We had heard this was coming, and we had nothing to do with it, apparently it’s a UNITE HERE effort. But they’re gonna need more help than just the union. We got our hands on the “Grounds For Recall” which hasn’t been featured yet in any news story, but we thought you should see it…
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The grounds for the recall are as follows:
Natalie Rubalcava sides with the same powerful business interests who have corrupted Anaheim politics, not our residents. Independent investigators have questioned her honesty and accused her of violations of our city’s charter. Moreover, she has wasted taxpayer money to help hotel interests.
Resort interests spent prolifically to get Rubalcava elected. SOAR, an organization created by “cabal” ringleader Todd Ament, spent nearly $380,000 to elect her.
The cabal also stepped in to help her with its corrupt “Anaheim First” initiative. AF masqueraded as a community nonprofit and received major taxpayer funding, but really “was a political data-mining operation.” Who received this helpful data? Natalie Rubalcava. When the city’s independent investigators confronted her about this, she was “less than candid,” and claimed the information was publicly available.
Anaheim’s independent anti-corruption investigators found that Rubalcava “directly violated the City’s Charter” by going around the City Manager to direct city staff to work with her former employer, the OC Business Council.
She has wasted taxpayer money when it would help big businesses. She supported a rushed special election that costs $1.2 million more than a regular election would. Who wanted this? Hotel interests opposed to raising the minimum wage.
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Well, I (Vern) would have written a lot of that differently, but whatever. “You go to war with the army you have.” More to come…
Check out her post on Instagram
Please send link; I don’t know my way around IG.
This post has provoked a rash of anonymous attacks on ME, I don’t know why. Do they think it was me who launched the recall on Natalie?
Or are these attacks from the union people, for not being enthusiastic enough? Whatever, my trolls are ignorant and illiterate.
This anonymous commenter kindly sent an IG link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CwV3ZVvypQ9/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==
Something Natalie posted on the same day the story of her recall broke:
Today, I join with my colleagues Council Member Norma Campos Kurtz and Council Member Natalie Meeks in speaking out on what our city has gone through and how to move forward:
One of the most difficult and dark chapters in the City of Anaheim’s long and remarkable history has saddened and dismayed all of us as residents of this proud city.
A former mayor failed this city and allowed self-interest to create instability and openings for corruption. As City Council members and as residents ourselves, we strongly condemn and stand against the illegal actions and corruption of the former mayor.
What he did as our city’s top elected official was wrong and can never be allowed to happen again.
We are grateful for the federal investigation that led to the discovery of this and that will ultimately lead to his conviction.
As elected officials, it is our responsibility to conduct ourselves ethically, working on behalf of the people who trust us to serve in their interest. We should always be held to a higher standard.
But there are troubling issues that go beyond the actions of one former mayor. It is clear that for too long a few outside influences had undue access and negative influence on City Hall.
This too must stop. We strongly advocate for a policy to bar the City or its elected officials from contracting with consultants or businesses that could pose a conflict of interest.
We are committed to ethical and transparent governance. We support a process that provides public access to our meeting calendars and Council activities.
As city leaders, we need to eliminate conflicts of interests. More than ever, we must implement good governance now.
Although none of us were on the City Council when this illegal activity occurred, it is now our responsibility to ensure it never happens again.
As Council members, we pledge to work together with our entire City Council and other city leaders to create thoughtful, meaningful and enforceable policies that will allow us to move the city forward so we can continue doing what is in the best interest of the City of Anaheim and its residents.
#AnaheimStrong
Three of the Kleptos hand-picked stooges.
I’m trying (unsuccessfully) to find the sinister meaning of the second half of this post, where it seems like there should be one.
The first half is the old “it was all Sidhu, bad bad Sidhu, the Mayor whose name can’t even be said.”
But who are these “consultants and businesses” that are these ladies’ other concern? I mean WE could answer that easily, but who could these SOAR/OCBC women be referring to?
It’s damage control by the three who can claim they came along AFTER the Sidhu reign of error even though they were each put in place to be the cabal’s rubber stamps. If Football Brandman were serious he’d be cutting ties with Nat #1.
