Let’s start off with a big “thank you” to Mike Lawson, my amigo and fellow blogger over at Liberal OC. He designed the graphics we are using as our title headers. Great job Mike – gracias!
It looks like the first installment of this new column was quite a hit. The O.C. Register’s Total Buzz blog covered our chisme regarding the guy tabbed by the OC GOP to register new voters in central Orange County. That would be Saulo Londono, the campaign manager who sent Trung Nguyen to the border to stop the Mexicans. I’m sure that will go down real swell with the people of Santa Ana!
I love what Londono had to say about the story, over at the Total Buzz, “Although the blogs are heavily dramatizing the situation, the real reason for being quiet (about the new job) is quite simple: strategy.” Sure – great strategy. Maybe they can get Lupe Moreno and Tan Nguyen to help register new Reep voters too!
Red County/OC Blog stepped up to defend Londono, predictably. Matt Cunningham/Jubal referred to Londono’s successful track record. Last time I looked he LOST the last two campaigns he headed up. Maybe second place means first place in Jubal’s book?
I also heard today that the 8th floor at the Santa Ana City Hall was in an uproar over our item concerning Irene Ibarra’s campaign for Ward 5 on the Santa Ana City Council. Apparently the Ream/Pulido machine is taking her VERY seriously. They ought to just print up her cards now – this race is already over.
While we are on the subject of Santa Ana, apparently Council Member Claudia Alvarez is not running for Mayor after all. Instead she is gunning for Janet Nguyen’s seat on the O.C. Board of Supervisors. Too bad. I think she could beat Pulido. I hear that a prominent Santa Ana Commissioner is thinking about taking on Pulido – and she is a popular progressive Democrat.
Speaking of our friends in the blue party, a large contingent of Santa Ana Democrats is headed for San Diego next week, to hang out at the Democratic Party Convention. I am told that most of them, including Santa Ana Council Members Vince Sarmiento and Michele Martinez are backing John Edwards and/or Bill Richardson for President.
I told the folks at the Memphis Bar last night about Edwards’ $400 haircuts, which were widely reported in the MSM this week. Most folks didn’t take that well, with one exception (another blogger whose name I will keep in confidence). Edwards pays more for his haircuts than most Santa Ana residents make in a week! According to one media source, he is now trying to pay back his campaign account for the haircuts. And you can see him “feeling pretty” over at You Tube.
I took a quick poll as to what the Liberally Drinking contingent pays for haircuts. A friend from Garden Grove pays $7 – the guy who thought the $400 haircuts were just peachy pays $45, I pay $10, but tip $5, and one gal pays over $2,000 a year!
Word on the street is that Sarmiento has quickly vaulted over his fellow Councilman David “Benapuppet” Benavides and he is now considered the successor to Jose Solorio, in the State Assembly. Benavides has become a joke even within his own party. O.C. politicos have absolutely no respect for him and he, along with fellow Pulido puppet Carlos Bustamante, are considered to be likely one-term council members.
Here’s a shocker – Green Party member Nativo Lopez is going to the Democratic Convention too! Apparently his organizations, MAPA (Mexican American Political Association) and Hermandad Nacional are both going to be picketing the convention. They are angry about the Gutierrez-Flake Immigration Bill, known as the STRIVE ACT – they think it does not reflect the legitimate aspirations of immigrant families throughout the U.S.
I wonder why Lopez and his amigos won’t be picketing at next week’s Santa Ana Unified School District Board Meeting? I hear that a huge group of protesters will be there to call for the resignation of SAUSD trustees Rob Richardson, Audrey Noji and Rosie Avila.
I heard from my co-blogger Thomas Gordon tonight. He is working on a major story about the efforts of our city and our school board to pilfer our wallets. You would think that the SAUSD school board would be loathe to ask for more money after they wasted most of the last bond, but those criminals are planning to do exactly that.
