Press Release, for Immediate Release
October 13, 2008
Santa Ana City Council Challengers to Boycott South Santa Ana Merchant’s Association Candidates Forum
SANTA ANA – The South Santa Ana Merchants Association is refusing to allow their Santa Ana City Council Candidates Forum to be videotaped and presented to the public. As a result virtually all of the City Council challengers and mayoral candidates have announced their intention to boycott the forum.
Two years ago this same organization allowed their City Council Candidates forum to be videotaped. Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido decided to get up and walk out of the forum early and that moment was captured on film and shared with thousands of Santa Ana residents on Time Warner cable and on the Internet, on the Santa Ana Insight website. Now the South Santa Ana Merchants Association doesn’t want to share their forum with the public. What has changed in two years to lead them to this decision?
Just a few weeks ago this organization refused to allow their Santa Ana Unified School District School Board candidates forum to be filmed and shared with the public. Hardly anyone showed up to that forum and the candidates’ comments were not televised. What a lost opportunity to share information about the candidates with the public!
Tomorrow’s forum is open to the public. That is advertised on this organization’s website, at http://www.ssama.net/. They have issued fliers and email invitations to the public to participate in their forum – but inexplicably they don’t want it to be seen by television viewers and the online community.
Santa Ana Councilwoman Michele Martinez, who is running for Mayor, is participating in this boycott. Santa Ana City Council candidates Art Pedroza , Lisann Martinez and Jim Walker are also going to boycott this forum. And mayoral candidate George Collins, who ran two years ago for the Santa Ana City Council, is also joining in the boycott, as is mayoral candidate Stanley Fiala. The intention of these candidates is to promote a greater openness and transparency of our local government and our electoral process with the general public.
Collins also noticed, in the film of the forum from two years ago, that the incumbents from the Santa Ana City Council were offered “softball” questions, while their challengers were asked difficult questions. Also, a review of this organization’s website reveals that Santa Ana Councilman Vince Sarmiento, who is running for re-election, is advertising on their website.
Mayor Pulido and his Council allies took a lot of heat this past year for refusing to televise the second monthly City Council meetings. Now their friends at the South Santa Ana Merchants Association are also apparently trying to shut the public out by refusing to allow their public candidates forum to be filmed and televised. Michele Martinez, Collins, Fiala, Walker, Lisann Martinez and Pedroza encourage this organization to make this a truly public forum by sharing the night’s proceedings with a television and Internet audience, in the interest of better informing the voters of our community.
All of the City Council challengers who are boycotting the forum plan to attend but will not take their seats and participate in the questions and answers, unless the South Santa Ana Merchants Association decides to allow the event to be filmed and broadcast. This is a public forum and as such there is no reason to shut out those members of the voting public who cannot attend this meeting, such as senior citizens, those with special needs and those who lack access to transportation or who are unable to arrange for childcare so they can attend this forum.
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Contact Art Pedroza at 714-606-7622 if you have any questions about this press release
NOTE: This forum is taking place tomorrow night, Tuesday, Oct. 14, at 6 p.m., at the O. C. Musicians’ Association Hall, located at 2050 S. Main St., Santa Ana. Dinner will be provided and there will be no admission. If you want to see this program filmed and televised please contact Mary Guzman, who is on the Board of the South Santa Ana Merchants Association.
Art,
Is there an official reason from the South Main Merchants for not televising the forum?
Is the decision a SMMA Board majority vote?
Is their website listed membership of 55 members aware and does the membership support the decision not to televise the forum?
Dr. Lomeli,
They said that their board decided not to televise the meeting because it is not a Brown Act violation. That answer is ridiculous. Of course it is not a Brown Act violation. They are not an elected body. But they invited the public – in fact their release was in the Register yesterday. So why not allow the event to be filmed?
The obvious answer is that they are supporting the Pulido Team and they don’t want to let us film whatever they are going to do – such as what the Mayor did when he walked out early at the forum two years ago. Or Claudia Alvarez committing slander…
God, the Banana Republic gets worse and worse. Keep raising hell, Art and Lisann! All other opposition (hell, even Stanley on this one), do the same!
Well,
It seems that the Board of this association has revealed its true colors to the public. They are suck-ups to the Pudrido/Ream Cabal(PRC) and have the same disdain for the residents of Santa Ana. Not surprising at all to me. This coming from an organization that squeezes “donations” out of its membership. Do theses fools ever wonder why their membership has dropped since its inception? They really don’t care. The ones running SSAMA have gotten in bed with the PRC.
The question remains, why doesn’t the SSAMA want this forum recorded? What harm will the recording cause? Why limit the exposure to only the attendees? Seems very inefficient to me.
Perhaps this was to be one of the PRC’s infamous back-slapping parties and don’t want the general public to see this outside of their cabal confines? Hey, maybe they were scared off because I stated that I was going to bring an anti-incumbent banner to the forum! They, of course, didn’t want me to rain on their back-slapping festivities. Mmm, I didn’t know I was such a threat to them. Perhaps I should run for City Council next time around?!
