The Santa Ana City Council has cobbled together a real Frankenstein’s Monster of a ballot measure that has one main goal – to give the City Council Members a huge raise! They are going to be considering this measure at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, this week.
What the City Council Members are proposing comes from California Government Code Section 36516, which states in part:
A city council may enact an ordinance providing that each member of the city council shall receive a salary based on the population of the city as set forth in paragraph (2).
(2) The salaries approved by ordinance under paragraph (1) shall be as follows:
(F) In cities over 250,000 population, up to and including one thousand dollars ($1,000) per month.
Currently the Santa Ana City Council, which is a part-time Council, earns a monthly salary of $125 a month, but they pad this income with benefits, a car allowance and additional stipends that can be up to $1,000 a month, when they serve on various commissions such as the O.C. Sanitation District, the O.C. Fire Authority and the OCTA. The Mayor earns a monthly salary of $75.
In essence our Santa Ana City Council wants to raise their monthly salary from $125 to $1,000 – and they want us to vote for this in November.
So how is the City Council going to fool us into voting for this monstrosity? They are packing a few other concepts into the ballot measure, including:
- Changing the code to allow Council Members to solicit campaign contributions from any person who has had business before the city without waiting three months after a final decision is rendered by the City Council involving licenses, permits or other entitlements.
- Creating an Ethics Commission to enforce the city’s Code of Ethics
- Reduce contributions for legal defense funds for Council Members
- Repeal disqualification and prohibition provisions as per the California Political Reform Act and the FPPC
Not only is this City Council trying to boost their salary – they want us to vote to allow them to ask anyone with business before the city for campaign contributions. Now think about that for a moment. Isn’t this a form of legalized blackmail? If you want the City Council to grant you a license or permit you better be prepared to write campaign checks to the Council Members or you can kiss that license or permit goodbye!
Folks this is legalized corruption wrapped in a bogus Code of Ethics. Click here to read the staff report about this proposed ballot measure.
What is driving all of this? It comes down to this – we have several Council Members who don’t have real jobs. They need a raise because they don’t earn a real income and they need to squeeze more people for campaign contributions for the same reasons.
Serving on our City Council is an honor that should be considered first and foremost a public service. If you cannot afford to serve on the Council then don’t run for the Council.
Voters should reject this ridiculous ballot measure and should furthermore vote against all of the incumbents who are up for re-election this November, including Council Members Sal Tinajero, Michele Martinez, and David Benavides. They should also reject mayoral challenger Roman Reyna, who also serves on the Council and who also has had issues keeping a real job.
I believe that State Senator Lou Correa is running for Mayor and if this proves to be true then we should vote for him instead of Reyna or our incumbent, Miguel Pulido.
– Creating an Ethics Commission to enforce the city’s Code of Ethics
– Reduce contributions for legal defense funds for Council Members
If El Chapo de Santa Ana (aka Miguelito) is running and wins this November I am all for this. After 25 years in politics, shady business, and a $25,000 donation for a legal defense fund from one guy why wouldn’t anyone NOT want to take back our city? If we would have adopted years ago, even with the increase to salary to the council members we probably would have unmasked the shady stuff the mayor has done and would have still saved some money.
The point is that attaching a huge raise to this measure and weakening the city’s campaign finance law at the same time is BS. Don’t fall for this Trojan horse!
Dang mr. P
Did you just say that?
Lou correa over pulido? But aren’t they buddies?
Don’t you think pulido must be asking lou to fill that space for a certain reason? What’s he getting out of that decision?
Correa has crossed swords with our Mayor and City Council on many occasions but he has been subtle about it. I certainly wouldn’t call him an ally of the Mayor but he hasn’t really been an enemy either. Solorio on the other hand is very tight with the Mayor.
Michelle Martinez, go get a real job!!! No, not selling drugs.
How is it that they are entitled to healthcare benefits? On what planet are these people living on? Have them get AHCA coverage like everyone else.
As for Pulido being office for 25 years. That’s because a qualified candidate has not run against him in years. If the mere calendar is the reason, perhaps we should recall Loretta Sanchez, Dana Roherbacher, Daryl Issa, Barbara Boxer and Di-Fi.
Well said! If Correa does run he’ll be the first solid candidate to run for Mayor since Pulido first ran.
From the looks of things Angie “Amezcua” Oliver is with child.
She had a heck of a bun in the oven at Roman’s fundraiser. Either that or she better get that flap over to PAYAN X for some spiritual exercise.
If that is true I doubt she will run for reelection in two years.