The revolution in Santa Ana is over. Councilmember Sal Tinajero sold out to Mayor Miguel Pulido by voting for his latest puppet, attorney Vince Sarmiento, at tonight’s City Council meeting. In an instant Pulido regained his council majority and now it will take us two years to change the balance of power.
I guess I should have seen this coming. Tinajero was elected to the Santa Ana School Board with Rosie Avila’s help. In short order he abandoned her and went over to Nativo Lopez’ side. Then when Lopez was about to be recalled Tinajero flopped again. And now he has stuck it to his supporters once again. But this time there will be major ramifications.
For one thing, I guess that Council Members Claudia Alvarez and Michele Martinez will have to rethink their commission nominations. I cannot see any of their appointments making it now. Even worse, you can expect developer Mike Harrah to get every single variance he is asking for. In the next two years we will see a huge rash of development in Santa Ana and with it more congestion and more headaches for local residents. We can thank Tinajero for that.
You can also forget about opening any new libraries in Santa Ana. Might as well start burning the books. Pulido and his followers don’t care if the poor have access to books. Now Tinajero will be as much to blame for that as any of the Pulido puppets.
In one fell swoop Tinajero has become the the biggest vendido in the history of Santa Ana. As one friend put it tonight, we ended up with the same result that we would have had if Pulido puppet Jennifer Villasenor had won – except that she was a lot more attractive than Tinajero.
Why does Tinajero consistently betray his backers? Why can’t he stand up for what is right? Who knows? He lost his father in a tragic criminal act and perhaps he ended up growing up without enough male influences in his life. Regardless, I am not prepared to overlook this latest gaffe. Tinajero is going to find that his traitorous act will have horrible repercussions.
On the other hand, I think that perhaps Tinajero did not want to face another onslaught of awful hit mail in four years. He likely sold out to Pulido in order to avoid that fate. Maybe Pulido enticed him with the usual pseudo-bribes? We may never know. One thing we do know with full certainty is that Tinajero destroyed a lot of dreams tonight.
I’m sure that Tinajero will tell us that he did this in order to save money for something else, instead of “wasting it” on a special election. Sure Sal, whatever. There is no excuse, period.
I guess that those of us opposed to Pulido’s regime are now going to have to return to the trenches. We had Pulido on the ropes and now all we can do is continue our virtually underground resistance.
Nothing Tinajero does will ever make up for this. I don’t care if he singlehandedly finds Ossama Bin Laden and brings him to justice. There is no way to right this wrong.
Great right up Art! I hope others that saw the meeting or talked to Claudia or Michele will let us know what really happened tonight. Here is my prediction. In the next council meeting or maybe next month, Big Sal will present one of those giant over sized photo op checks to the Library Board chair to pay for the book mobiles with the money Sal saved the voters by avoiding an election. That’s the money shot you will see on his campaign brochures in four years.
Vendido is right! The Saddam cell phone hanging video is more uplifting than this news.
This was Claudio’s boy! What say you Claudio?
One can only hope that George Collins is out walking precients right now getting ready to take out Sal in 2010.
Recall Sal, Draft Collins!
Art,
I’m rather surprised how toned down your post was. I was expecting ( and wanting ) you to totally trash this latest traitior to the community. Don’t anyone buy the story that he was trying to save money for the Dem’s or the City. It is all hogwash coming out of his mouth. The only dollars he was concerned about were the dollar signs in his own eyes.
Art, I don’t know if you can pull up any of my previous posts to Luis Rodriguez where I warned him about Big Squishy Slimy Sal before this latest election where I stated that he has gone back on his word, flipped on political parties, rode the fence and talked out of the both sides of his mouth to get elected to the school board and then sided with the Nativo ship when it benefitted him and then jumped ship when it was no longer in his interest to stay on board. Big Squishy Slimy Sal has never had a backbone and never will. Just like this other shell of a person Benavides, Big Squishy Slimy Sal has no conscience. Believe you me, Big Squishy Slimy Sal will have no problem sleeping tonight.
Art, I sure hope you can pull up that previous post I am referring to because in that post I warned Luis that he would probably flip again and strike a deal with the mayor and sell out. Unfortunately, LOW AND BEHOLD, my words were rather prophetic in the worst possible way.