As for the City of Santa Ana, it turns out their much ballyhooed phone survey revealed that NO ONE in Santa Ana wants to pay more taxes. What a surprise. And yet they too are proceeding with plans to either raise our taxes or go into debt via a bond. Either way they are on the wrong track. Here’s an idea – why not fire the city administrators who have failed to pave our streets, fix our parks and build new libraries?
I would be remiss if I did not mention the upcoming vigil against the shootings and violence in Santa Ana. Here are the details: Vigil against shootings, this Sunday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m., on the corner of Van Ness St. and Edinger Ave., in the historical Wilshire Square Neighborhood. The Vigil is coordinated by “Chicanos Unidos.” For information email Cpl. Madrigal A. Cuauhtlatoatzin.
Last but not least, I hear that a very successful aerospace engineer is going to run against corrupt Reep Congressman Gary Miller. Talk about ending on a positive note! I will have more information about this mysterious candidate in my next column.
Art — remember writing this last year?:
Congratulations to Lynn Daucher and her excellent campaign staff for their valiant effort! I wish the best to each of them in their future endeavors.
Now, your trashing Saulo. You turn on people like a brushfire from a sudden change of wind direction.
Matt Cunningham/Jubal referred to Londono’s successful track record. Last time I looked he LOST the last two campaigns he headed up. Maybe second place means first place in Jubal’s book?
Try and be honest for a change, Art. Razor-thin losses are much different from blow-outs, especially when in both cases the campaign greatly exceeded expectations. As one of Daucher’s big cheerleaders, you should acknowledged the stellar job her team — of which Saulo was an integral part — did in nearly beating Correa. And as someone who routinely said Trung was a weak candidate who would lose badly, you ought to concede Saulo must have been doing something right to come within just 3 votes of a Trung victory.
Even the best campaign consultants and operatives lose once in a while. Nobody can win every single race. Unfortunately, you’re so blinkered by your undiscerning hatred of Van Tran and Trung Nguyen and unquestioning adulation of Janet Nguyen that you cannot give a fair, honest evaluation of Saulo’s qualifications.
The only people agreeing with you are yourself and left-winger Andrew Davey. Every other political professional — people actually out there running campaigns — thinks your all wet. That should tell you something.
You’ve been on the losing end of your share of races, Art — but that hasn’t diminished your own estimation of your political expertise.
Art, I find it interesting that you state Sarmiento has “vaulted” over Benavides(as I like to call him, ‘Bullet Head’). If so, in what category? Pegged by who or whom? Is he now the #1 brown-noser just as Solorio was? who, BTW, never did anything significant in his tenure. Art, are you saying we should reward mediocraty? Just what exactly has Sarmiento done since being APPOINTED? Nothing, except bask in his self glory. On a side note, my house is only a few bolck away from that big mansion of his on 4th Street and have yet to see anyone go in or out at any hour. Does he even live there?
As for I. Ibarra. She is the definite frontrunner for Ward 5. Back in the early 2000’s she was just a hair’s width away from running for council. She definitely has the personal and political financial backing up and down the state just as you had written in your previous post. And the best part about it is that she is a definite community person with the residents as her benefactors. I’ll be in front of the line as a contributor and volunteer once she declares her candidancy.
RUN Irene, RUN!
Art,
Right after the Feb. election for BOS, I posted here that Claudia was going to run for the First District seat in 08. This comes as no surprise to anyone who knows politics, or knows Claudia. The decision of who the Dem’s will support is still up in the air. Many have not forgotten who she is, or was, before this new incarnation.
Morning Coffee
Rumor has it that Joe Dunn is being courted to run for the BOS. Besides Dunn, there really is no other strong Democrat to take back the 1st District BOS seat, unless da Mayor (Pulido) wants to move across the street. Wouldn’t be a bad move for Pulido. I hope he sees the writing on the wall.
