Santa Ana City Councilman Roman Reyna, who was elected to his first term, in Ward 5, last year, is apparently going to run against popular Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido in 2014, according to a city insider.
Reyna, who touts that he is an “Orange County Department of Education Case Manager,” on his city bio, has previously worked at the Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Agency, the Santa Ana Boys and Girls Club, and the Santa Ana YMCA. He served one term on the Santa Ana Unified School District’s Board of Education, before running for the Santa Ana City Council, when longtime incumbent Claudia Alvarez termed out.
Notably Reyna’s city bio does not contain any information about his education. Nor does his campaign bio.
Pulido handily beat Reyna’s longtime ally, Councilman David Benavides, in last year’s mayoral race. In that race Pulido garnered almost 50% of the vote while Benavides got only 14,995 votes, according to Smart Voter. Pulido got similar results in 2010, when he hammered Alfredo Amezcua, a local criminal defense attorney. Amezcua got only 26% of the vote, according to Smart Voter, while Pulido got almost 50% of the vote, with 21,558 votes.
So why is Reyna apparently going to run against Pulido? Simple. He is in the middle of a four-year Council term and can safetly challenge Pulido while retaining his Council seat. Benavides has to defend his Council seat next year so he will sit this one out. You have to wonder if Benavides will support Reyna’s mayoral campaign – or will he return to supporting Pulido, as he did for so many years before breaking with Pulido in 2010?
My comments may surprise you and my multitude of followers. But, this is a brilliant political move by Reyna.
It will serve as a perfect vehicle for building name recognition, the “crux of the biscuit” of local politics. Given his lack of education, professional experience and poor communication skills this is a perfect building block.
As for Benavides, It should be noted his 2012 campaign website and cell phone are doubling as his new “Real Estate” company.
There is some emerging information that should make this re-election cycle most interesting for some of the council’s detractors, namely Michele Martinez and her sunglass selling campaign manager.
He also knows all the right things to say to the uasa artists.. let’s see if he follows through.
Reyna at least is a homegrown product of Santa Ana. Love him or hate him he is fairly representative of the folks who live here, with the exception that I believe he remains single and has no kids – while our city is mostly populated by families.
You are right. He is a native Son and I believe his heart is in the right place, I believe he cares about Santa Ana and especially it’s youth.
Having said that, the people that elect the mayor in this town are largely from Wards 1,3 and 6 by my guess. So he’s got an uphill climb.
I would venture to guess (or tell you that I KNOW) Roman and his colleagues are depending on the “survey” results at:
http://www.ci.santa-ana.ca.us/strategic-planning/community-survey/
The questions of which have been slated to favor downtown drinking/entertainment establishments following the “Vibrant” vision of the sitting council and almost completely ignoring Ingram Micro and Behr Paint, two of the cities LARGEST employers.
Simply put, the political advisors to Roman, P. David and Vince are banking on a heavy “FIXED” response rate from America Baracho’s supporters, The Downtown development interests and a select group of respondents.
In other words “the fix is in” and then they can trudge forward pointing to a skewed survey in which fewer than 1/2 of 1% of the cities population participated in.
I am well aware of the discussions on the execution of this junta. You should be too.
Who would run for office of the mayor if a simple 2 term limit on the council is passed before Nov. 2014?
Return the council back to 2 terms and wards 2, 4, and 6 would have fresh faces and ward 1 would be termed out in 2016.
Maybe Adam Elmherek will decide to run??
For a kid that has little experience in civic discourse, he has a lot to say?
Does Adam Live in Santa Ana?
I welcome his questions, but am “frightened” by his objectivism.
Maybe P. David, Adam, and papa Al can explain to the people how they plan to solve the pension tsunami that is the SAPD.
Anyone but Pulido again it’s been two decades! Who still votes for him. He needs to go!
The same could be said for Loretta Sanchez, Dianne Fienstien and Barbara Boxer. Quickly approaching that mark is Lou Correa and Solorio, the latter the ONLY SA Councilmember to rise above the fray.
This is Mark I.Lopez I am running for Mayor of Santa Ana 2014.I have kept my campaign very low key for now; but starting OCT.1 2014 I plan a ‘surge” to get the word out that there is a another candidate running. I think Lord Acton said it best: ” Absolute powere corrupts,” I feel that our current mayor has been plagued by this. We need new leadership ‘ Boss Pulido” Has to be replaced. I will give him due credit for what has done in office; but the time for him to step down is now. And with the current legal issues he has now, we need a mayor who is focused on the needs of the citizens of Santa Ana. I do not run to use the mayor as a “stepping stone for higher office, my intent and mission will be make Santa Ana a city that it can be. I am a “true believer in that.
I was born at old the Santa Ana Hospital on Wastington St. 1968 I went to ST.Anne’s; Mater Dei High Schoo. I played Little Legue at Madison park; Pop Warner,Memorial park. I played youth basketball at the old YMCA on Civic Center drive.(Goal: to fix that place) I have served over 25 years in the military (OIF-OEF combat vet) active duty; reserve and national guard.-US Army and US Coast Guard. I wanted tom see the world first. And now Im plan to attend college on my GI BILL.
I have seen the changes in Santa Ana; some good, some bad; bur our city still is looked upon in a negative way- I WANT TO CHANGE THAT- CALL ME AN IDEALIST: I AM!! I WILL NOT BE SOME MAYOR THAT YOU ONLE SEE EVERY TWO YEARS, I WILL BE ACTIVE IN THE COMMUNITY AND THE PEOPLE WILL HAVE CONTACT WITH.
COME AND MEET ME THUR: 2 OCT at 5:30 pm for the second debate.
It would help if you at least had a Facebook campaign page.