Poor Diaz and Faessel.
Kleptos and other knaves in power just never get tired of the “it’s just a few bad apples” canard. Despite what the Jackson 5 sang, one bad apple will spoil the whole bunch — especially if it has Disney-level clout!
Can’t find much fault with Matt’s story on this, what’s the world coming to. https://www.anaheimobserver.com/2023/08/25/unite-here-local-11-attempting-to-recall-councilmember-natalie-rubalcava/
If the recall succeeds (which seems unlikely) her successor DOES get appointed by the 4-member Disney majority, and will be some SOAR-approved product like Norma or Gloria.
Matt says UNITE HERE spent $66k on Jabbar’s campaign; my first reaction was that SOAR spent six times as much on Natalie. But yeah, Jabbar COULD have used a lot more help than he got from the Democratic Party that endorsed him, I always thought so. They helped Ashleigh and Carlos a lot more, and meanwhile the Avelino / Lou Correa crowd was out banging on doors and raving on TV for Natalie.
Obviously, if that’s true then we cannot support the recall.
Thanks for reminding me about Avelino. I had forgotten why I placed him in the “comparably bad to Correa” bin, but this clears it right up. He has much to answer for.
OK, that’s where you got it, from Cunningham. I vaguely remember some reforms being considered.
As to the question “Plus, what is Ada Briceno’s endgame?”, I think I can answer that:
– Election to State Senate, then appointment to U.S. Senate or Labor Secretary.
She hits many demographic marks, after all, as well as appeal to Somozistas!
Sadly, she’s blowing it about as badly as Cunningblog says. Success always depends on someone else doing the hard work and taking the risks. That’s not how strikes (or walkouts> win; ask the writers and directors! Labor actions require resolve. I will politely defer comment on Measure A because it makes me so sad.
This lady is basically daring people to recall her .
It’s the political equivalent of an indictment — and like Trump claims about his indictments helping his Presidential campaign, it will help her 2026 race for Mayor. I’m calling that right now.
My Open Thread doesn’t come out until later, when Vern fixes my inability to add featured images, and at that point I’ll move this comment there.
For those who haven’t subscribed to John Earl’s substack, here’s an example of why you should: it’s not just about water.
https://socalwaterwars.substack.com/cp/136343192
Perhaps you can’t fault Matt’s piece because you share an instant animosity towards anything Ada.
Au contraire! I am eager for her to do something good and well planned out. She does hate me though, just like Natalie does.
She sure seems to be amoral.
Her signal trait is that she makes Kris Murray and Jordan Brandman look unambitious. I don’t necessarily consider her amoral, the way the Building Trades leaders tend to be — but she believes that more power for her is the answer to most questions.
I would have chosen Avelino, Dave Min and Katie Porter as examples of overweening ambition, but okay.
Steve, that may have been directed at Vern, but it could as easily be directed at me — as I’m the one of us who took the most swipes at her at last month’s AnaDems meeting.
As Ivsay below, she is great at amassing power and as bad as the proverbial dog who finally found the car it had been chasing when it comes to knowing what to do with it. Look at the three major ongoing events Locsl 11-related events:
The strike — which REPEATEDLY got awestruck mentions on NOR when it started, is going nowhere, because she does not seem to understand the fundamentals of labor actions. Sure, she’s willing to block a street when she will get bailed out and receive choice counsel — NOT perks necessarily available to those who follow her — but that was largely symbolic — not taking money out of employers’ pockets.
The secret to winning a strike is to showing tremendous resolve, so that the employers get that they will suffer catastrophic losses in the end. Look at the Writers Guild, look at the Directors Guild. Their people have taken away their total effort and are showing their willingness to suffer to the bitter end. Compare that to L11, which is (or was, as it doesn’t seem to be much in the news anymore) was putting out rotating targeted walkouts — essentially announcing through a megaphone that business almost as usual would continue and that her members were not willing to endure a SERIOUS loss of wages to back employers into a corner. But she loudly demanded that TAYLOR SWIFT cancel HER concerts in solidarity — what headlines if she had! — which put ALL burdens on Swift and her fans and NONE on her members.
