The Santa Ana police union wants to blow $500K in taxpayer money to recall Councilwoman Ceci Iglesias

The Santa Ana Police Officers Association, known as SAPOA, has finally admitted that they are the ones funding the recall effort against Santa Ana City Councilwoman Cecilia Iglesias, according to the O.C. Register.

As you might imagine Iglesias reacted to the news about the recall signatures on her Facebook page:

greedyGerry is finally exposed as the sole funder for the recall against me. It’s a shame that he has been given so much control in misspending his members money using it to fund recalls that will cost the city $500k for an election.

Under #greedyGerry leadership city hall will continue to be coercively governed by an unethical bully. Gerry Serrano has managed to control the majority of the council to do his dirty work inside city hall. He is a bully and continues to bully the only women on the council. This did not happen under the former POA President.

Gerry doesn’t care about Santa Ana residents. He only cares about the money he takes from Santa Ana residents. Why should he care about Santa Ana, when he lives in Garden Grove.

My respects to the our police officers. They are just doing their job. They are doing the best they can under their bully president.

Say No to the Recall!!!

The police union has spent $220,000 since last July to oppose Iglesias, most of it going to a committee dubbed “Neighbors Supporting the Recall of Cecilia Iglesias.” This has paid for the gathering of 16,000 signatures in support of the recall, which were turned in to the City of Santa Ana on Dec. 18 and then delivered the next day to the Orange County Registrar of Voters.

The Registrar will determine the validity of the signatures. The police union will need at least 10,865 valid signatures in order to qualify the recall for the ballot. The Registrar’s office has until Feb. 3 to verify the signatures and return those results to the city. I suppose that means the recall might be able to make the March Primary Election ballot but more likely it is headed for the November ballot.

The police union’s leaders are upset with Iglesias because she voted last February against spending $25 million on police raises. However the City Council as a whole did vote for the raises, begging the question, why go after Iglesias when the police union got what they wanted?

And it turns out that Iglesias was right all along. The police union and the City Council ended up funding the big police raise by raiding the funds raised by Measure X, a highly ill-advised sales tax increase the voters got duped into voting for back in 2018. That money was supposed to be used for a slew of city services but it has in fact been spent mostly on police expenses and other city debt.

The police union already had a chance to beat Iglesias when she ran for the City Council but they recruited a lame and lazy candidate who lost badly. Now the police union wants to spend our taxpayer money to fund a recall election that only serves them! It is salt in the wound after they ripped us off with Measure X.

The City Council will have a chance to vote on when the recall election will take place. Hopefully they will push it back to the November General Election. Iglesias is already running to replace termed-out Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido so trying to recall her would be a total waste of time.

Ironically Iglesias now enjoys broad support from both the right and the left as she steadfastly stands up for the voters and taxpayers in a town where the City Council members usually kowtow to the special interests.

Shame on the SAPOA for funding this ridiculous recall effort! They should man up and leave Iglesias alone. Let the voters decide her fate when she runs for Mayor. Most likely she will win that race too and trigger the police union’s fragile leaders once again!