Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido pulled his strings tonight, at the Santa Ana City Council meeting, and sure enough, his puppet, councilman David Benavides, voted against mayoral term limits – even though he promised to support term limits during his campaign.
Benavides said the timing wasn’t right at the moment to pursue the term limits. Really? Apparently the timing was OK for Benavides to vote for a much-contested expansion of Kelly’s Auto Body – a project opposed by many of the neighbors in the south Main St. area.
Ironically Benavides abstained from voting on this issue when he was on the Planning Commission. Why is he able to vote on it now? Could it be because the Mayor told him to?
I have been ripped by many of our readers for saying that Benavides is a Pulido puppet. Well, after tonight’s city council meeting, he sure looks like he is.
The Kelly’s deal was approved by the way, as new councilman Sal Tinajero abstained, and new council member Michele Martinez voted in the affirmative. The Pulido faction – which includes Benavides and Mayor Pro Tem Carlos Bustamante – all voted for the Kelly’s expansion as well.
The mayoral term limits amendment change failed by a vote of 3-3. Benavides was the swing vote. The only swinging he was doing however was at the end of the strings Pulido has attached to him.
Here’s a question regarding this whole “puppet” canard; is a Republican member of Congress who votes 90% of the time or more with the President (and there are many of them) simply a “puppet” of the President?
Did you Photo Shop that photo of the councilman? How did you make it look like he has strings attached to his arms? My compliments to the O.J. photo/art department!
That’s a photo you took of him at the Fiestas Patrias parade! You can’t fool me!
Benavides is a Pulido puppet!
Art, thank you for reporting out.
What happened with Solorio’s empty seat?
I think David needs arch support. Those feet look a little flat!
I think term limits has proved to be a failure state wide and Santa Ana doen’t need to follow a failed fad. If anything, the term limits on the council should be lifted.
I saw most of the meeting, and it looked like growing pains of a new council.
David told me at the zoo Sunday that he is growing an extra thick skin for all the slings and arrows.
Cook,
I suspect Pulido may just quit in two years and make this a moot point – but then Benavides might become our next dictator/mayor. I rather go with term limits and make sure no one person becomes too powerful as our mayor.
It also sounds like David knew on Sunday that he was going to prove to be a puppet tonight. He can grow all the skin he wants, but he will still have strings attached to his shoulders, courtesy of his puppetmaster, Pulido.
Benavides doesn’t need to grow a thicker skin to ward off the barbs. He needs to strengthen his character – integrity, trustworthiness and conviction to follow through on commitments and honor the laws that govern our city.
One of Benavides campaign promises was mayoral term limits. If he had no intention of advocating for such then he should not have made it a cornerstone of his campaign.
Benavides accepted $500 from a developer and then proceeded to vote on that developer’s project while sitting on the Planning Commission. His actions regarding these two items only demonstrates his lack of conviction to honor his word and comply with campaign ordinaces set forth in our charter.
From where I sit, he is Pulido’s puppet.
Art,
More and more it seems a person becomes a puppet because he doesn’t vote the way you want.
If a person voted the way you wanted, would he then be known as a Pedroza puppet?
Martinez must be a puppet too, since she voted with the Mayor on the Kelly’s issue.
Art may be wrong about the special election. A good portion of time at this meeting was dedicated to designing a process to appoint, not elect, a suitable replacement.
The application will be available online, followed by an interview by the whole council (not some “advisory committee”).
Submissions must be received at the clerks office by Dec. 18 at 5:00.
Sal appeared to be falling back on old bad habits learned at the school district, suggesting a separate special meeting for the interviews, instead of doing business in the sunlight of a regular meeting.
Should be a lot of fun for the clerk to try and get everyone’s schedule (including staff)lined up for a meeting between Dec. 18 and the appointment deadline of Jan 2.
We are all someones puppet!
God fearing, law obedience, etc. etc. etc.
Here I am your puppet so you wont delete my post.
So it is irrelevant who is a puppet but who is puppeteer!
-Stan
Yes, I have inside information that Martinez is being fitted for her puppet strings as we speak, based soley on her Kelly’s vote.
Ridiculous! ENOUGH with this silly puppet rhetoric. It doesn’t even BEGIN to capture what will happen in the long term with a particular politician.
And again I ask; is a Republican member of Congress who votes 90% of the time or more with the President (and there are many of them) simply a “puppet” of the President?
The difference between David and Michele is that David is controlled by one puppeteer and Ms. Martinez by many. I believe that she named many of them in her congratulatory speech. Here’s to a speedy 4 years Michele Martinez is in office.
You would think I would not have to point out the obvious. I guess you would be wrong in that case.
