Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido is sweating it. He has not faced a well-funded, legitimate opponent since the days of Councilman Ted Moreno. But this November Pulido will indeed be facing off against another elected official, Councilwoman Michele Martinez. And I expect that she is going to give him a run for the money.
In fact Pulido’s own supporters are wavering. Many of them are unhappy that Pulido has allowed Clowncilwoman Claudia Alvarez to run amok at Santa Ana City Clowncil meetings. I can’t blame them. She is easily the worst of the worst! But just take a look at the picture above. Pulido appears to be quite comfortable whispering in her ear.
As for Martinez, is she any better than Pulido? She has voted with him 99% of the time. And she has shown an amazing procilivity to stick her feet in her mouth. Perhaps the best example of that was an infamous interview she had with a local magazine, just after she won her seat on the Council. She told the magazine that she sold drugs as a teenager. You just know that Pulido and his cabal will be sending out mailers to the voters telling them about Martinez’ past as a chola drug dealer.
Martinez is also vastly under-educated. She is taking classes at Cal State Fullerton, but I am told she is not doing well and has even flunked a class or two. She has dyslexia so I am sure it is difficult for her to study and to do her homework. And to her credit she is trying. But does our town need a Mayor who has no clue about most things? It is one thing to be under-educated. It is quite another to be almost completely ignorant.
I know Martinez about as well as anyone. She has no clue about history, our economy, our country or much else. Which brings me back to Pulido. He is a college graduate. He is a business owner. He serves on all kinds of boards. He owns a muffler manufacturing company in Mexico. On paper he is amazing. The reality unfortunately is that he has been in office for over 20 years and we have little to show for that tenure.
Pulido has been all about Pulido throughout his political career. He is very well off now. I am told that the only reason he sticks around is because he wants to be appointed to be ambassador to Mexico. He needs to keep his title so that the Democrats will be impressed. He supported Hillary Clinton but she lost her party’s primary. However there are whispers in D.C. that there is now a very good chance that she will be Barack Obama’s runningmate. If that happens, Pulido is back in play. But he has to win in November.
We have all become accustomed to seeing Pulido go through the motions every two years. This year will be different. He is actually worried and I am told he has gathered all of his hacks together to help him in his campaign. No need to list them here. You know who they are. And they are freaked out about the prospect of Martinez becoming our next Mayor.
I don’t think Martinez will get many votes from voters who are white, educated or who have a high income. Her only hope is to get the rabble to the polls in November. And that just might happen, particularly if Clinton is on the Obama ticket. For some reason Latino voters just love Hillary.
And the X-factor in all of this is my fellow blogger, Thomas Gordon (pictured above). He ran against Pulido two years ago and did quite well. Gordon got over 8,000 votes, without raising any money, while Pulido got just over 23,000 votes. Now what might happen if Martinez gets half of Pulido’s votes? That is certainly possible. In that event Pulido would get about 11,000 votes, Martinez would get about 10,000 votes and Gordon, who I believe can raise over $50,000, could get the rest, which would mean victory for him if that comes to 12,000 votes or more.
Gordon only need to improve his results by about fifty percent in order to win! I don’t expect local crazy Stanley Fiala to get any votes this time around. He endorsed Pulido in the last election, but stayed in the race and got just over 2,000 votes.
The question that Pulido’s backers must ponder is, can he change his ways? Can he actually lead? Can he actually get results? Personally, I don’t think so. I think he is the ultimate empty suit. He is easily the worst Mayor in the history of Santa Ana, if not Orange County. Why does anyone think he can suddenly shift gears? It just isn’t possible.
But Martinez is not much better. So can Gordon raise enough money to be viable? And can he do the job? I think he can raise money. He could visit with elected Republicans all over Orange County with a very simple message, “the Orange County seat is a complete disaster – and it is only a matter of time before our crime spreads elsewhere.” Already the Cities of Orange and San Juan Capistrano have had to pass gang injunctions. How much of the gang violence in our County came originally from Santa Ana? Let’s face it, Santa Ana is Orange County’s Tijuana. And it is Miguel Pulido’s fault.