You state that “a huge group of protesters” will be at next week’s SAUSD Board meeting to call for the resignation of some Trustees. A couple of thoughts: since size matters (at least it does to quite a few people), I will be most interested to learn how many protestors “huge” was once the meeting occurs – should be telling regarding your perception of size, Art. Another thought – if the protest is over the reported mis-reporting of school attendance, it is premature to convict – these are accusations of wrong doing that have yet to be proven, so let’s wait for the evidence before calling for people’s heads. Or is this another attempt to stampede people into another one of those ready-fire-aim cabals?
Poster 5,
I have no faith in the SAUSD investigation. They are not following up on specific complaints. Instead they are conducting a random sample. That is ridiculous.
This board has also utterly mismanaged the bond. They are a total failure and they ought to just resign in shame.
Jubal,
If Saulo loses one more he will be OC’s Scott Norwood. Wide left!
In conducting an audit, random sampling is used to keep the cost down. If the random sample comes back skewed then they perform more random samples. Random samplimng is used, unless you are willing to pay for a full blow audit. This would be in the neigborhood or $500,000 or more per school site.
Do you really think taxpayers are willing to foot that bill? You need to check your pulse.
Poster 8,
The district already ripped us off when they wasted the bond and when they falsified class rosters. We want the truth now. They should have investigated the documented cases of CSR fraud, period. The random audit is a shell game designed to hide what they did – and you know it.
Most audits are done by showing up and asking for information from the people who normally would be in charge of a particular thing.
This audit team has been told to notify the honchos downtown what school site they plan to vist and who they plan to speak with.
I have been told by those close to this audit that many teachers who have asked to speak with the audit have been refused.
I have also been told that more than one person of authority was awol from their assigned duties on the day that the audit team was to audit.
Don’t you think its hard to ask the important questions and ask for the important documents from subs?
#5 said Another thought – if the protest is over the reported mis-reporting of school attendance, it is premature to convict – these are accusations of wrong doing that have yet to be proven, so let’s wait for the evidence before calling for people’s heads. Or is this another attempt to stampede people into another one of those ready-fire-aim cabals?
I think this is something to think about. There really should be an agenda in place for the meeting.
This whole scheme to defraud the state out of lower class size monies and the actual ripping off of students by not actually giving them the expected AND deserved lower class size smacks of organized criminal behavior.
Who came up with that idea? Who okayed it? And why are they still in their current position?
Stonewalling of information and an attitude of “let’s just kick back and wait for the audit results” should not be tolerated. The BoE has gotten off way too easy. It’s time that Richardson deliver accountability to the community with some real answers.
If anyone thinks, after reading about the recent fiascos in SAUSD, that the district will have a thorough and unbiased audit conducted, they are wrong. A random sample is exactly what the district wants. Interviewing only one teacher at each school greatly reduces the scope of the investigation. As taxpayers, we will never know the true extent of the fraud unless all teachers are interviewed by the auditors. And, even then, it is difficult to believe the results will be unabiased considering that the district is paying the auditing team.
Poster 8,
How about an analogy? If evidence shows that you have cancer, you attack the cancer. But not the SAUSD – they waste time looking everywhere but the cancer. Now who is wasting time and money?
We know what and where the problem is. Why not attack the problem directly? While we are at it, let’s find out who was behind this and to what extent the board knew about it or even was behind it. I have no doubt that Richardson and Noji knew all about this. They need to resign now.
The audit I would hope would occur is not an audit by the District of itself, but an audit by an outside agency, such as the State Auditor-General. I agree that self-audits are not the answer. Has anyone locally asked/pushed the State Auditor General to take a look at this issue? It can be citizens that make that request, does not have to be elected officials (but that owuld be nice too)
I don’t think Vince Sarmiento has any aspirations of “moving up” to higher office. He has a young family and does not want to be a part-time husband/father. And Pulido has no intent to run for BOS. He could have done that when Lou ran, but opted out. While the Dem’s are trying to change his mind, I doubt they will be successful.