This is hardly surprising. These good folks no doubt 1) have an economic interest in the Pulido donkey cart; or, 2) they want to have an interest. Either way they’re certainly afraid of falling afoul of the Mayor.
As to the issue: people who lack confidence about what they are doing are afraid to have their performances video taped for posterity. Some fear looking or saying something stupid. Some are terrified of seeming ignorant about whatever it is they’re supposed to know about. Some are afraid of looking too relaint on there “staff.” Well, they have good reason to be afraid! You rarely get elected by being smart and knowledgeable. You get elected by being ambitious and at the same time non-threatening. You stay elected by offending as few people as possible and keeping the right interests well-oiled. They want a 30 story tower? Hell, give it to ’em!
Things have to get really bad before people will throw the bums out and elect smart, hard working, independent candidates. Did I also mention honest?
Maybe Santana has gotten to that state.
Time for a economic boycott of the South Main Merchants perhaps?
When Kelly or Doffo auto body or Santos flowers or State Farm Insurance feel the economic pinch of us taking our dollars elsewhere, maybe they will wise up.
Call President Jorge Doffo at (714) 715-6609 or Treasurer Maggie Rodriguez at (714) 531-2100 and tell them to allow taping.
The “Team of Challengers” got played.
It is very difficult to get the word out to the uncommitted voters that your experience and background offers a better candidate choice in the coming years of hard economic times than “Team Experience”.
Lets hope this “Boycott” is not written in stone.
Santa Ana needs elected officials who can face the hard choices of this uncertain future and prevail. (at least try their best)
Those who quit at the smallest obstacle should not apply.
Question: since the public is invited, are we allowed to document the forum ourselves? By that I mean, record the entire event or pieces of it on a video camera or digital camera? That way we can post it somewhere that the people can have access to it and view what they missed if they could not attend.
Ya know, there once was a day when reporters took notes on stories, and some even committed key points to memory. A photo may be worth a thousand words but that only increases quantity, not quality.
Oh woe are you, for thou art not ready to remember the past. Technology dost be the devil’s domain.
Oh, never mind, all of you should just go. Someone just take notes, will you? There. Problem solved. I’ll do it if need be.
SMS
“COOK” whay do you mean with “small obstacles”? being a Santa Ana residedent for more than 15 + years I had witnessed this attitude and behavior of the city councyl and Pulido . It has been the RULE !. Is time to stand up for ourselves and honor to whom die for our freedom in AMERICA!. We are no in countries where dictatores have had the control on the media or press and censored every information. It may be the problem, this “leaders” and par of the board of SSAMA are originaly from countries where this kind of behavior is “normal”.
Cook,
You could not be more wrong. There have already been two candidates forums. The Mayor and his cabal marched out of the NAACP forum – simply because they did not want to answer questions. They quit. We didn’t.
Tonight’s forum is a sham. The members of this organization appear on Pulido’s campaign finance report as donors. They don’t want the meeting filmed because they know the film will reveal what hacks Pulido and company are.
If anyone got played it was the board of this organization. Without our participation this forum is now a complete joke.
Again, why would they not want to communicate with a larger audience? Why disenfranchise the elderly, the handicapped, those without transportation and those without child care?
We are making a stand for open government and transparency. Those issues matter Cook – particularly in a town where the Council plays games and refuses to televise all the Council meetings.
If you are so concerned please contact the board members of the South Santa Ana Merchants Association and ask them to allow the meeting to be filmed and televised. It is the right thing to do. If you don’t understand that then you are part of the problem in this town. We are drawing a line in the sand and we are saying that the people of our city should come first, period.
It appears there is a serious control issue here. Why not allow cameras at your public forum, unless you are nervous about something embarrassing being filmed? Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. It couldn’t look any more biased that Vince Sarmiento is actually a member of the South Santa Ana Merchant’s Association, could it?
http://www.ssama.net/pages/directory.html
I think it was a mistake to boycott, but I understand, and I was glad that the “Team Challenger” was there in person(s) to draw “The line in the sand”.
A benefit to less candidates being there, more questions were asked .
The Mayor had to leave at 7pm and Becky running for ward #3 came in at that time.
Questions fielded:
Partnering with SAUSD
Code enforcement and employee layoffs in near future.
Homicides
Gang recruitment
Transportation, bus and light rail.
Graffiti
Help with funding business and housing
RSP
Drug sales on the streets
Spending funds on Mess. D in Feb. instead of June.
A long question on programs for kids and why they were stopped.
Why can’t the YMCA (downtown) be opened to the homeless for showers and personal hygiene.
There were more questions but time had run out.
One question that was one of the first given to the moderator but not asked.
Why did the Mayor and the sitting council walk out on the Baptist Church forum. Why did they quit the community? (At the beginning they said certain questions would not be allowed)
It’s time for CHANGE.