For all concerned, what makes Benavides a puppet is the fact that he PROMISED to support mayoral term limits during his campaign, but once he got elected he decided he needed more time to think about it. In other words, he did what his puppetmaster, Pulido, bid him to.
Michele’s vote re Kelly’s Auto Body Shop was her own. No one told her to vote that way. She never promised anyone that she would vote against it, to my knowledge.
BTW, did anyone notice how INEPT Carlos Bustamante was last night, when Pulido left the meeting early and put him in charge, as Mayor Pro Tem? What a joke! If not for Claudia Alvarez, the rest of the meeting would have been a disaster. C’mon Carlos – do the right thing and resign as Mayor Pro Tem. Either that or buy a copy of Robert’s Rules of Order and start reading!
Hey Art, I have a great idea! If you can find out where we can buy a whole bunch of little puppets like the one in the photo (4th st? T.J.?) wouldn’t it be great if every time Bustamonte or Benavides or one of Pulido’s puppets speaks…the whole front row of council chambers was filled with pupputeers who made the puppets dance. I think it might be fun to do every time one of the them opens their puppet mouths!!!! Can someone tell us where to buy them??
Who has a good name for our new group of puppet protesting activists? We need a name!
I agree with Art Re: Bustamonte’s inability to run a meeting. And he wants to be a Supervisor? My 14 year old daughter who is freshman class president could do a MUCH better job. Robert’s rules won’t help him. He needs Toastmasters and a remedial reading class as well. Talk about not ready for prime time! That is EXACTLY why you want someone like Claudia with more council experience running the show. It would also be a good stratagy to deal with Claudia for Pulido and Carlos because it’s much harder to play the role of the “anti” voice when you are running the meeting.
I’ll try it a 3rd time…would anyone like to take a stab at answering the following question;
Is a Republican member of Congress who votes 90% of the time or more with the President (and there are many of them) simply a “puppet” of the President?
I appreciate Art’s alliteration – Pulido’s Puppet, but maybe it’s more appropriate to tag Benavides the Puppet Councilmember. By definition, that means Benavides owes his political existence to Pulido. Benavides performed admirably last night by tap dancing around mayoral term limits.
Maestro, let the music begin .. I’m your puppet.
After watching the City Council Meeting last night I came to the conclusion that this city is in TROUBLE!!!
Anon. #20,
Sure..let “meltdown Claudia” run the meetings. She can then have even more time for her tirades and venom!
Pulido needs to get a copy of Robert’s Rules and read them..and use them to keep her in check! She ruins all the meetings with her meltdowns and vicious personal attacks. I hope some of the new Council members will ask Pulido to run the meetings better and not let her have unlimited time to ramble on and on.
You can see his campaign comments about being apuppet and voting for term limits at http://www.santaanainsight.com/termlimits.htm
There is a very clear difference when a candidate makes a campaign pledge or promise that he “can” vs those he “cannot” control. However if council candidate Benavides publicly stated his support of Term Limits, and immediately votes NO, he should be called on it.
One option available to the voters in his Santa Ana Ward, that I would not recommend, is to RECALL him.
However, in looking at the final vote tally of the 4th Ward, where he beat candidate Yanez by almost 2:1, I would think that a Recall would not succeed.
Some candidates, whom we supported, keep to their promises while others change their tune over time. Some actually forget their promises the day after the election. Welcome to voter distrust and apathy.
Larry Gilbert
If you want to see Davids comments about being a puppet and term limits you can watch the videos at my site.
http://www.santaanainsight.com/termlimits.htm
George
Luis,
Interesting try, but to say that the President of the United States does not pull political strings has no basis in reality. Read the biography of ANY President…you’ll find them all to be highly involved when it comes to pulling the levers of power and influencing legislation…one classic example being Lyndon Johnson.
But you DO begin to hint at something in your comments, which is that simple partisan party politics is really what we’re talking about here, isn’t it? When someone votes with someone we don’t like, they’re a puppet. When someone votes with someone we LIKE, they’re not a puppet. When someone changes their mind and aligns with someone we don’t like, they’re a puppet. When someone changes their mind and aligns with someone we LIKE, then they’re not a puppet. You get the point.
Which just goes to show how senseless and unconstructive all this puppet talk is. The fact is, we’re talking about politicians, not saints. NEWS FLASH…politicians create alliances, they respond to the nudging of other politicians, they respond to special interests, they respond to corporate interests. This is the system we have, whether on a federal level, or the local level. Santa Ana is not immune to these dynamics.
Art stated: “…what makes Benavides a puppet is the fact that he PROMISED to support mayoral term limits.”
So if you admit that you are wrong and change your opinion — than you are a puppet?