Do you think that Swift should have cancelled her shows — which might have led to Ada being captured, grilled, and eaten by enraged fans — because someone who won’t push her members to ACTUALLY STRIKE decided to demand that of her? I sure don’t. Ada is not MLK2 or John Lewis, who did put themselves and their followers well being and even lives on the line for a SERIOUS greater good. And no, this did not fail because I and the Robbinses didn’t agree to march.
OK, Measure A, which is about to become a punchline. They’re not even promoting it, from what I’ve heard. And just as well, since the way it’s written the intention is obviously to get more people to join her union so they can get excused from a subset of the burdens it imposes on non-unionized employers. But if you READ it, the City has the obligation to endorse its rules — and it will NOT want to put its resources there. So why would an employer allow unionization when the CITY HAS IN ESSENCE NEGOTIATED A CONTRACT WITH THEM? The only reason would be if the union were willing to give them FEWER obligations than those in the de facto union contract embodied in Measure A! But they’ve argued that these requirements are important enough to require voter approval! So how could they possibly justify undercutting them? This just wasn’t thought through. If, as the Robbinses suspect, it’s primarily a ploy to bolster what they say is L11’s flagging membership numbers — well, it’s a piss-poor union that would have to want its members to get FEWER employer benefits than unorganized workers. (Note: I don’t doubt that a better initiative could hhs e been written — but they just chose not to do it, perhaps for the reasons the Robbinses assert.
Rubalcava — for whom I obviously hold no brief — actually did everyone, including Local 11, a favor by introducing the reform that ended up gutting the impetus for Measure A, because we got THAT and that is ALL we were ever going to get this time. (“We” being supporters of workers’ rights.) Ada did provoke Rubalcava to do what she did, so I give Ada according credit for that — even if it left her furious.
Now the recall: it won’t win, it will be counterproductive (in that Rubalcava gets to fundraise even MORE if she recall goes to the ballot, and if it did win it would simply leave the Council majority able to appoint a replacement. Do the best thing to do is to simply stop before she gets MORE campaign money that she can transfer to other campaigns as Disney directs, with other of it directed to PR boosts to ingratiate herself with the voters. And if this is right that it’s all based on a personal slight — that’s beneath contempt.
Let’s remember that Rubalcava rather than Jabbar is on the council BECAUSE L11 and the DPOC — in other words, Ada and Ada — put so little effort and money into his campaign. So much for solidarity! And years ago, when the Brandman recall was being contemplated — well before the release of the Barnes texts — the very same blessed gentleman who appeared at our meeting forswore Ada’s previous commitment to support the recall. (This was, I suspect, due to her having the also blessed Melahat as a key advisor.) Solidarity is a two-way street — and I am not willing to give it uncritically to someone who not only fails to promote progressive and reformist interests, but who also consistently fucks up at her own job.
I’m sure that this will be hard for Ada to read — and I continue to honor the good vision she had and good work she did with the original “Fight for 15.” But I’m pretty secure in my criticisms of her recent actions — and it’s based on rational concerns.
Why is Greg Diamond in the Anaheim Democratic club? I thought … he lived… in Brea?
[Nasty shit edited out – V]
1. None of your damn business.
2. You gotta be a Democrat to be a member but you don’t have to live in Anaheim. We got about… ten members that live NEAR Anaheim.
3. None of your damn business.
Matt did make one mistake – Martin Lopez’s name is not among the signatories of this recall petition, and I’m pretty sure he lives in District 4. At least he used to. But somehow he has been tapped as spokesman.
There’s one name among the signatures that I know – Carolina Mendez, of CHISPA. She has given a lot of great speeches at Council this past year, and would have been a really good spokesperson.
And she’d be night and day better than Natalie on Council. But I hope nobody thinks Faessel, Kurtz, Meeks and Diaz would appoint her.
Yep, I live in Brea. And yet I’ve put more effort into actual reform in our county’s largest city [edited to add: between 2013 and maybe 2020] than all but maybe a couple dozen people.