So yes, I believe Gordon can raise money. Now can he do the job? I think so. He is very astute when it comes to understanding corruption. I don’t know anyone else who is better at reading through the City Council and School Board agendas and ferreting out the bad news. And I know that Gordon can work with those he does not agree with. He was an excellent city commissioner, on the EPIC/Gang Commission, before Clowncilman Sal Tinajero gave him the boot for political reasons.
Can we afford to elect Martinez? No. But should we once more put our faith in a man who has utterly failed for over 20 years? No. Simply put, we need to vote for Thomas Gordon. If that means Martinez wins, so be it. But at least we can take her out in two years. This might be our last, best chance to dump Pulido. We would be fools not to take that bet. If that means Pulido doesn’t get to be the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, too bad for him. He has enough money to live a much better life than the long-suffering people in Santa Ana.
UPDATE:
Michele Martinez emailed her official campaign announcement to supporters today:
As many of you know, I was elected to the Santa Ana City council in November of 2006, and in my role as a council member, I have earned a reputation for seeing that the concerns of my constituents are addressed no matter how large or how small. I have worked hard to earn my constituents trust and respect and I will continue to do so as Mayor. I pledge to create a new, positive city hall, a city where all people from all perspectives feel respected and get the services they deserve. We can make this a better city for all of us and bring hope and inspiration to our neighbors and neighborhoods that have been left behind.
I am asking you to move away from the past, and look to the future. I am urging you not to be afraid of disturbing the status quo. This job is not for one person; it’s a job for a community. I would like to leave you with the following quote from Margaret Mead “A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”. So let’s work together to improve this city we love.
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Art
find a better picture of Michele.
She has been to many public events im surprised you wouldnt have found one by now ?
SA watchdog
“Gordon dosent have a clue!!!”
# 43-If you plan on taking a cheap anonymous shot at me, at least learn how to spell.
# 45- I did not say that, some anonymous jokester did.
“If you were elected Mayor, what would you do about the Twist-Basler House?”
# 35-Red Vixen- I would have never let Mike Harrah cut that old gem into 4 hunks in the first place. I have fought to save Santa Ana’s historic treasures and will do so in the future.
# 28- When you let me know what that has to do with being the Mayor, I’ll fill you in. What’s Miguel or Michele’s views?
# 50-“Mr.Gordon please step down let other politicians play on the field.You can be our captin Cheerleader if you want”
No thanks. While I think Michele is a good person, with a good heart, who wants the best for this city, I disagree with her on many issues. We need to develop a solid business base, reduce the cost and hassle of doing business in Santa Ana, develop an educated work force and assure they have quality well paying jobs that will let them live, work and spend right here at home. Improve our infrastructure, public safety, and quality of life. Invest in our residents instead of our 8th floor.Actually reduce crime, not just say that we did. Santa Ana’s Mayor should lead the city not follow the developers. The Mayor should ensure that criminals like Judy Ware are prosecuted if they break any laws.
“# 28- When you let me know what that has to do with being the Mayor, I’ll fill you in. What’s Miguel or Michele’s views?”
Hello!!!!! This city is 75% hispanic!! There is a very sizable population in this city for whom the immigration issue is extremely important. They’ve seen how a Mayor (Costa Mesa) can affect their lives. If you don’t think that you need to speak to that and articulate your views, then I’d say Art has dramatically overestimated your shot at the Mayor’s office.
And last I checked, neither Miguel nor Michele write for this blog. But you do. And I was asking you.
What are the requirements to run for city mayor?
Why are stupid people, Michelle Martinez, being allowed to run?
We already live in a bad city, what will become of Santa Ana if Michelle gets to become Mayor? She claims to have sold drugs as a teenager, is still attending Cal State Fullerton, does not do her homework and has even failed a class. Even worse…she has no experience.
What kind of example is she trying to set for the community?
She is only 28 years old……with no education or experience?
Michele,Al Amezcua is not going to get you very far.
If she can run for Mayor, I can too. I have experience and I have a BA degree from Cal State Long Beach and I am curretnly enrolled to being at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, the best part is I’m only 24 years old.
