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In a big way, this bogus recall which Santa Ana will be voting on from this week till May 19 is not about Ceci Iglesias at all.
It’s mostly about a police union, a particularly greedy one, wanting to have complete control of the local government.
It is about them not being able to tolerate even one solitary critical, questioning voice on a council of yes-people.
It is about making politicians in the future, not only in Santa Ana but everywhere, afraid to stand up to police unions anywhere, and say to themselves, “Look what happened to Ceci in Santa Ana.”
Santa Ana voters, please don’t be responsible for that.
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Meet the instigator of this recall, SA police union president Gerry Serrano (left). Back in 2011, before he was a police union boss but had been a Santa Ana cop for years, Westminster police caught him drunkenly fleeing the scene of an automobile collision he’d caused, after insulting the victim’s wife. He refused to take any sobriety tests, and tried to resist arrest while chest-bumping the arresting officer, calling him “sick,” “pathetic,” a “piece of shit” and an “asshole,” and warning him “never to go to Santa Ana.” The Westminster cops said he smelled like alcohol, had bloodshot eyes and slurred his words, and they found an empty, unlidded flask in his glove compartment. Here’s the police report.
“Yes, I sure owe you a solid, Tony.” Hey! Is Gerry really that short, or is Midget Tony standing on a box? UPDATE: Look at their waists, Tony IS on a box, LOL!!!
The scandalously crooked DA at the time, Tony Rackauckas, declined to prosecute lucky Gerry for DUI hit-and-run, despite all evidence and for no apparent reason – something nearly unheard of. Perhaps it had something to do with Gerry’s wife working for Tony as an investigative assistant. In any case Gerry went on to later support Tony, as police union leader, in re-election campaign ads (see right.)
Current DA Todd Spitzer told the Voice of OC that he “absolutely” would have filed a DUI case against Gerry given the evidence and his blood test refusal. “We file those cases every single day in our sleep. That is a classic DUI refusal. He got a break, for whatever reason – whether he knew somebody, whether he was a police officer, or he had connections, I don’t know… If he was Joe Citizen, that case would have been filed against him.”
All this happened in late 2011, and in 2012 Officer Serrano was disciplined over the incident by his chief, SAPD Chief Carlos Rojas, and Gerry nursed a grudge over that for a long time. Over the next few years he rose in the ranks to Sergeant and, by 2016, became boss of the union. Now he was finally able to take his revenge on Rojas, bribing council members (according to the sworn testimony of two top Santa Ana officials) to agree to firing Chief Rojas if they wanted to be the beneficiary of $400,000 in union campaign funds. Once again there were no consequences to Gerry’s dirty deeds, as your council paid Rojas $350K of your tax money to just go away and drop his suit. [WAIT a Council can do that? Pay public money to make a lawsuit implicating THEM in bribery go away??? Sheesh, what a country!]
Now, since 2016, Gerry brings that same integrity and sense of caring to his job as a union boss. Gerry gets paid 346K a year, and his job is NOT to do police work, but to get as much money as possible from you Santa Ana taxpayers, and as little accountability, for his often badly behaved force.
He enjoyed a great victory last year getting a majority of your Council (Pulido, Solorio, Sarmiento & Penaloza) to approve a $25 million dollar raise which your city was totally unable to afford – well, there goes all your Measure X sales taxes, which you thought was intended for “maintaining effective 911 response; retaining firefighters and police officers; addressing homelessness; fixing streets; maintaining parks, youth and senior services, and unrestricted general revenue purposes” – instead it’s all now going to help cover a 19.3% raise for already well-compensated police. Remember that, señores y señoras, next time you pay sales tax in your city.
Savoring victory with a compadre. Looks like he’s drinking again, no?
It was inevitable that, with Chief Rojas vanquished, conservative councilwoman Ceci Iglesias would become Gerry’s next target. The only councilmember to support a police oversight committee (which all cities Santa Ana’s size should have, let alone the scandal-ridden SAPD), she alone with Councilman Juan Villegas were the only two members to vote against the $25 million raise. Get that? The only two of your councilmembers who cared that the CITY COULDN’T AFFORD GERRY’S GREED, and that this raise would have to come out of the taxes of hardworking ustedes.
So Gerry set to work spending over $300,000 to recall Ceci and Juan; he was only able to get enough signatures to put the Ceci recall on the ballot; and here we are, it’s your choice now. There are a lot of things Democrats and liberals don’t like about Ceci Iglesias – she is a Republican “Christian conservative.” But most of the “Christian conservative” things she would like to see happen will never happen with nearly all her colleagues being Democrats.
No, she is being recalled simply because she is looking out for your interests against a greedy police union. And it’s a shame that she (and sometimes Juan) are the only ones. This is a thing Democrats should be doing.
Iglesias & Villegas
It’s a shame too, even if it’s only natural, that the Democratic Party of OC is jumping at the chance to get rid of the ONLY Republican on a seven-member council. One-party rule is never good anywhere. Don’t some of you in Santa Ana remember life in Mexico under decades of the PRI? One-party rule leads only to corruption.
Well, that’s what I have to say about this. I hope that those of you who have problems with Ceci will still mail in your ballots with a big NO to recall. You people voted her in, and Greedy Gerry shouldn’t be able to remove her. And I don’t want my Anaheim councilpeople mumbling to themselves, next time OUR police union demands something unaffordable, “Look at what happened to Ceci in Santa Ana.”
!Adelante!
[originally posted April 20]
Good summation.