Why don’t I focus on Brea? I tried that — and unlike Anehetm, the stakes are far lower here and the political establishment is even more entrenched — read the last-ever cover story of the OC Weekly to learn why — and there isn’t the same core of strong and fierce activist as found in Anaheim. I was invited by Anaheim’s activist to help then way back in the days of the Gardenwalk Giveaway, and I’ve stuck around.
As always, it’s nice to hear butthurt people like you whine about the injustice of my even so slightly evening the odds there, so thanks!
This should be VERY CONCERNING TO YOU FOLKS HERE:
Matt Cunningham and his website has executed a carefully planned attack on Santa Ana city Councilmember Jessie Lopez, in support of the attempted recall against her.
Cunningham has a reason to be reinvigorated: the Natalie Rubalcava recall being planned in Anaheim.
Even a cursory look at the two COMPLETELY different efforts reveals a chasm (sp).
Your over broad and aggressive opposition to the Lopez recall makes (once again) a prime target of “Vern Nelson” for his apparent (on the surface) hypocrisy.
Be careful what you wish for and say.
I don’t need to remind anyone here of what Mrs. Cunningham does for a living, That’s glaringly similar to Lopez’s landlord.
Question: Do the other controls here agree with you on Lopez and her situation?
I wasn’t gonna print this one cuz it’s obviously from one of our trolls. Same obsessions, same total lack of sense and logic, and a Herculean effort to come off as a “concern troll” and spell words right for once. And I’m sure there’s no “Travis Nolan” in Mabury Park
But what the hell, it’s a slow day…
1. This person seems to think I’m behind the Natalie Recall (despite my writing above.)
2. On what planet are Albert Castillo and Laura Cunningham similar, or have similar jobs?
3. I’m sure all the “other controls here” don’t want to see Jessie recalled by the police union for her support of police reform and rent control.
Cunningham’s new attack on Jessie is that maybe she doesn’t pay full market rent to Albert, her old friend and landlord.
By the way Mattie’s new favorite wordsmithing cliche seems to be “It is not an IDLE QUESTION.”
https://ocindependent.com/2023/09/does-santa-ana-councilmember-jessie-lopez-have-a-job/
I scraped this out of the trash because, as Vice-Control, I wanted to reply. (You just beat me to it because I’m working on a badly needed Open Thread.)
Ahem: I’m in total agreement with Vern on this one. As should everyone be.
I’ll add that if a landlord has a good, responsible, long-term renter, it’s not surprising that they would prefer to keep them rather than gamble on the quality of a new one. The way to keep them is … to give them below-market-value rent, because they won’t likely cost as much!. It’s not sinister at all.
We’ll have been in our current house (yes, the one with the swimming pool, which is both a burden and a joy) for seven years as of next month. I expect that our landlord could (and will) get more for the place if we left, but we have taken care of it well, not destroyed it, and abided by his sorrow-inducing “no pets” policy. I’m chary about landlords generally because of the horror stories I hear — like that of Ada’s endorsee Mike Schaefer — but we like him a lot. I’ve had way worse.
Speaking of Santa Ana injustices: Feckless Fiona Ma — the Sick Soulmate of Gerry Serrano, and if I remember correctly a prime Melahat Rafiei client — will be running for Lieutenant Governor in 2026 and deserves to have her nastiness communicated to the public. She’ll appear at 4:00 on Saturday, Sept. 16, in Paso Robles, at an event sponsored by (squints) the California Cattlemen’s Association. A minimum donation of $250 is required to attend. Do not under any circumstances provide it. (Trolls are welcome to say in comments that will end up in trash that, based on this call to arms, you will donate to her — because we know you’re lying and if you somehow did we could read it on her campaign finance reports, which would be yummy!)
The address is being kept secret, given only to donors who RSVP, to prevent someone from mischievously encouraging people from showing up to protest with signs about her helping out a corrupt Santa Ana cop who steered a big contribution from the Santa Ana Police Officers Association to her in what surely must just be an amazing coincidence rather than a quid pro quo. (This has been investigated, right? No? Huh.) But if anyone does happen to get ahold of the address … welllll …. (Too subtle?)
P.S.: The guy from Mabury Park doesn’t know how to spell “Mabury Park”? What a silly blaybbermouth!