To those of you hung up on the immigration issue, why don’t you ask Michele why she has not brought up the issue of making Santa Ana a Sanctuary City? Here we have an all-Latino City Clowncil and none of them have the huevos to do anything to help immigrants. Why aren’t any of you holding Michele and Pudrido accountable on the issue of immigration? They are elected and they are worthless on this issue. In fact Pudrido voted Yes on Prop. 187 and he appointed a Minuteman to the SA Library Board. He also has backed Rosie Avila for years even though she is anti-immigrant.
Michele is only 28!!!! OMG, i thought she was 41 years old.
Maybe Thomas should look into the sanctuary city idea, maybe make it a cornerstone of his campaign – that could drain some Latino votes from Michelle and Pudrido, ¿qué pienses?
Art,
Nice attempt at taking the focus off Thomas.
And it’s incredibly ironic for you to say that the commenters here are “hung up” on the immigration issue, after all the ranting you’ve done about it.
#54, why don’t you step up to the plate? If you are not willing to go up against Pulido I suggest you just stay out of this conversation. I urge you to go and pull nomination paper work at the Clerk of the Council, if you feel you’re a better candidate then Martinez. Martinez is the only person willing to go up against Pulido. You and others on this blog want to attack her for challenging him when no one has the audacity to do it in this community. You should be attacking all those who have not chosen to step up. We have many other Latino leaders who have had the opportunity to take Pulido out but chose to sit on the sidelines while our city is in disrepair.
Art, nice attempt at taking the focus off Thomas.
And it’s ironic that you accuse commenters here of being “hung up” on the issue of immigration when you’ve expended so much energy ranting about it. Like I said above, if you don’t think a city that is 75% hispanic cares deeply about this issue, a city that has seen what effect the Costa Mesa Mayor has had, then you are severely out of touch.
# 54,
Read the past posts adressing your concerns oroginally posted by Art Pedroza.
She had a challenging childhood and overcame the negatives.
The no education question is a lie.
She has as much political experience as any past Mayor and past/or present council members.
No one allows anyone to rum for elected office. You decide to run if you think you have the ability.
Cogratulation on all your achievements and youth.
Apply them positively.
So, did any of you go and pull nomination paper work at the Clerks office today for Mayor? Probably not…. The sad thing about this whole situation is that Martinez is the only person that has the courage to go up against this machine… It has taken over a decade for someone to finally challenge Pulido who has a chance of kicking his you know what… And you want to bad mouth her. If Martinez was not a credible candidate “PAPI PULIDO or any of you would be making such a big fuss over her. It would be great to see Pedroza step up to the plate since he is such an expert in Santa Ana Politics. I heard today that the following Latinos had interest in running for Mayor:
Claudia Alvarez
Sal Tinajero
Vince Sarmiento
Alfredo Amezcua
John Palicio
Rueben Martinez
John Raya
What happened????
#54, Please learn to spell before you become Mayor…
#62,
I believe that Al Amezcua played a role in convincing Martinez to run for Mayor.
The problem I have with Martinez is that she HAD a chance to stand against Pulido once she got elected, and she did for awhile but then she gave up and joined his cabal. Now she wants us to believe that she will be the anti-Pulido? When she has voted with him most if not all of the time?
Martinez had a chance to be a leader and she fumbled the ball. Even if she were to win I cannot see her being a great Mayor.
Pulido is a joke, that much is true. But Martinez is going to have a Hell of a time convincing voters that she is not likewise a joke.
As for the others you mentioned, they are too afraid of Pulido to take him on. But they may all vote for Martinez, secretly of course, since she will be easier to defeat two years hence.
That is actually a point worth pondering. How many people will write checks to Pulido and voice support for him, only to vote for Martinez when no one is looking?
