I was talking with a friend of mine today about Santa Ana politics, and I told him that it would make sense for Santa Ana Councilwoman Michele Martinez to take on Mayor Miguel Pulido. My friend thought otherwise, but then I explained that it is likely that Councilwoman Claudia Alvarez will be running for the First Supervisorial District – leaving Martinez free to take on Pulido. Since Martinez has a four year council term, she can run against Pulido in 2008, and still be assured of two more years on the council.
Think about this – Hillary Clinton will no doubt wipe out Barak Obama in the primary, and then she will be running for the White House, bringing thousands of women to the polls. So Martinez and Alvarez will be able to ride her coattails to victory. Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez will be running, again, for her district, making for an interesting slate of powerful women in Santa Ana.
Pulido won’t know what hit him – nor will Trung Nguyen, assuming he is still the Supervisor, as opposed to being an inmate at San Quentin. (We’ll see if he gets away with voter fraud or not).
Consider that Pulido really angered his party when he betrayed them in this month’s Supervisorial contest, backing lame Republican Carlos Bustamante instead of the consensus Democrat pick, Tom Umberg. Pulido won’t be endorsed by his fellow Democrats in two years – count on it.
Just this past year two of Pulido’s hack candidates, Tino Rivera and Jennifer “the Cheerleader” Villasenor, were defeated by candidates endorsed by the O.C. Democrat Party – Sal Tinajero and Martinez. Expect a repeat of that in 2008. Bustamante will be up for reelection – and even though Brett Franklin has opted not to run against him, many people will. Maybe the Democrats will find a woman (perhaps Park Santiago’s Yvette Aguilar?) to run against Bustamante. Like Pulido, he will never know what hit him.
This is a very interesting post but I think a couple things need to be corrected. Pulido has not had the support of Democratic Party leaders or of many Democratic elected officials for many years and Yvette Aguilar had a Bustamonte sign in her yard during the recent Special election and she is a close friend of Carlos. I doubt she would run against him although she would make a great candidate. Would John Palacio consider a run for Sup.? Al Amezqua? You make some great points though Art and I alway enjoy reading what you have to say. Keep it up!
Poster 1,
Thanks for the kind words and feedback. During this past election I heard that many residents of Santa Ana wanted Carlos to move on to the BOS so they could put someone else in his council seat. That is why Pulido supported him – except that the move backfired when Carlos lost, badly. Now Carlos is weakened politically, and Pulido is in trouble with the Democrats.
If Aguilar decides not to move against her friend, Carlos, there would indeed be many other fine candidates to consider.
I would not be surprised to see John Palacio run – things are not looking good at the SAUSD and I don’t see that changing in the next few years. By 2008, the state might well be in charge of the district.
Amezcua is someone I cannot figure out. Why didn’t he run for the BOS? He would have been far more viable than Carlos. Of course Amezcua is a Pulido acolyte, which explains a lot. But that sure was a missed opportunity for Al. Perhaps if enough people challenge Pulido in two years, you might even see Al do so as well.
Lastly, if enough Latinos run against Carlos, a white candidate could actually run and win the seat, due to Latino vote-splitting. That means Pulido hack Rob Richardson might jump in too. Wouldn’t that be interesting? Watch how quickly Pulido would dump his buddy Carlos…
On Al Amezcua, one thought – he is able to engage in his legal practice and coin the $ plus serve on College District Board. Supervisor jobs tend to be full time or almost full time, and that could eat into his overall income too much because he would have little time to practice law. In other words, being a Supervisor could cost him $. Just a thought. Plus, of course, term limits.
Here we go again. Why in the world would you want another SAUSD Board member on the City Council? Given the total mess there, and the fact that both Sal & Palacio were part and parcel of that mess, how can you possibly think that moving them up to Council is a good idea?
Why do you insist on rewarding failure?
Hillary Clinton is a very polarizing candidate. Don’t count on the women’s vote to sweep her into office. While the Dem’s (at the national level) are not saying it, they’re hoping Hillary doesn’t get the votes to win the nomination because they don’t think she can win.
BOS-There likely will be several Hispanics trying to unseat the winning Nguyen, and that vote will get split. It’s not possible to control who all will jump into that race and, as we’ve seen so many times, a few spoilers can change the outcome of ANY race.
Pulido is not on the outs with the Dem’s, nor the Unions. They know what happened in the BOS race had nothing to do with Pulido endorsing Carlos. They need Pulido to endorse the Dem chosen to try to take back that seat, and he will.
Poster #3 is correct. The BOS is a full time job and Al would have to leave his law firm. He won’t do that. He’s more likely to run for Council so he can keep his practice going.
Claudia Alvarez- You keep railing on and on how damaged Carlos is from this one loss. Claudia has had two losses for Assembly. She’s more damaged than Carlos. And, do you really think people are buying into her “new” image? They know what she is and they know what she’s trying to do. If she runs against Pulido the Unions won’t support her and she will NOT be picked by the Dem’s to try to take back the BOS seat.
Loretta & Lou- Both of them understand what just happened in the BOS race. It’s going to be very interesting to see what they do in 08.
If Lorretta, Lou, and Claudia bring out Latinos in big numbers, won’t that help Carlos and Miguel too???
Art,
Although I prefer Obama at this point (to me, he is the future), I like your take on our women in Central Orange County.
The ‘Boys’ network needs to take notice.
Art,
While reading your posts for the last few months I has been sometimes educational but entertaining for the most part.
Recently, though, as an outsider, I can’t help but think that you are really bitter that your picked sweetheart for the 1st did not make it. I see no problem supporting a candidate and throwing all your weight behind him/her, but now it is getting silly.
I don’t know Janet, don’t know Trung, Van, Schroeder, etc., but your accusations of voter fraud are starting to sound like a conspiracy theory. All you claim are rumors, no facts.
I’ll continue reading, but can you find some evidence before throwing more stones? It makes for better reading.
Oh and your satire is hilarious. Thanks 🙂
#4 Miguel wants Richardson back on the council. Are you as vehemently opposed to Richardson abadoning SAUSD for Ward 3????
I wouldn’t count ANY potential candidates in or out of the race (including Franklin and Richardson and Aguilar) until we get closer to the election and see how bad Bustamonte implodes between now and then.
Art,
You are lucky Trung Nguyen will probably never sue your for libel.
He could own you.
#11
Art’s not for sale.
Actually, 2008 will be the year of the rat.
Sounds appropriate for several of the wannabee politicians.