Art, you are very twisted and that is why your political opinions are dangerous.
Based on my private conversation with Michele about you Art, and according to your standards, she is your puppet.
-Stan
#19 stated: “Who has a good name for our new group of puppet protesting activists? We need a name!”
Santa Ana Circus [“SAC”] would suffice.
-Stan
This city is in such deep trouble, and the rest of you quibble over semantics.
If this current council is the best that Santa Ana can do, then this city has slipped deeper into the toilet bowl than previously imagined. I thank my lucky stars that I don’t have to live in Santa Ana. Maybe they should change the city’s motto to Santa Ana: Orange County’s Ghetto.
#25
Councilmember Alvarez did not have a meltdown last evening. She performed admirably when discussing term limits. The exchange between Alvarez and Townsend was spirted, but at the end of the day, this taxpayer wants to know why this lobbyist was given a free pass on his contract with the city.
Alvarez has never strayed regarding Townsend. On the other hand, Benavides promised mayoral term limits while wooing the voters of Santa Ana and then reneged on his promise of voting for mayoral term limits.
Perhaps it’s best to say the sharks have eaten Benavides backbone.
#32 ..
I live in Santa Ana by choice and so do many others. I thank my lucky stars you’re not my neighbor.
The cup will always be half empty for the likes of you.
I attended the SA City Council meeting last night and I live in SA. All I have to say is God Save the City! Amateur Hour. The smartest one of the Wild Bunch was Tinajero! At least he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut for the most part. Crazy Claudia thought she was in court directing her questions to Townsend when she should be asking staff how he got an extra $30K. Big Deal. If the City was stupid enough to give it to him, don’t blame Townsend. It’s not like he signs the checks. My inquiring mind wants to know, “What kind of deal did she get from Crevier on her BMW?” Carlos BuscaAmante thinks he is Supervisor material? I hope Bill Campbell attends a SA Council meeting and reassesses his endorsement. BuscaAmante can’t even properly chair a council meeting. Puhleeese! Benavides: Nice Try. Don’t you know not to fight with girls? Especially the kind that HATE MEN. In my opinion Clownia aka Crazy Claudia aka Claudia hates men. Honey, it’s OK to come out of the closet. Anyone going to Drinking Liberally on Thursday?
Anon,
It sounds like you dislike most of your council members. I would encourage you to assist the council members, who are the closest to your political philosophy and attempt to assist them as they work on the next four years of improvement.
I for one, believe Claudia, is being much more impressive lately, and understands the need to shake things up in Santa Ana. I applaiud her efforts and her decision to question the city and their staff. She reminds me of Ted Moreno when he would question the city.
Claudia needs the help, and assistance from Sal and Michele. Together they can make a difference to the entrenched members of the council and the members of the city staff. I just hope Claudia learns to calm her tempure down and understand some people are really looking to help, and make Santa Ana better.
I think Anon was giving a personal observation. I guess you had to be there.
If anyone wants to see the interactions, I video taped them and you can stream them from the web site. I personally applaud Claudia for questioning the giveaways.
It is not the 30K, it is the 242K and the 38K and 185K, the 645K that seems to add up to bad streets, no police department that can respond or wants to respond and services being third world.
I read innuendos about sexuality which I thought as a society we were past, praise for people triple dipping and in multiple cases not wanting the voters of Santa Ana (the ghetto of Orange County I can only assume is the new name) to have the right to vote upon, Center Line coming to mind, and it seems most recently TERM LIMITS which are good for the county but not S.A.
How can it be untimely to vote to have it placed on a ballot? Will it be better in 6 months, 8 days, 4 years?
I guess I can only thank God I live in South Coast Metro as I was told 19 years ago when I bought the house. Not to think of it as Santa Ana. Wow, if I had only known.
I have read the federalist papers, I appreciate adversarial government and why it exist, even if one mayoral candidate does not. I see no problem with open government and a good heart felt discussion. Didn
Luis-
Claudia can stand on her own. There’s no need to compare her to anyone. Me thinks you need to cool it on your package sell of Alvarez, Martinez and Tinajero. They are three independent individuals who at times may agree on certain items and there will be times when they disagree.
Let each one make their own record. Stop the script writing.
George stated: “I have read the federalist papers, I appreciate adversarial government and why it exist, even if one mayoral candidate does not.”
I beleve that you are refering to me.
Thanks to your concept of “adversarial government” the Bill of Rights is still not ratified, Congers recently approved torture and offshore concentration camps for US citizens.
A man must know his limitations and should not cry like women if he gets beaten in fair and square election. I have ran against Pulido twice and and he beat me twice by landslide without any use of money. If someone should bitch about the term limits it should be I.
