A look back at the Orange Juice’s top stories in 2008

(Graphic Courtesy of the Daily Kos)

The year that was 2008 was an eventful one – we will remember it for the advent of the Bush Depression, but there were a lot of big local stories here in Orange County too.  Below we will take a look at the big stories that broke each month, with links the top stories.  Remember, those that forget history are doomed to repeat it…

January, 2008

• Santa Ana’s fraudulent Measure D was a big topic in January.  This measure extended the terms of our Council Members while promising a Code of Ethics that most of the Council Members have already broken – particularly when Claudia Alvarez called Michele Martinez a drug dealer during last year’s City Council campaigns.  In this post, we broke the news that Santa Ana’s trash maven Judy Ware and developer Mike Harrah (whose One Broadway Project may never be built) each donated thousands to Measure D.
• The Bowers Museum was raided by the Feds!  We wondered what Bowers board members Miguel Pulido and Carlos Bustamante knew about the illicit antiquities at the Bowers in this post.
• Janet Nguyen was in the news – a lot, as she prevailed over Trung Nguyen.
• Santa Ana was number one – in the number of lowest income zip codes.
• Larry Gilbert broke the news that the City of Mission Viejo spent $300,000 of taxpayer money on their 2009 float.  And then he kept beating that drum all year and the story blew up.
• And a friend of mine apparently caught several members of the SAPD partying on New Year’s Eve.  Nice.

February, 2008

• On Feb. 1, we wrote about the failure to curb gang violence in Santa Ana – and that problem continued all year long.
• We found out why Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido’s decaying muffler shop was excluded from the Renaissance Specific Plan (RSP) in this post.  The RSP was later aborted – but it will be back from the dead in 2009.  Click here to read all our RSP posts.
• The SAUSD School Board voted to put another school bond on the June ballot – we came to know that abomination as Measure G.
• We revealed that Santa Ana is number one dropouts in Orange County, at least the SAUSD is, in this post.
• We discovered that Santa Ana’s Vietnamese voters were the difference in the Measure D election in this post.
• The Santa Ana City Clowncil outlawed Hookah Bars.

March 1, 2008

• The SAUSD hired Joe Dixon, the guy who built the infamous “Taj Majal” in Capo, to oversee construction after Measure G passed – and the guy has no education in construction!
• Santa Ana suffered its first and second carjackings of the year.  Many more were yet to come…
• Garden Grove’s Dina Nguyen bumbled when she filed her campaign papers for the First District.  We wrote about it here.  Then she stumbled at the CRA convention.  See the videos at this link.
• We wondered if the Trannies recruited Paul Lucas to run against Janet Nguyen, but then he dropped out.
• Santa Ana and Garden Grove announced a $748 million light rail line that would connect their dilapidated downtown areas.  No bueno!
• My favorite story in March – a pot house full of guns was found a few block from the house Santa Ana Councilwoman Claudia Alvarez claims she lives in ( as if she really lives with her mom).

April, 2008

• Perhaps my funniest spoof ever was posted on April Fool’s Day, 2008.  Click here to read about how Sean Mill took down Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido.
• Speaking of Pulido, in April he finally booted Minuteman Lupe Moreno off the Santa Ana Library Board.
• The Orange County Fair concert ticket scandal broke and we named the names of all the political hacks who took “free” tickets at public expense – even worse, many of them ate steak and lobster at our expense too!  Click here to read all of our O.C. Fair scandal posts.
• We asked “When will Van Tran repudiate the Little Saigon terrorists?” He still hasn’t – but then neither has Janet Nguyen.
• Would you believe that a majority of the Santa Ana City Council had been robbed or vandalized by April of this year?  True dat!  Read about it here.
• And yet the Santa Ana City Council ignored an offer from Supervisor Janet Nguyen to help fund a gang study.  Click here to read about that fatefully bad decision.
• Back when the Santa Ana City Council had money, it blew through $111 million, in some very odd ways.

May, 2008

• Ding dong Dina Nguyen struck again – this time a typo in one of her mailers led voters to an Asian gay porn site.  Yikes!
• And did Dina Nguyen’s brother get caught in a drug string?  This post presented evidence that he did indeed get busted.
• We redesigned our blog!  Thank you to Sarah Spinosa who has since moved on with her life.
• We disclosed the sad tale of Kim Chi Nguyen, who quit Assemblyman Jose Solorio’s office to go work on the ill-fated Hoa Van Tran campaign.
• We caught Red-faced County promoting a tax hike in Santa Ana.  For shame!
• We considered what would happen if Hoa Van Tran had beat Janet Nguyen – I wonder in retrospect if he would have voted for the restaurant ratings that Nguyen voted down?
• And the DPOC failed to remove Hoa Van Tran’s endorsement.

