Leon is saying the right things in Santa Ana

The race for Santa Ana’s Ward 2 is very crowded – but two of the candidates, Michele Martinez and Tino Rivera, are suspect as I believe they will ally with Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido and Council Member Carlos Bustamante. Rivera already has their endorsements. Martinez is allied with the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, and with Pulido acolyte Al Amezcua.

A third candidate, Evangeline Gawronski, is the sole Republican in the race, which does not bode well in the overwhelmingly Democrat enclave that is Santa Ana. The knock on Gawronski is that she is a big backer of the pre-sale home inspections concept that is known as PIP in Santa Ana. For that reason alone, I cannot back her.

Rivera and Martinez also face an uphill battle as they are both on the city Parks and Recreation Commission – and quite frankly our parks suck! Visit Irvine and Tustin if you want to see what parks ought to look like. Rivera in particular has been on this commission for years – and what do we have to show for that service?

Tish Leon is the fourth candidate running for Lisa Bist’s seat. She lacks political experience, but has sunk $50,000 of her own money into her campaign. She also is utlilizing a campaign consultant, Jeff Freeman of Redondo Beach. Leon also is on record as having opposed the odious One Broadway Plaza project. That alone separates her from the other candidates.

Leon sent out her first campaign letter this week, and it touched on her experience working at a non-profit, Latino Health Access, and helping to bring a Farmer’s Market to Santa Ana. She also served as a Santa Ana commissioner, on the Community Redevelopment and Housing Commission.

I like that Leon talks about the need to focus on family issues, including our miserable parks, open space, after-school programs, and public safety. I called her this week and asked her to advocate for more public libraries as well.

If you would like to speak to Leon, call her at (714) 401-8312, or you can email her at this link. So far she looks like the one to vote for in this race.


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"Admin" is just editors Vern Nelson, Greg Diamond, or Ryan Cantor sharing something that they mostly didn't write themselves, but think you should see. Before December 2010, "Admin" may have been former blog owner Art Pedroza.