What did King Pulido promise Tinajero?

While I was on vacation, the Santa Ana City Council voted to put a truly horrible term limit measure on the February ballot. My co-blogger Luis Rodriguez wrote about it, as did Thomas Gordon.

The question I must pose is what did Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido promise Council Members Sal Tinajero and Vince Sarmiento for their votes for this truly awful measure? Only Council Members David Benavides and Michele Martinez voted against it.

The measure will allow Pulido to run for Mayor for another 16 years. And it will allow Council Member Claudia Alvarez to run for Supervisor, and lose, and then run again for the City Council in the November election, next year.

What sort of deal did Tinajero in particular cut with Pulido? I expected Sarmiento and Carlos Bustamante to support this measure, as they always side with Pulido. But I am very disappointed in Tinajero.

This term limit measure is such a joke that we ought to just write off all the Council Members who voted for it. I simply cannot justify their vote for this measure. It is an abomination.

Benavides was right to mention during his objection that term limits were already hashed out by the Santa Ana Charter Review Commission that he served on. Kudos to Benavides for finally standing up to Pulido. I am not sure if I believe this entirely as Pulido has often set up such ploys to fool us. But perhaps Benavides was sincere. I hope he survives the experience. Pulido does not often allow his puppets to stray from their leashes.

As I wrote in my post
before the Council meeting, Pulido wins no matter what. Like the corrupt PRI politicians in Mexico, Pulido has rigged the system so he can be Mayor for life. But he can read the writing on the wall. People have bought his lies for years, but he is one good opponent away from losing, and he knows it. When this measure fails, and it will, he will say that the people don’t want term limits.

King Pulido’s reign may end soon, but it won’t be easy. In many ways his career compares to that of the Mexican dictator, Porfirio Diaz. When Diaz first took office, he “began as an activist against reaction and privilege and ended as a longtime dictator and staunch defender of the very forces he had once opposed.”

The parallels between Pulido and Diaz are eerie. “D

About Admin

"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.