I just got an update from Santa Ana’s City Hall. Apparently Mayor Miguel Pulido, and Council Members Alberta Christy and Carlos “Bello” Bustamante were the only ones that showed up to the meeting – which meant that they had no quorum. It sure looks like Bustamante and Christy were ready to ratify the new deal with the firefighters.
Mike Garcia was a no-show, and when Claudia Alvarez and Lisa Bist found out he would not be there, they didn’t show either. The meeting has been rescheduled for this Thursday, at 6 p.m.
I also found out that the “emergency” that Pulido cited was the fact that the Police and SEIU contracts are going to be voted on this coming Monday, at the regularly scheduled City Council meeting. Apparently Pulido wanted to pass a new deal for the firefighters in advance of Monday’s meeting. Why the rush? I understand that the current deal with the firefighters is good through 2008. Sounds like payback to me.
As for the issue of Jose Solorio’s seat on the City Council, apparently we won’t learn the fate of that until Thursday, at the earliest. But the item was not on the agenda for tonight’s meeting. I don’t know if Pulido will try to appoint someone on Thursday, or if he even can. Nor do I know if he will try to do so on Monday. We certainly need to keep up the pressure.
Now that we have until Thursday, we all need to call City Hall and voice our displeasure with the bogus “emergency” meeting on Thursday. We also need to reiterate that we want a special election to replace Solorio in Ward 1. Nothing less will suffice.
Orange Juice –keep the pressure on City Hall! Bravo to Alvarez, Bist and Garcia for having the huevos to stand up to Miguel’s tactics.
Repeat on Thursday! Repeat! And I hope Alberta joins the Mighty 3.
Art, thanks again for shining the bright light on this matter!
Since when is not showing up to a meeting mean you have huevos? I’d have prefered a debate.
WE ARE WATCHING!
PULIDO IS MORE CORRUPT THAN NATIVO LOPEZ!
The city council must learn to make key decisions in a transparent forum.
Apparently unlike President Bush, Mayor Pulido is not heeding the collective voice of voters.
While he may have been re-elected, so what? Mayor Pulido lost his majority. He will be overthrown in just a matter of time. For now he is a LAME DUCK. He must to respect this reality.
Pulido can no longer hide by bribing and/or tricking other city council members to stand up and vote on his behalf.
Pulido’s long running history of strong influence with no finger prints is over.
Pulido has collected too many enemies over time. He is running out of people to buy out.
Moreover, the voters have spoken.
Too many people are committed to flushing out cronyism in Santa Ana.
Watch.
The public is becoming more and more tuned into Santa Ana’s souring power structure.
The mayor and city council must make big changes or they are ALL doomed.
WE ARE WATCHING!
once again carlo shows his true loyalty to pulido and color of a dem
I hope someone can report whether they saw some of our newly elected council persons present to oppose the Mayor’s actions. Although this is a closed session item, these council-elects (and anyone for that matter) can speak during the public comment period about items in closed session. Indeed, the council is required to report out what vote was taken during closed session.
Let’s hope David Benavides, Michele Martinez and/or Sal Tinajero stood up to the Mayor.
#2 — Your post is scrambled. How do you expect a debate when the call for the meeting was for a closed session?
It took huevos to stand up to Miguel up this evening. His cadre of supporters/followers are breaking away from his tight reign.
I prefer a debate in an open and televised forum for all residents to witness.
A guess is that there will be a run at replacing solorio prior to the new councilmembers taking over. An educated guess is Desi Reyes. If it is Desi, see the past come back in a big way.
Below is the agenda for the city council meeting that was cancelled due to lack of quorum:
SPECIAL MEETING
OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF SANTA ANA
NOVEMBER 14, 2006
6:00 P.M.
CALL TO ORDER City Hall
20 Civic Center Plaza
8th Floor, Room 831
Santa Ana, California
Mayor PULIDO
Councilmembers ALVAREZ, BIST,
BUSTAMANTE, CHRISTY, GARCIA,
Sheraton Grand Hotel*
1230 J. Street, Room 2106
Sacramento, California 95814 (teleconference)
Councilmember SOLORIO
Assistant City Manager, City Attorney, Clerk of
the Council
PUBLIC COMMENTS
AT THIS TIME the members of the public may address the City Council regarding agenda
items only.
AGENDA
CLOSED SESSION
The Council shall recess into Closed Session pursuant to Government Code
I am now hearing that Whitacre is a red herring. Apparently Pulido wants us to get hung up on Timmy while he advances his real choice – Vince Sarmiento. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum! We ought to reject them both and insist on a special election. Let the voters pick their representative!
The only newly elected council member in attendance at that meeting was Michele Martinez. Sal Tinajero was at a school board meeting and receiving updates as to what was going on.
Other people in attendance were Ryan Williams, Thomas Gordon, George Collins among city activists, and of course your truly.
What really happened?
The mayor, Carlos Bustamante, and Alberta Christy showed up at city hall. Jose Solorio was in Sacramento, but the meeting appears to be properly and legally noticed to allow him to vote by teleconferencing.
The way I do the math, that means they had 4 out of 7 voting members of the council “present”, effectively making a quorum. Why didn’t they go forward and vote this item?
Of course David Benavides was not there.
He had to miss his Planning Commission meeting on Monday and rest on Tuesday so as to be ready to accept cash at Armando De La Libertad’s on Thursday.
Who wants to bet he’ll miss the Comm-Link on Thursday?
Why would Carlos “Bello” Bustamonte want the bad P.R. of a hurry up vote on SEIU/Fire contracts if he wants to run for Rep. nomination for U.S. President in 2008??
Anon,
You are correct and incorrect at the same time. Having four members in the meeting would make for a quorom and thus allow a vote to happen. However, in this specific case, Jose could not establish the quorom, therefore the only members who would count were the ones there. They needed one more member to establish this. Jose could vote, but not be the member ensuring the quorom.
This Santa Ana resident suggest that Carlos Bustamante and Jose Solorio do not attend this special meeting to payback the union for its support during the last election.
If this deal is fair, and the city budget allows, the new council can vote on it in December.
Luis, thanks for the clarification.It was clever strategy by the Mayor.The problem is Bist ,Alvarez and Garcia saw the intent.The only way to be sure no action was taken was to not show up.Any one of them attending that meeting was necessary for the votes to happen.The same no show is needed for the next meeting.If solorio makes this one then it all depends which Council member believes their political future would be harmed by participating in this manner.
The Santa Ana electorate will soon know if Solorio chooses to remain Miguel’s lap dog and partake in his trickery.
The ’08 elections are just around the corner. And we will remember.
We’re watching you.
Pulido’s political power is weakening by the hour.
OC Register -Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Special meeting on Santa Ana firefighters delayed
Two council members skip meeting to foil mayor’s bid to alter contracts before new members sworn in.
By AMY TAXIN
The Orange County Register
SANTA ANA