promote Pulido and bash Benavides, can you at least give us Santa Ana residents some promoting of Pulido?? Give us a reason to vote for the guy. Many of us out there are undecided and the fact that his dad can belt out a few corridos is not going to get us there.
Best regards,
Curious
I have already addressed this many, many times. Instead let's have a look at what our friends at the Santa Ana Sentinel had to say on this subject:
http://thesantaanasentinel.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/santa-ana-election-2012-endorsements/
The Santa Ana Sentinel endorses the following:
City of Santa Ana:
Mayor: Miguel Pulido
Continuity is still the order of the day. There simply is no better option, yet again, for the mayor’s office. Pulido is vastly popular and his time as mayor is proof of that. Benavides is an incognito without the track record or popularity of Pulido. To be fair, Benavides was an incognito until his true colors shone through when he nearly had a hand in the sale of the Santora arts building to his church. Now he’s come out in favor of the PBID, showing his true colors.
Worst endorsement (and most rudimentary) I've ever seen. So, here's how I read it...
Continuity is good and Pulido is popular...so we endorse him. I'm not sure if you noticed that they failed to mention one single good thing about Pulido. Gosh, maybe I should call the Pulido campaign and offer my services. Someone should be touting the accomplishments of the 18 year mayor. They should be incredibly substantial. However, I have a hard time finding anyone, anywhere hitting the talking points about why the mayor should keep being the mayor...except for continuity! Come on!
I think the truth is that Pulido, although a very good person who has done a mediocre job, no longer has any vision on passion for his position. He's used to sitting in that spot and is able to leverage it to provide very well for his family. there is nothing really wrong with that, it just won't really get Santa Ana where it deserves to go!
Editor, whether it happens now with Benavides or in two years with Sarmiento, it's time for a change and the mayor's time is up. He's had a good run! Let's move forward now!
If you were paying attention you would know that this is exactly the case Pulido has been making, and he is right. He has a long record of development that has led our city in new directions.
And Pulido has made it clear that despite the loss of redevelopment he has plans to continue growth in our city by focusing on transportation, which makes a lot of sense since our residents use public transit more than the residents of any other city in Orange County.
I have myself stated that I will be happy to support a challenger if someone decent comes along - Amezcua was not that man and neither is Benavides. And if you had actually read the Santa Ana Sentinel you would have taken note of his attempt to move a church into the Santora building and his support for the unethical PBID tax.
Go look at Benavides' website. No vision at all. He mentions being vibrant some 21 times and he has all sorts of crazed unfunded schemes that simply extend the neighborhood association welfare that I hope comes to an end soon.
The only reason Benavides ran was to block Sal Tinajero from running. Benavides knows he can't win. That is why he has no campaign office, has held no fundraisers and is simply running in place.