Pulido is only person on the council who makes his living from his business. Rest are on public dough cushy jobs and commissions. If they would have to survive by earning money from their own business they would starve to death. So will Santa Ana without Pulido if the present council will be active.
Since I am X-CEO of several corporations I do appreciate what is Pulido doing. Therefore, I would like him to select replacement for Ward-1 and council to obediently approve it.
We do not need one more jealous Hispanic socialist on the council.
Preferably, I would like to see someone from “mi raza” like WASP.
-Stan
For those of you jumping all over Benevides, you need to go back and listen to his comments very carefully. I can’t quote it verbatim but, he said he DID want to revisit term limits AND a few other items as well. And since there was plenty of time before the next election he wanted to review those other recomendations also
Anon #39,
I respect your thoughts and comments regarding the “package” I mention, however keep in mind, as someone stated before, votes and voting trends come in voting blocs. The Mayor has his voting bloc, usually consisting of Bustamante and probably newly elected Benavides. In essence, this will be a package. The same could be said about Tinajero, Martinez and Alvarez.
Of course, I agree they will at some point perhaps vote differently in certain items, but realistically speaking when it comes to the most important decision you can expect a “packaged” deal to happen.
It is the same at the State level and Federal, with the difference, those higher ups usually vote party line as a package.
Again, there are exceptions to the rule, but I would bet on the former.
Anon #41,
Any council member who does not know where they stand on certain issues is simply head faking themselves. There are items, such as Mayoral Term Limits, which have been discussed to the point of discussion, in newspapers, blogs, forums, townhall meetings, and any other form of media outlets.
This is an issue most people even considering to run for office should already no the situation. “Studying the issue” is not an excuse.
My thought is Benavides does not want the decision to be made by him. After the special election or appointment, he no longer may be the swing vote and have the pressure of voting one way or the other. If the mayor’s side elects the candidate then everything is secured. If they do not, then you cant blame David for voting in favor of Terms Limits as it would pass anyway. He saves himself from the pressure. Personally, I find that move weak.
I love the political “wiggle room” when elected officials skirt an issue by saying “I prefer letting the voters decide” as they place controversial issues on a ballot rather than telling us where THEY stand when quizzed.
With regards to Term Limits. Several years ago we debated that issue in Mission Viejo and ended up with a voter approved cap of three (four year) terms. Although many of us preferred two, we were given a choice by that council of three or none. Take it or leave it.
So, my advise for those living in Santa Ana would be to have the council vote to place this issue on the next election and transfer the decision to those most effected. The resident voters of Santa Ana.
Larry Gilbert
George, I think you
Paul,
Your observation about David’s position is worth noting again. And it is clearly a position that is smarter and more nuanced than the author of this original post would make it out to be.
And yet the fact that you had a conversation with Art to this effect immediately following the council meeting didn’t stop him from getting this post up immediately following your conversation with him.
People hear what they want to hear, and it’s clear that Art was foaming at the mouth to post this ridiculous puppet post.
I have spoke with Art immediately after the meeting too and have specifically ask him if he got the facts straight since I do not want to see his illusions printed in OJ. — he reinsured me that he did.
So here you have it folks.
-Stan
If I remember correctly, Claudia stated that there would be no need for a special election for this item (term limits) because it could be placed on the ballot either in 2008 or (if necessary) when a special election is held for Ward 1.
Benavides said at the forum I attended that he was in favor of term limits both as a member of the charter reform team and as a candidate.
He can spin it all he pleases.
Looking at Monday’s council meeting he never stated what the additional items he wished to appear on a ballot nor will he ever.
He’s a liar.
#49;
Benavides is prudent and pragmatic politician!
To Benavides same as to Machiavelli, it is the task of “politics” to create order in the world, and the objective of politics is to strive to gain, maintain and use power.
Only jealous immature losers would bitch about Benavides who same as Pulido has only chance to survive long political carrier from all current council members.
-Stan
I would have simply said given the gravity of this issue, I’d prefer that we wait on voting on this issue until all positions on the Council are filled.
Here’s a novel idea;
How about if anyone who is concerned about Mr. Benavides’ position/strategy on term limits contact him directly?
Supposedly Mr. Benavides is “spinning” his position…and certainly many here are putting their own spin on his position…why not just ask him directly what he’s thinking?
Duh.
I agree wit #51,
False start, or jumping the gun!
It was to premature to submit motion by new members Sal and Michele on first meting . By supporting the motion Claudia clearly shown that her 6 years on the council did not teach her anything. It looks that Sal and Michele have to do lot of learning before they self destruct.
-Stan.