I have confirmed that Santa Ana Councilman Sal Tinajero is the one who is trying to remove Thomas Gordon from the EPIC/Gang Commission. Apparently Sal did not ask ANY of Thomas’ fellow commissioners how they feel about working with him. Most called Thomas today and expressed their support for him.
It is interesting that Sal made this move when his right hand, Sean Mill, left town for a vacation in Mexico. Mill has maintained that Sal has our back – but now we know he doesn’t.
I ran into Sal yesterday at the City Place Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony. He asked why I ranked him so low the other day. Well Sal, now you know. You cannot be trusted. You consistently do the wrong thing. Let’s see how you vote on Monday on the 85 a item that Councilwoman Michele Martinez put on the agenda. How will you weasel out of televising ALL the Santa Ana City Council meetings?
Maybe now that Sal has declared war on one of the “OJ3” we ought to put out our own Orange Juice agenda item? How’s this Sal:
Let it be resolved that if Sal Tinajero succeeds in removing Thomas Gordon from the EPIC/Gang Commission, the Orange Juice will remove Sean Mill from the Orange Juice blog team.
Readers – let me put this Orange Juice agenda item to you: If Sal does go through with his agenda item, should we answer by removing his pal Sean from our blog team?
Art:
Besides being a shrill for Michele Martinez, you lack any sense of proportion or intellect.
Sean posts the most provacative stories and he the only true muckraker at OJ. Without Sean, your blog loses what little credibility it has.
But, in true Art form, you’ll cut off your nose to spite your face. Way to go genius.
bad idea, the good thing about this forum is that it increases the transparency of City Hall. Sean Mill is your top poster.
Bad idea all around, why would you get back at Sal by hurting your friend?
is Sean a friend? Unless I am wrong
if sean stated that sal had the backs of the oj3, and then sal decided to toss gordon off epic, then sean should be removed from the blog, as he appears to only care about one thing. power. just like his pal sal. sean must go.
Art.
Payback comes in various shapes and sizes. My recommendation is to continue holding their feet to the fire. Unlike beat reporters, no city council member can shup down the coverage posted on the Orange Juice no matter how hard they may try. We are not puff piece reporters to make them look good as I have seen in other cities. We do not require their crumbs for tomorrow’s news stories.
Due diligent research by the Santa Ana Juice blog team will uncover dirt wherever it resides. Don’t stoop to their intimidation tactics by removing his colleague Sean.
Although Sean is a Democratic supporter, we need him on this blog for no other reason than to have someone to blame for his party’s great policy decisions in Santa Ana.
Sean is OK for a S.F. Giant fan.
What a soap opera!
Art,
I just got the email about Thomas and came by to look at your blog and see what’s doing here. I’ll send an email to the council members I’ve briefly met to ask the question of why and state my opposition, but I don’t live in the city right now–so that’s not a whole lot. Thomas and I agree on little, it seems, but its an ugly affront on civil liberties to try this tactic. I’m against it. Period. And I recommend that Thomas refuse to go. There should be a performance related standard used, not an ideological one. As Thomas put it, they spoke with him about toning-down and he says he did so. If that’s true and he’s a productive, colleague (though a dissenting voice) then lay off. It’s a political post, sure. But the members of the commissions should hold their seats for their terms, barring unethical or illegal activity. That’s the standard applied to the elected officials. Commissioners should not be overly beholden to an orthodoxy among the councilors for survival in their positions. They ought to have considerable intellectual freedom and be allowed a free debate.
But lemme say that it is foolish sounding and a bit autocratic, Art, for you to suggest the identical retaliation in a possible firing of Sean from this blog. Not a well thought out statement, in my opinion. I can’t see how that will really help Thomas so much as hurt your blog. What’s going on here? Why not ask Sean to talk with Sal and reason with him? Fire him? Bad idea Art!
Thomas, fight for you position on the commission. Good luck.
james
James,
We’re just rattling Sal’s cage! Sean is on vacation in Mexico right now so we cannot really ask much of him. I would hope he would defend Thomas, but from what I can tell Sean is a total apologist for Sal.
At any rate, Sean’s fate is up to Sal and our readers, so I don’t see how this is autocratic. Right now it looks like the readers want Sean to stick around. Let’s hope Sal decides he wants Thomas to stick around on his commission too.
BTW, wasn’t it autocratic for Sal to move to dump Thomas without talking to the other EPIC Commissioners and the Council Members? That looks unilateral to me.
who cares all the bloated full-of-crap councilpersons are history during the next election. No More politics as usual in Santa Ana. These incompetents invited gentrification but forgot that people who can buy expensive property VOTE. Unlike the people they supposedly represent and serve but use their immigrant fear of government to ignore them and walk all over them.
Council members can appoint or remove any commissioner that feel is not upholding their own value judgments. That’s why council members get to appoint their own choices instead of the commission positions being elected. Sal has a right by law to pick and choose. Being a commissioner is not a right, it is a privilege, and it can be taken away at any time that commissioner no longer meets the favor of the appointee. Surely, you can do the same with Sean if you like. You’d be obnoxious and not very bright to do that, but you know, it might help Sean to have his own blog anyway. This one has really turned into a tabloid anyway.
#2
Have you been paying attention at all?
Sean has the biggest mouth, and chip on his shoulder as big as his head, but Thomas is the only one of this bunch who has actually accomplished something tangible.
Sean is all rage, and no action, he is only taking up space on the planning commission, and spends far more time on his personal agenda than progressive planning.
Thomas, on the other hand, slowly but surely is learning to build bridges and is getting things done.
Even if Thomas is asked to step down he has helped put EPIC in motion and will still be a valuable asset to Michele with his contributions
Pat Dixon
Good thing this is gonna be on TV so all the folks at home can see how these clowns vote. I predict a 5-2 vote with Councilmembers Martinez and Benavides voting to keep Gordon and support the kids and families of this city.
A vote to remove Gordon could play havoc with Councilman Sarmiento’s rer-election bid.
So the housing forclosure has hit Santa Ana in a big way, builders have halted sales on highrises, gang murders have almost him a decade old high, the school system is falling apart, the streets are the laughing stock of the county and the issue that that council finds most important to deal with-
EPIC Commissioner Thomas Gordon.
Time to get a new council huh?
Keep Sean. I don’t agree with him much but I like to read his posts.
Put me and the wife down as two votes to remove Sean. Sal had our support but has long since lost it.
Sean should not be censored at OJ. That’s a clowncil tactic – shutting up the opposition.
Gordon should stand up and fight for his honor. Sal’s tenure is at an end for doing such cowardly work to a friend.
sean mill should resign from the commission and the blogs, oh and return the money he has collected from the city of santa ana….do something positive with the money..you cant write or be a decent commissioner….donate to the boys and girls club. happy holidays