My best guess is that he sold out because Big Squishy Slimy Sal has always had his self intersest in mind since before he got elected the first time. Expect to see the mayor’s support for him for state assembly once solorio is termed out in six years. Mark my words.
In one fell swoop he has mirrored pulido’s footsteps, he has betrayed his grass-root support in exchange for support from the status quo establishment. In my culture, we call these types of people “convenenceros”. These two clowns exemplify the definition to a “T”.
As with most of his early supporters, I helped him with my hard earned money and tireless work in his first campaign. During this last election I sat on the sidelines but in his next race I will work diligently with both dollars and sweat to find and support his much needed replacement.
Mike Garcia are you reading this old buddy?
You guys haven’t wasted anytime attacking Sal Tinajero. I think you need to step back and take a breath. If you think this was a case of Sal “selling out” you are sadly mistaken.
No one wants to see an end to business as usual in this city more than myself. I have been battling the powers that be in this city for well over half of my life. Yet I stand here tonight and tell you this in all honesty, Sal sold no one out.
Do you really think that Sal did this without the backing of Claudia and Michele? If you think that, you are sadly mistaken.
On paper this may look like a bad decision, but trust me in the long run it will work out for the citizens of Santa Ana.
I urge you all to calm down a bit and give it some time. You’ll see that Sal is one of the good guys.
I support him 110% and I trust that he won’t fail the citizens of our city.
This was a big picture decision and in the long run it is all gonna work out for the best. If this had gone to a special election I don’t think we stood a chance of winning. Miguel has the big money, we don’t.
It may look as if we lost a battle tonight, however winning the war is our goal. No matter what you think of tonights decision, our goal is still the same.
Put another charter change in the mix.
Council vacancy to be filled by election.
From the TV I could not tell if all 6 canidates were there or just the winner.
Art,
BTW, your ex buddy whitacre was always a red herring. He never even tried to secure that fourth vote.
Sean,
I did take a deep breath. Read my previous post. His track record speaks for itself.
Sean, you are a very intelligent man, don’t get fooled by his well-honed forked tongue. You are much too close to him. I urge you to take a step back and read the writing on the wall that has been there the whole time. You are much too smart for you not to see it. And, BTW, we have already given him time. Is six years not long enough? I, for one, abandoned him a while ago and urge smart people like yourself and others to do the same.
I’m also sad to learn that you had so little faith in Debrah after giving her your 100% ( as opposed to 110% ) support.
Sarmiento’s wife and mother were in the audience. Someone was prepared to take the oath of office last evening.
Sean,
I hope you’re right. If you are, I am sorry I wrote what I wrote. I waited as long as I could hoping you would write one instead.
I hope we still have a chance for reform, God knows we need it. If Sarmiento is indeed going to be an independent councilman, I will happily put away my pen and give these folks a chance.
Art:
Your post sounds like the rants of child in the throws of the terrible 2s. Not only do you not give Sal the benefit of the doubt and acknowledge that Vince outshined all the other candidates in the candidate interviews, you use arm chair psychology (i.e., Sal
Sal has shown his true colors.
He knew that that Vasquez was unsupportable by the others on the council, so he jumped ship.
It was interesting to note that in the confusion, the other councilmembers and clerk didn’t seem to know what the vote was, but the mayor knew exactly what was up before the roll call.
Why did we stop voting after the second candidate? What if one of the other candidates could have also gotten 4 votes?
Oh, that’s right, it was already set up before the meeting.
I would urge all of you to take a deep breath and just give it a little time. I saw the look on Pulido’s face when that vote happened, and I believe that Pulido was as surprised as anyone when Tinajero voted for Sarmiento. He did not expect that and was fully prepared for it to go to a special election.
While I don’t *know* why Tinajero did that, I think it had something to do with him seeing that Claudia was always going to be a jerk, and that Michele is just too wrapped up in making decisions by “committee” rather than stepping up to the job *she* was elected to do.
Sal has spent a lot of time with Claudia and I think that was the biggest factor. She does things out of spite and hatred and is never going to change. I don’t think Sal was prepared to take her abuse and threats long term. I also don’t think Sal has “sold out”. I still look to him to have his own opinion and agree with the others on some things, and disagree on others.
I for one am prepared to give it a little time and wait and see before I make any judgements.
Michelle, Claudia, and Sal are still working together. And the decision Sal made was a unified decision by all three. If this would have gone to a special election Jennifer “I will do what ever you want Mr. Mayor” Villasenor would have won in a landslide!
