Anaheim Chismes: Pringle Screws Over Trevor for the Loyal Natalie Meeks.

Poor Trevor.

Did you notice, during the Sidhu years, that the Cabal couldn’t get its Dream Projects approved if they were in the Hills, because Sidhu and Trevor didn’t want to piss off their voters & neighbors, and they couldn’t count on Moreno or Denise (or, later, Avelino?) Or at least that happened twice that I remember.

Remember in early 2020 when Council said NO to an affordable housing project replacing a popular shopping center on Serrano, a project of rent-gouger John Saunders, lobbied for by cabal master Jeff Flint? I think Sidhu and Trevor had hall passes that time to vote against it and not piss off their neighbors, but they thought they could count on Moreno and Denise because – hey! – it was “affordable housing,” wasn’t it? Pero no, those two listened to resident concerns too and defeated it. (That was the vote that made Jordan Brandman so furious at Denise that he texted his friends about wanting to “rip off her t*ts” and precipitated his own downfall.)

And then remember, last year, when uber-lobbyist Curt Pringle REALLY wanted to build a huge, fire-hazardous Holden Senior Living Facility in the place of a Mormon meeting center? THAT time I’m not so sure Harry and Trevor had hall passes, but along with Avelino and Dr Moreno, they defeated that too, after listening to passionate objections from their voters. I’d never seen Pringle as pissed off as that night – his eyes were bulging and aflame. He reminded me of Donald Trump when Obama was mocking him at the 2011 White House correspondents’ dinner, and we know now that Trump was thinking “I’ll show that bastard!”

And then remember, a few months ago, how some friends of ours received a telephone poll – maybe you did too! – asking who they’d support for mayor, Ashleigh, Lorri, Trevor, or Jose Diaz (of all people?) And we couldn’t figure out why Jose was on that list – everyone had different theories. Would they really try to run a guy who speaks English even worse than Sidhu, whom you need a lot of rewinding and leaning forward to even comprehend how dumb the thing is that he’s trying to say?

All of this gives enough context for me to believe an anonymous tip I just received – that and the fact that this anonymous tipster has always steered me right before:

Republican insiders are angry with Pringle. Former mayor Pringle encouraged Trevor O’Neil to run for mayor. Knowing Trevor would lose, Pringle wanted him off the council in order to have a more loyal person on the council. 

Pringle was the only politico that told Trevor he could win based on the early poll. Everyone else told him to stay out and have Jose Diaz, because Jose was not up for re-election and therefore if he lost would still keep his council seat.

Trevor voted against Pringle’s housing client in Anaheim Hills and Pringle wanted him gone. Trevor thought Curt was helping him become mayor, but in reality he was ending his political career. He wants Natalie Meeks, the retired staffer who pushed through ARTIC for him. 

“Checks out,” as the kids say. Remember, Natalie DID, loyally, vote to approve those two bad projects in the Hills, on the Planning Commission. And it makes sense out of how long it took – till the last day – for Trevor to finally switch to the Mayor race and Natalie to file for district 6 – we thought he was just playing coy or something – and that’s another thing this same source told me was gonna happen.

Also remember how in July, at the same Council meeting where Moreno’s Gate Tax initiative got nixed, Trevor proudly brought forward a proposal to abolish rent control in Anaheim? My good liberal friends freaked out, but after a bit of thought I said, “Bring it on! This’ll tank Trevor in the flatlands!” Turns out (as my source also told me back then) that was Pringle’s grand idea, and now we can assume he was thinking the same, “This’ll destroy Trevor!” (It’s still good for flatlands and renting voters to remember that Trevor WOULD LIKE to abolish rent control in Anaheim.)

It appears the only group helping Trevor, paying for his mailers and TV ads and all, is the pathetic Lincoln Club, which has moved from trying to get Democrats to vote for Lorri Galloway (how clever) to trying hard to slime Ashleigh with Melahat, like that is anywhere near the destructive things Trevor did with Harry Sidhu, Todd Ament and Jeff Flint… or like any Anaheim voters know or care who Melahat is.

The Lincoln Club. The other special interests have jumped like the proverbial rodents off the proverbial sinking SS Trevor, seeing a winner in Ashleigh. (We can only hope she holds onto her values and conscience, and I for one am gambling on it!)

PS. I don’t believe just ANYTHING an anonymous source tells me. For example, a few years ago when someone calling himself “Adam Merrell” pretended to be a disgruntled Pringle employee and kept e-mailing me and Gabriel San Roman, telling us how Pringle was going broke, going out of business, and had given up on controlling Anaheim. Only Gabriel fell for that one!

About Vern Nelson

Greatest pianist/composer in Orange County, and official political troubadour of Anaheim and most other OC towns. Regularly makes solo performances, sometimes with his savage-jazz band The Vern Nelson Problem. Reach at vernpnelson@gmail.com, or 714-235-VERN.