June, 2008

• Janet Nguyen won.
• So did Santa Ana’s Measure G.
• The dreaded Do Phu struck back at the traitorous former Hoa Van Tran campaign staffers!
• Vern Nelson wrote a song for Debbie Cook.
• We broke the news that Santa Ana Councilwoman Michele Martinez was running against Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido.
• The OC GOP machine got punked, as did Santa Ana’s Paul Walters, as Sandra Hutchens became our O.C. Sheriff.
• The Santa Ana Planning Commission approved a controversial new restaurant, Buffalo Wild Wings, and readers wondered why it was controversial.
• We called for Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante’s ouster from two state commissions, after his infamous “water bra” remarks.
• The Mission Viejo City Council fought back against the bloggers who criticize them – chief amongst them our own Larry Gilbert!
• SAUSD Trustee Rosie Avila decided to run against Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.  That didn’t work out too well.

July, 2008

• We celebrated the arrest of a Red-faced County blogger, in San Bernardino.
• Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido relished high gas prices, even as businesses were starting to go bankrupt.
• SAUSD’s President of the School Board, Jose Hernandez, fired his aunt, who raised him – and he fired a lot of other classified workers too.
• We broke the news that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was having second thoughts about Carlos Bustamante’s state commission appointments.
• And then Bustamante resigned his state commission appointments.
• Bustamante went on to violate the Santa Ana Code of Ethics, several times.
• We wondered if Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido is salvageable?
• Steve Rocco announced his campaign against Carlos Bustamante.
• Cathly Schlicht pulled papers for the Mission Viejo City Council.  And eventually she won!
• Ana Rebecca Valencia-Verdin decided to run against Bustamante too – but we later found out she was one of his pals.
• We asked if Tram Linh Ho was the real deal?  A few months later she lost and we realized she was never the real deal.
• And we pondered why Miguel Pulido and his Democratic City Council never opposed Prop. 8.
• Speaking of Prop. 8, we outed its consultant, Jeff Flint.

August, 2008

• We predicted Team Pulido’s scurrilous attacks on Michele Martinez.
• I announced my campaign against Carlos Bustamante.  I promised that I would run against him if no one else filed – and I was serious.
• We reported on the first Santa Ana City Council candidates debate – where I had great fun trouncing Team Pulido.  Alas, debates don’t win campaigns…but the video footage is fun to watch.
• Rosie Avila baked a hateful Prop. 8 cake.
• Gail Reavis bid the Mission Viejo City Council adieu.
• Michele Martinez responded to Team Pulido’s chismes.
• Did Santa Ana City Manager Dave Ream completely lose it?
• We heard that Ware Disposal was leaving the Logan area.
• We asked if Carlos Bustamante’s vote is for sale.
• Michele Martinez responded to the arrest of her brother in the SAPD’s first “gang sweep.”
• And we broke the news that Santa Ana Council candidate Lisann Martinez’ brother got arrested too.  Did the city target the families of Michele and Lisann Martinez?
• Tony Bushala began his war on the screwy Fullerton Councilman Dick Jones.
• The DPOC did NOT endorse Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, but you never read about that in the L.A. Times or the O.C. Register – or the Liberal OC for that matter…
• And we found out what a greedy pig Matt/Jubal Cunningham is!

September, 2008

• I was invited to speak at the California League of Cities Annual Conference in Long Beach, about blogging of course.
• We disclosed the fact that the Santa Ana Library charges more for video rentals than most video rental stores in town.
• We compared Santa Ana to Oakland.
• Supervisor Janet Nguyen rode in the Santa Ana Fiestas Patrias Parade – and she endorsed Carlos Bustamante.
• Gustavo Arellano had a massively successful book signing in Santa Ana.
• The O.C. Lincoln Club declined to endorse Carlos Bustamante.
• The new FBI crime data found that the City of Santa Ana tops Orange County in violent crime.
• We reported that shares of the Santa Ana Business Bank fell from $10 to $4.40.  Those shares now trade for $4.  Carlos Bustamante is one of their directors!
• We asked our readers to vote against Armando Ruiz for the Coast Community College District’s Board of Education.  A few months later they voted him out of office!
• Carlos Bustamante lied again.
• Steve Rocco topped that by stealing a ketchup bottle.