She has recent name I.D. and the machine would have pulled out all the stops to win. People like Mauro Morales, Jim Walker, Tim Whitaker, Debra Vasquez, Jose Rea and who knows how many more would have decided to run; as the field gets bigger, the tougher it is to beat Jennifer. What Sal did is take one for the team and believe me the other two progressive councilmembers Michelle and Claudia were in aggreement. These three councilmembers have pushed the envolope since day one. I don’t think they will stop trying to change the course of the city. Remember, Pulidos group has been in power for 20 years, Michelle, Sal, and Claudia need to create a strong base to take these guys on.
Anon-9:06am
What??? Do you really believe that? If all three agreed, why didn’t Alvarez/Martinez vote for Sarmiento too? Would Jennifer have won a special election? Maybe.. but why not take the gamble and cause Pulido & Co. to spend big bucks to get the seat?
I don’t believe for a minute this was a “unified decision”. Why give the Mayor his 4th. vote as a gift? Why not make him work for it? Nope. Sorry. It doesn’t make sense.
But, on the off chance that you’re right, I would have to say it was the most stupid decision they could make. If this is an example of their strategy to take back Santa Ana, they’re in BIG trouble!
I agree with Sean that this is part of a long range plan to take back the city. Those of you who are angry now need to trust those of us who are on the inside of this new direction and watch it play out during the next 6 to 8 years. We wish we could share more of the plan with you but to do so might keep it from happening. You need to trust people like Sean, and Michele, and Claudia, and others who will make sure the change happens. It will not happen at the pace some of you desire, and it may not happen in the way some of you want it to happen but it will happen. Slowly but surely. You need to learn to trust us. We will keep you informed on a need to know basis but until then please…trust that change is happening and Sal is still a strong agent of change. We wish we could tell you all more but we can not. It’s important that we let Sal know we understand what he is doing and get behind him. Send him an email or letter and let him know you believe in him and understand what he is doing. Also, if you can send him a check to help retire his campaign debt that is another nice way to show you are a believer in the new direction.
if you can send him(Sal)a check to help retire his campaign debt that is another nice way to show you are a believer in the new direction.
That’s exactly how Vince Sarmiento got onto Council.
#12 –
Your lack of graciousness in accepting Art’s apology (Post #11)demonstrates that you are a rebellious teenager just itching to pick a fight.
At least Art had the decency to acknowledge he made a mistake by hastily posting his immediate reaction.
Poster No. 19. Please review Art’s post and his response to Mr. Hill. He has not apologized to Sal for his over-the-top comments nor does Art specifically apologize for for the comments concerning Sal’s father.
Art’s post amounted to gutter politics and his comment to Mr. Hill does not amount to an apology to Mr. Tinajero.
Poster 20,
You’re right. I emailed an apology directly to Sal today. I just wish that he and the others had kept me in the loop – I was unable to get a hold of Sean last night as he had changed his cell number and I felt I could not go to bed without addressing the situation.
I am relieved to have been wrong – however we are not off the hook yet. Pulido and his allies must come through with their part of the bargain. If they do that, then this entire fiasco will look very different.
As for Sarmiento, he now appears to be the heir apparent to Pulido. So much for Benavides! His actions re the gang commission item last night were comical. I am told that the look on his face was priceless when he opposed the commission only to have Pulido support it. I guess he didn’t get the memo…
I would like to inform all of you that I am still focused on my goals for 2007. I also want to make it clear that Sal did not sell us out. I was aware of his decision last night and was not surprised by it. I will contiune to work with Sal and the rest of the Council to make Santa Ana a better place.
Have a Happy New Year!
“Sal did not sell us out. I was aware of his decision last night and was not surprised by it.”
Admitting to a Brown Act violation?
In case you did not know this Michelle, votes are decided at the time the question is asked, not after being prompted by Miguel Pulido in a back room deal.
First and Foremost, I am fully aware of the Brown Act. I was replying to the concerns about Sal selling us out. I look forward to working with all my colleagues on the Council. Have a great New Year!
Sean Mill said:I stand here tonight and tell you this in all honesty, Sal sold no one out.
We will see how you feel when the bus is going over you.Remember how your buddy Sal stood up for Nativo?
Sal watches out only for Sal.