I served with Deborah Vasquez last year on the Santa Ana Housing and Redevelopment Commission. She is a great commissioner. She asks the right questions, does her homework, and represents the people of our city.
But last year Vasquez pulled her endorsement of Councilman Vince Sarmiento after the vicious attacks wielded by Sarmiento and his fellow Pulido team, against Michele Martinez. Vasquez ended up backing Sarmiento’s opponent, Jim Walker.
Tonight Sarmiento is moving to dump Vasquez and replace her with Desi Reyes, a realtor who is a nice guy but a total Pulido hack. Click here to read the City Council meeting agenda.
Sad. Very sad. Sarmiento has every right to do this, but the result will be the lamest commission ever.
Anyone who cares about securing their political future will not keep close someone who has a reputation of backstabbing with “friendly fire”. I don’t care what kind of terrific person she is, she can’t be trusted and Vince would be a fool to reward her kind of disloyalty. He’s just using basic survival strategy.
If she’s ethical and grounded this will hurt her, but hopefully she’ll get hooked up with others in power who are more closely aligned with her, politically.
Good Luck Deborah.
Desi is Pulido hack who hangs with the usual suspects.
I believe that Deborah knew what to expect when she took her political position in support of Jim Walker. This is standard political practice – no big deal.
Good luck Deborah.
junior,
Oh yes – it is a big deal. Replacing her with a Pulido hack is bad news – and remember that Desi is a realtor. Vasquez is a lawyer – and a damn good one.
Sarmiento has the right to do this, but we all lose in the process.
Surely Ms. Vasquez did not believe she would hold on to her commission appointment by supporting and endorsing Jim Walker. It is only logical that she would be replaced.
Good luck to her in future endeavors.
Truthfully, I can’t blame Deborah for her disgust with Councilperson Sarmiento last election. When Sarmiento aligned himeself with team Pulido as they launched appalling attacks on fellow Councilperson Martinez, he certainly lost my respect. Character IS still important to many of us.