What this recall election is really about …
This recall election is about the bottom line – Santa Ana’s underfunded public employee pensions. Please look at the bottom line of these budget fixing proposals – “Pursue Pension Obligation Bonds.” That is the City of Santa Ana taking out a loan of millions of dollars to pay for lavish pensions. That loan would have to be paid back by your children and grand children.
There are only 2 members of the Council willing to stand up for Santa Ana’s tax paying families and force the Council to make the City live within its means. One of the 2 is subject to this recall election – Cecilia Iglesias. Vote NO on the recall.
Oh please SAPD my memories of you are harassing my daughter while she was looking for her cat recently, putting people I grew up with in prison instead of restorative justice, and just a bunch of bullies. Make our community worse in the long run by breaking community up. Thank goodness for woman with some cajones.
I reposted this for the month of May because voting continues to May 19.
And also because I’ve been getting a lot of shit from my own Party (the Democrats) for opposing this recall. I hear they want me to stop posting the Anaheim Democrat letter on this blog (as if they could stop me) because I’m a bad Democrat for being against this police-coup recall. Well, I just didn’t feel like writing a May letter for the Anaheim Democrats.
That’s fine, I don’t see it as being about Party, or about lotsa things I disagree with Ceci on. It’s a Police Union power play. Santa Ana voters elected her, and the police shouldn’t be able to recall her just because she is the only one on Council to question their extravagant raises, or try to get police oversight. I WISH some Santa Ana Democrats did that!
2. Nelida and Thai are probably fine, but they can run for Ward One IN JUST A FEW MONTHS! And district elections are better.
3. Mostly I don’t want other politicians in Santa Ana, Anaheim, or anywhere else, to be afraid to stand up to police unions, and say to themselves, “Look What Happened to Ceci in Santa Ana!”
So I’m promoting this story as much as I can, since the anti-recall side doesn’t have the resources of the Police Union combined with the Democratic Party;
Vern, I have heard you were sick last week, I hope you’re feeling better. Please delete the comment I posted on May 1st above, as I had asked to be moved to the WOT. Just delete it. Thanks.
Sorry Ricardo, I’d been meaning to take care of that comment, not only a hurt back but really busy.
Ricardo had wanted to plug this great new Michael Moore film, free on YouTube: PLANET OF THE HUMANS.
https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/planet-humans-film-moore/
For the casual reader, who may wonder why Moore’s film is linked in this Santa Ana recall post : I had sent it in a follow up criticism of Vern portraying Ms Iglesias as a warrior against a police state. For some, ICE terrorizing sections of the latino community or separating children from parents at the border are not enough to indicate the irony of a Trump supporter fighting a police state.
As in the case of Josh Newman, that recall correctly took into account the context of the poilitics at the moment : a regressive tax and an opportunity for republicans/conservatives to push back against dems like Kevin de Leon.
In this Santa Ana recall, Serrano sucks, and should be sacked. Police accountability and the role of police associations in our cities need to be badly addressed. I doubt that Ms Iglesias and the County GOP are sincere about reforming the police, other than eroding their existence as a union.
Police accountability will be needed whether Ms Iglesias is recalled or not. In today’s political context, when we have reached a dystopian moment, defeating a Trump supporter is most relevant.
” . . . defeating a Trump supporter is most relevant.”
You earn the false dichotomies you perpetuate.
C’mon dude, own it. Stop being an enabler.
That’s exactly the problem.
You don’t even see what you’re doing.
Richard — for whom would you vote as her replacement? Vern won’t choose and I can’t decide.
Between Thai and Nelida? I wouldn’t go by how much we like the people endorsing them – they’ve both got folks we like and folks we don’t- it seems like they’re just betting on whatever horse they think will win.
Does anyone know any of their… POSITIONS?
If you don’t know their positions something is terribly wrong. I recommend staying out of fights with no clear protagonist. Like the DA election.
The DA election had a clear protagonist, at a minimum in comparison to the extremely clear antagonist.
As for the Santa Ana replacement race, I haven’t made a recommendation. I don’t find the issue statements among the two Democrats very clear, and a case can be made for the Republican as well.
That’s why I’m asking people (ideally those from Santa Ana) for their opinions. We’re usually not at a loss for their opinions…..
I wish someone would at least ask them if they agree with that $25 million police raise. And if they think Santa Ana needs police oversight. And their position on that controversial development (it was known by the number of the address, I forget.)
They’ve probably been advised not to answer those questions. Because their answers might make people say, “Shit, we’re better off with Ceci.”
Well, over on “Santanero” (my favorite Santa Ana Facebook page) I asked this question, knowing that both Thai and Nelida frequent that page:
“Some of my friends who suport the recall are having a hard time deciding between Thai and Nelida Mendoza. What is the difference between them? Did either one oppose the $25 million police raise? Does either one think Santa Ana should have police oversight? And which one will stand up to developers and gentrification? (I asked Nelida these things once, but maybe she didn’t see my comment.)”
And Thai quickly responded:
“I appreciate you asking these questions. I was at the City Council meeting in February 2019 stating that I didn’t support the raise at the time because the figures didn’t match up–we couldn’t afford it. I have stated publicly my support for a police oversight commission and we need to review current policies and procedures to see how they’re being implemented. I have also opposed the 2525 N. Main development since the beginning and have stated so publicly, because I don’t think the project has benefits for residents.”
Then I asked her who she supported for Supervisor, and she gave the answer I wanted: “I proudly supported Council Member Kim Bernice Nguyen from day 1! Also, fun fact: he has endorsed me and I’m very honored to have her support and trust!”
I repeated the questions again, tagging Nelida, and still haven’t heard anything. So right now if I lived there, I would vote NO on the recall, but Thai for replacement.