In a hilarious turn of events the Recall election of Santa Ana City Mayor Pro Tem Jessie Lopez may have to be cancelled. The Voice of OC has reported that the OC Voter Registrar and the campaign to Recall Jessie Lopez screwed up royally as they used the new Ward 3 maps instead of the old ones.
Lopez was elected under the old maps, prior to redistricting. What this means is when the ballots were mailed out, for the Recall election set for Nov. 14, about 1,200 residents of the old Ward 3 did not get them.
It is also possible that some of the signatures gathered were for residents of the new Ward 3 not the old one.
The Recall campaign is predictably blaming the Registrar of Voters but let’s be honest here – this is an example of amateurs trying to play politics.
This recall had no reason for happening. The whole thing was the idea of the Santa Ana Police Officers Association – led in the past by their former President Gerry Serrano. He blew a gasket when Lopez voted for a new police contract that forced him to have to do actual police work in order to get a check.
Serrano reportedly then filed a workers’ comp claim and the City of Santa Ana used that as an excuse to retire him.
Serrano is gone but his last dumb move, the Lopez Recall lives on. However it may be cancelled soon and perhaps we will call it Serrano’s Last Folly.
According to the Registrar of Voters, this stupid Recall campaign will cost taxpayers from $607,403 to $666,990. A replacement election could double that amount, according to the OC Register.
No matter what happens Lopez has to run for reelection next November. So why not just wait and try to replace her then?
The Santa Ana Police Officers Association previously recalled a conservative City Council member, Ceci Iglesias, and they also made sure that another pro-law enforcement City Councilman, Juan Villegas, lost when they ran another male candidate to split the vote. The net result of this awful union’s machinations has been the election of several City Council members who oppose law enforcement. More of Serrano’s follies…
The right thing to do would be to cancel the Recall election of Jessie Lopez. If her detractors want her out they should wait a year and run someone against her next November. Of course the last time she ran her detractors wound up running two white guys from Floral Park against her and they predictably split the vote and put her in office. Who knows what dumb maneuvers they will pull next November…
