There are now six (and possibly seven) candidates running for The Santa Ana City Council’s Ward 3, which incumbent City Council Member Angie Amezcua is vacating. You might recall that she was accidentally elected four years ago when her name and her ballot title (she is a teacher) propelled her to victory even though she did not spend any campaign money or actively campaign.

The candidates who have qualified for the ballot include:

• Former Santa Ana City Councilman Jose Solorio, who also spent a few years in Sacramento as our State Assemblyman in the 69th Assembly District, has moved into Ward 3 in order to run for the open seat. Solorio, who is now a lobbyist with a law firm in Irvine, tells me he already has over $200K in campaign funds ready to go.
• Shane Ramon Barrows, a police officer in Irvine who is married to a city employee who works at the Santiago Park Nature Reserve. Barrows and his wife have a couple of kids and he has been involved with the Cub Scouts for a few years. He did not buy a candidate’s statement. He ran four years ago and got just over 4,000 votes. He says he will not accept campaign contributions so the odds of him winning this time are not great. But he is a good guy.
• Patrick D. “Mr Patrick” Yrarrazaval-Correa – This fellow was booted from the Santa Ana Planning Commission. He also was demoted from his former job as a Principal at the SAUSD to his current job counseling kids who are in the SAUSD’s continuation program. He was also apparently arrested and convicted way back in 1989, according to the L.A. Times for blocking access to a military conference in El Toro in a show of opposition to U.S. defense policies including the  the Strategic Defense Initiative, or “Star Wars” program.
• David De Leon – He pulled papers and has time to gather more signatures as Amezcua has vacated her seat. De Leon is a PTA dad who is also active in the local Kiwanis club. He is allied with Santa Ana City Council Members Roman Reyna and David Benavides, which is not good.
• Juve Dan Pinedo – He appears to be a realtor. He did not buy a candidate’s statement.
• Joshua Mauras – He is an attorney. He did not buy a candidate’s statement.

One final candidate, Ana Urzua Alcaraz, also turned in her nomination signatures but they are still being validated by the Santa Ana City Clerk. She did buy a candidate’s statement. She appears to be a complete unknown with no social profile that I could find. I am told she may be an ally of Santa Ana Mayoral candidate Benjamin Vazquez.