October, 2008

• Did Carlos Bustamante propose to sterilize Santa Ana residents?
• Congresswomen Loretta and Linda Sanchez tragically lost their brother and his friend in a boating accident off of Catalina Island.
• A 7 Eleven less than a mile from Miguel Pulido’s and Claudia Alvarez’ homes was robbed – there have been two more robberies at that same store through yesterday.
• We found out that Miguel Pulido and Curt Pringle are water gluttons!
• We took a look at SAUSD Board of Education candidate Roman Reyna – it was not good.  But he won.  No bueno!
• We took a look at Coast Community College District Board of Education candidate Lorraine Prinsky. And she eventually won – beating out the dreadful Armando Ruiz.
• Vern Nelsons’ pal Pat got tossed out of a Palin Rally in Orange County.  A few months later the voters tossed Palin and her running mate McCain.
• Miguel Pulido and his “Team” walked out at the NAACP’s candidate forum, in Santa Ana.
• Speaking of Team Pulido, they sank to a new low.
• The Santa Ana City Council challengers boycotted a nefarious candidates forum put on by Pulido shills, and Claudia Alvarez got a police escort.
• O.C. Register editorial writer Steven Greenhut quit the GOP and became a registered Libertarian.
• Matt/Jubal Cunningham’s wife got paid to hate. And she sent her legion of hate to Santa Ana.
• Assemblyman Jose Solorio used Dem money to promote a Republican.
• Matt/Jubal Cunningham and his pals at the OCEA and at Liberal OC joined forces with Mike Schroeder, Judy Ware and the Trannies as they launched a ridiculous attack on my council campaign.

November, 2008

• Our “pals” at the Liberal OC voted me the scariest blogger in Orange County.  True dat!
• Pulido pal Gregory Barraza got caught messing with his opponents’ signs!  And just like that his political career was over.
• Another Pulido pal, Ana Rebecca Valencia-Verdin, got caught offering illicit cash to Michele Martinez’ mayoral campaign.  And just like that the Geisha Girl’s political career was over too.
• Happy Days!  Talibani Republican Jim Righeimer lost in his Costa Mesa Council campaign bid.
• But that rascal Dick Jones won in Fullerton.
• Sean Mill returned to the Orange Juice to explain that I didn’t lose, the people of Santa Ana did.
• Cathy Schlicht won in Mission Viejo!
• Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez ended Rosie Avila’s political career! Huzzah!
• Talibani Republican Mark McCurdy blew $55K in his unsuccessful Fountain Valley Council bid, according to Vern Nelson.
• Sarah Spinosa, Thomas Gordon and Carl Overmeyer quit the Orange Juice – and we kept on kicking tail anyway.
• Sean Mill took the Aloha saga to a new level.
• I joined the Libertarian Party.
• We asked “Who is Chris Prevatt?“
• We launched our first “Rotten Orange” Awards!

December, 2008

• Two Vietnamese candidates won after all as Andrew Do won a Council seat in Garden Grove and Truong Diep won a Council seat in Westminster.
• We announced the winners of our inaugural “Rotten Orange” Awards.
• We laughed at the idea of appointing Carlos Bustamante to be Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem.
• We predicted that Claudia Alvarez would once again be appointed Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem – but of course we did it in a hilarious spoof!
• We voted for Orange County’s “hottest politician.”  And then we voted for the most compassionate politician in Orange County.
• We wondered if Roman Reyna is the next Rosie Avila?
• We found out there will be no more free O.C. Fair concert tickets for Matt/Jubal Cunningham…
• The O.C. Supervisors spent a fortune remodeling their lobby, while announcing layoffs.
• Then the Supervisors voted against restaurant ratings – but we broke the news that Supervisor Janet Nguyen had a MASSIVE conflict of interest – her husband co-owns a restaurant that has received major County health violations!
• The the Register found out that Nguyen’s Chief of Staff co-owns the same restaurant!  Aye Dios!
• And we discovered that Nguyen’s favorite restaurants have also received County health violations.
• And then we found out that Nguyen took in over$12,000 this year from restaurants and other food establishments – and many of them had major County health violations.
• But of course the Liberal OC’s Chris Prevatt thought that Nguyen didn’t have a conflict of interest…
• And we asked why Andrew Do didn’t fess up about his restaurant during his Council Campaign?
• And we revealed that Van Tran has been shilling for unsanitary food establishments since 2006.
• Santa Ana city officials finally started slashing their budget – as they face a $40 million dollar deficit.
• And we asked the Board of Supervisors NOT to appoint Carlos Bustamante to head the O.C. Planning Department.

Whew!  What a year.  Thanks to all our bloggers and all our readers for spending so much time at the Orange Juice in 2008.  We look forward to covering Orange County politics in 2009, as only we can do…