Ballots are arriving now in the mail for this November’s General Election. Here in Santa Ana we are voting for three Trustees on the Santa Ana Unified School District’s Board of Education.
Incumbents Rob Richardson and Jose A. Hernandez are running for re-election – and SAUSD incumbents never lose. They have both been endorsed by the Santa Ana Educators Association. There is one open SAUSD seat as Trustee Roman Reyna is leaving the School Board after only one term, to run for the Santa Ana City Council, in Ward 5.
There are several challengers running for the Reyna seat on the SAUSD School Board. The top candidates include Myriam Tinajero, who is the sister of former SAUSD Trustee and current Santa Ana Council Member Sal Tinajero; Orange County Probation Officer Valerie Amezcua, who lost four years ago to Reyna; and former Congressional candidate Cecilia Iglesias, who recently became a registered Republican and subsequently disavowed the Dream Act.
While Richardson has a lot of bipartisan support, and is well known, you can’t say that about Iglesias. They are both Republicans but Richardson can win despite that – I am not so sure about Iglesias. This will be an uphill battle for her.
The race really comes down to Tinajero versus Amezcua. Ostensibly they are supposed to be working together but the reality is that they are fighting for the same seat. Only one of them will win.
Tinajero has better name I.D. and she doesn’t have Amezcua’s negatives. Amezcua is saddled with the negative karma incurred by her father, Al, when he ran unsuccessfully for Santa Ana Mayor two years ago.
Tinajero is a social worker, according to her Linkedin Page. That is a great ballot designation, second only I think to “teacher.” She has a better ballot designation than Amezcua.
I am told that Tinajero’s campaign is working on a website. It should be up soon. In the meantime click here to read her ballot statement.
Click here to check out Amezcua’s website.
If I was a betting man I would put my money on Tinajero. She doesn’t have Amezcua’s baggage and her brother Sal is a lot smarter than the guy who is running Amezcua’s campaign, SAUSD Trustee John Palacio.
I’ll be voting for Robert Allen.
“Tinajero versus Amezcua?”……… Hmmmmmmmm
The are both Mexicans so what is a choice?
….. Obesity?
….. IQ?
….. What?
I’d like to see each current Santa Ana elected official find a sister, daughter, or mother to run for another elected office so that we can consolidate leadership in Santa Ana and decide more issues at Thanksgiving dinner instead of open meetings. With a little town like Santa Ana there are not enough good people to run anyway and only a few families worthy of elected office.
Art,
Ceci continues to support the Dream Act. She supports in state tuition and is always pushing immigration refor. If she became a Republican, that is not relevant to this race, as this is a nonpartisan race. Please get your fact correct before you start spreading negative attacks on her. Ceci will win one of the 3 sets up for election. You know she is the only one that has a child in the Santa Ana Public School. She is the only one that has a vested interest for things to change at the School Board Level. I will be voting for her and will have all of my friends Vote for her too.
Another blog, OC Political, which is published by OC GOP insiders, revealed that when Ceci went to the OC GOP Central Committee’s Endorsement Committee meeting she and her supporters indicated that she no longer supported the Dream Act. I wrote about it here: http://newsantaana.com/2012/09/08/why-i-can-no-longer-support-iglesias-for-the-sausd-school-board/. There is a link in that post to the OC Political article I referenced.
At that same meeting Ceci and her Republican supporters also established that she is now against ESL instruction.
I was a big fan of hers until all of that came out.
It is true that she is running now for a non partisan seat but it is also true that she sought the GOP endorsement and apparently changed her views in order to get it. Those are the facts despite what you would have us believe.
Have you talked to her personally. I was there at that meeting too. Ceci continues to support ESL supportive services. She benefited from those services herself when she came to the States as an Immigrant. Ceci believes in education that is why she started the Non Profit for the Deaf and hard of hearing students. She cares for quality education for all. She has been a tutor. She teaches American Sign Language Classes. You know she is the most qualified. I don’t know what the fall out was with you and her. But don’t spread Rumors about Ceci. Ceci has the support of the community and the Parents for the Schools. I cant say that about the others. Ceci is trilingual. She communicates in English, Spanish and American Sign Language.
Again I am not spreading rumors and I take offense at that suggestion. I reported what another blog reported – and that blog is run by a fellow who is Assemblyman Chris Norby’s chief of staff. Are you saying that the OC Political blog lied about what happened at that OC GOP Endorsement Committee meeting? What reason would they have to do so?
Ceci chose to join the Republican Party and she went after their endorsement and in so doing apparently she had to revise her positions on issues that matter to me.
Does Ceci’s party know that she is now apparently disavowing what she told the OC GOP Endorsement Committee?
Ceci believes that we should “Put Students First”. I dont see that with the others.
Art, you know a lot of smart people…and have bright kids attending great schools, so I am curious….
What would you guess is the I.Q. of SAUSD Boardmember and Ward 5 Council candidate Roman Reyna?
Ceci has not changed her position on any issue. She supports undocumented students to have access to college tuition as Instate Residents. You also reported on that, if I recall correctly.
She believes they should have the opportunity to reside here legally if they are obtaining their college degrees. She believes we should have Immigration Reform. I know she stands up for Human Rights. She is a strong supporter of that. I know that she has Principels and is one that will continue to hold them once she is elected.
“PUT STUDENTS FIRST”
My advice to Ceci is that she clarify where she stands on these issues in a written press release. I would be happy to post that.
I believe the best ballot designation is Cecilia “Ceci” Iglesias. She is a Business Woman/Parent. She is the first one on the Ballot. Most important is that Ceci has experience as a Social Worker, Contracts Adminstrator and as an Educator teaching American Sign Language to the parents of the Deaf Children so they can communicate with their Deaf Child. Ceci provides tutoring for Deaf children to ensure that they too are acedmically succesful. All these qualifications are needed to be on the school board.
What has Tinajero done for Education? I believe that Ceci will win a seat in the School Board and maybe Valerie too.
I would like to know more about the SAUSD candidates & will they be offering any kind of a DEBATE? How can you contact the candidate( for example, Tinajero) to volunteer on their campaign?
Santa Ana Resident you can find out more about Ceci on http://www.SAVESAUSD.com.
Santa Ana Resident,
Smart voter guide is one:
http://smartvoter.org/2012/11/06/ca/or/race/3201/
KPCC will have one online soon:
http://www.scpr.org/blogs/politics/2012/09/07/9717/local-election-questions-2012/
The OC Register voter guide (whenever its updated)
California Alliance for Arts Education:
http://survey.artsed411.org/surveys/surveylist.aspx