UPDATE: Bustamante has resigned from his job at the County of Orange. It is only a matter of time now before he is pressured off the Santa Ana City Council. It is time to speculate as to who might replace him on the City Council when that happens…
I am hearing that beleaguered Republican Carlos Bustamante, who has been “put on paid administrative leave (from his job at the County of Orange) following anonymous allegations of a sexual nature,” according to ABC News, may dig in his heels and refuse to quit the Santa Ana City Council, which is meeting this Monday night.
Bustamante would be well-advised to leave the City Council. He needs to focus on trying to save his job at the County, which pays him over $170,000 a year – and on saving his family. He ought to just quit tomorrow before the City Council meeting, to save him what will surely be an embarrassing night.
You may recall that Bustamante, and his ally Councilman David Benavides, tried to lynch Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez, at the last City Council meeting, even though she had already apologized for comments comparing Santa Ana developer/property owner Irv Chase’s tactics to that of the Nazis. Does anyone think that Alvarez will not be prepared to finish off Bustamante on Monday night? I doubt even Benavides will be interested in defending Bustamante.
So who will ultimately replace Bustamante, once he finally leaves? The first place to look for a replacement is usually the Planning Commission – and get this, no less than six of the Planning Commissioners live in Ward 3, which is represented by Bustamante.
Eric M. Alderete is on the right, standing to the left of fellow Planning Commissioner Sean Mill. Picture Copyright © New Santa Ana, taken on Election Night, last November.
Let’s take a look at these possible Bustamante replacement candidates:
- Eric M. Alderete, Esq. – vice president and senior corporate counsel at U.S. Bank National Association, has been named to the Santa Ana College Foundation Board of Directors. He also serves as chair of the City of Santa Ana Planning Commission, according to OC Metro – which included him on their “Movers & Shakers” list last year. He was appointed to the Planning Commission by Councilman Vincent Sarmiento.
- James R. Gartner – He is the Vice Chair of the Planning Commission, and he owns a business. He was appointed to the Commision by Bustamante, so I doubt he will be looking to replace him.
- Alexander “Sandy” Nalle – He actually ran against Bustamante back in 2004. He had the support of Mayor Miguel Pulido – and in hindsight we would have been better off if Nalle had won. Nalle works in real estate. Click here to read his bio. Nalle got over 18,000 votes, according to Smart Voter. As such he deserves consideration as a replacement for Bustamante.
- Mario Turner – He was appointed by Benavides. I served with Turner on the Santa Ana Housing and Redevelopment Commission – and he lives in my neighborhood, Park Santiago. Great guy – and smart as a whip, but he has two young boys and I doubt he would be interested in replacing Bustamante.
- Patrick D. Yrarrazaval – He is Councilwoman Michele’ Martinez’ appointment to the Planning Commission. He took over as the new Principal at Valley High School this year. A career public school administrator, I doubt he would be interested in taking over for Bustamante.
Pictured (from Left to Right): Eric Alderete, Jose Solorio, Vince Sarmiento and Mario Turner
I supposed there might be other candidates, but we need someone who can hit the ground running. The City of Santa Ana is dealing with a gigantic budget deficit. Whoever takes over for Bustamante, hopefully next week, will have to roll up their sleeves and get to work right away.
Are you kidding?
No.
You must be dreaming.
How did some Anglos get in this list? Shouldn’t they at least speak Spanish?
Nothing is going to happen to the council man from ward #3, at least not tonight.
So why the multi posts on a non-issue?
Is this a smoke screen cover-up of the lies about the payoffs from that soccer league wanting the free ride on the backs to the resident of Santa Ana?
Or is it to defect from the vote to dissolve PBID?
Or is it about how the city management wants to cut services and raise taxes?\
Is this what the grand experiment of an all Latino council was about?
“How did some Anglos get in this list?”….. Hmmmmm
How about Bohemians?
If Carlos is made to step down.. Claudia should follow..
Token whities – don’t stand a chance.
I thought that other blog was all about “challenging the right wing noise machine”.
Dan the Polack and Chris the gimp wrote nearly 20 posts about Democrat Claudia Alvarez and have virtually ignored the scandal surrounding Republican Carlos Bustamante.
What gives a**holes?
Maybe Chris the gimp is worried that if they start looking into what people are doing at work he might be in trouble too.
The difference between Carlos and Chris is, Carlos is fu*king his co-workers and Chris is fu*king the taxpayers….allegedly
This city needs more Bohemians, Latino or Gabacho.
Re-Tardif,
“Token whities – don’t stand a chance.”…… Hmmmm
Well Admin named 2 Latinos losers and one white, if you can call him that, loser.
So name 3 of your whities?….
I would highly recommend the Council to appoint Hieu Nguyen. He lives in Bustamante Ward. Hieu is a great guy who will make decisions for the people of Santa Ana. We need new blood on the City Council.
Rob Richardson and his wife Vivian visited with Brett Frankiling last night. They brought along the Floral Park Mafia (The Browns, Doughty’s and XXXXXXXXX) for execution.
I just got back from the meeting.
I think Carlos is not going anywhere.
Just reflux everybody!
Not now but his days are surely numbered…
The mayor slapped down a few speakers who tried to made a negative or positive comment about the councilman from ward 3.
The police comm room was packed without any empty seats.
Wasn’t that due to the Chivas deal more than Bustamante?
I dont think Bustamante is going to be asked to leave the city council. There were a handful of ardent supporters at tonites council meeting who spoke up for him, including one arguing pretty forcefully with the Mayor. It was real drama, but the jist of 2 of the speakers was that they thought the anonymous accusations were bogus. The place was packed with a lot of angry people, mostly about the soccer stadium and pbib.
If the County finds that he committed harassment, he will have to resign from the council.
He resigned from the County – will that not end any investigation by the County against Bustamante?
Anyone who will replace Bustamante, will be better 100%.The most arrogant and disrespecful councilman, Benavides should start acting on his own and forget about what Bustamante tells him to do.
“Who will replace beleaguered Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante?”…… Hmmmmm
Well we all know that you are rooting for Sean Mill.
In realty it will be another loser because the election will be made by same people who elected current council including Bustamante.
So expect Paul Walters to be Police Chief, City Manager and Council Member.
This group on the blog will do better job , than the Santa Ana City Council. The latinos council is an embarrasment to the comunity.
Who are the 4 women that were involved with Carlos?
What does his wife have to say to all this?
“What does his wife have to say to all this?”….. Hmmmmm
He keeps her barefoot and pregnant.