Art P, What kind of Mayor do you want to represent you? Someone that convinces you that everything is o.k., or tells you what you want to hear? Or someone that is, genuine, responsive and passionate? I don’t see anyone else being as responsive as Martinez. I always hear her name in the community and its very positive. Martinez will not have a hell of time of convincing voters because they want PULIDO out of office. The writing is on the wall. We will make history with the First African American President and History with the first women Mayor of Santa Ana. I may not always agree with Martinez politics but I know she has the best interest in making Santa Ana a better place for all of us. I also respect her because she’s a straight shooter. Can you say that about any other politician beside Palicios? I am very proud of Michele Martinez. She said from day one she would run against Pulido and she kept her word. That sure says a lot about her… All these other scared Latinos just talk about running against him but never do.
#64,
Do yourself a big favor and check out Michele’s voting record. She has voted WITH Pulido almost one hundred percent of the time. How do you know she won’t vote just like him as our Mayor?
I wish that she had stuck to her guns, but after Measure D won she gave up the battle. Now she wants to be Mayor. Whatever. Good luck. When she gave up on change I gave up on her.
Does Pulido deserve to lose? Of course. But I can assure you that Thomas Gordon will fight City Hall. Martinez not only has not done so, she has become part of the same system that Pulido has been mired in for years.
If you truly want change then you need to vote for Thomas Gordon. Michele and Miguel are two sides of the same coin.
On November 4th we will see who is victorious… The end…
99% 0f items to that are voted at council meetings on are non issue business items.
It would be silly to vote against these items simply to contradict the Mayor.
Leading the city in another direction has no relationship with voting the same as the Mayor and the other council members on city business items.
The record shows dissimilar votes on some items that were not regular business items.
New direction can only occur with community support.
Michele is showing she can acquire this community support and so opportunity for all residents of the city.
The fact is that she has crediebility within the diverse communities of the city. If you do not have a sense of this then you are out of touch with the city.
Dr. Lomeli,
Remember when I warned all of you that Clowncilman David Benavides was a Pulido puppet? None of you listened. You even endorsed him and gave him a campaign donation.
Now do you recall how very quickly he lined up, like an ugly duckling, behind Mama Duck Pulido?
Some people never learn…I guess you could say that we get the politicians we deserve.
Art, don’t worry…this blog will create the change we need in Santa Ana. Not.
# 69,
All we can do is inform and advise. It is up to the people of this city and their “leaders” to affect change.
You may scoff at this blog if you like – but after 5 years of the Orange Juice more folks than ever know what is really going on in this city. We cover what the local newspapers can’t or won’t.
And in the past two weeks we have trounced Red County, according to Alexa.com. They are a statewide blog comprised of 13 separate GOP blogs. And our blog is now beating them regularly in readership.
So scoff at us to your heart’s desire. And be sure to keep reading our blog!
Art,
If you’re trouncing Red County, then why did you fall from 2nd to 7th in the BNN rankings, whereas Red County merely went from 1st to 2nd?
I like how you trumpet their rankings when they are flattering and ignore them when they’re not.
ie; having the BNN banner large and up top when you were 2nd and now it’s small and down lower when you’re 7th.
There is a lot of talk about “change”.
It seem to me that the “old folks”, the ones most likely to vote, do not like change.
Maybe the youth movement will come out in force this November, and break the “old folks” stranglehold on elections. Rummer has it 80 percent of voters will vote.
We will see.
#71,
Go to http://www.alexa.com and search for my blog and for redcounty.com.
Then look at their respective traffic rankings. I think even you will be amazed to see the results. Now keep in mind that the three month result is not the one you should be looking at. Look at the last week’s results.
BNN is a useful service but how they do their rankings is beyond me. Last week the Liberal OC blog was down the ENTIRE week and they still came in at #11. How is that even possible?
BNN also gives Red County points for referrals. But they mostly refer to themselves as they are made up of 13 separate GOP blogs under the heading of “Red County.”
Alexa’s ranking is based purely on web traffic, whereas BNN bases their rankings seemingly on incorrect data. For example, this blog broke the Carlos Bustamante story last week. We were referenced in the LA Times and the OC Register. We clearly had a fantastic week – and according to Alexa we beat Red County in total web traffic. But Red County was rated higher by BNN. Go figure.
In the end, who cares? I am happy as long as we maintain our readership. And that is happening now. Our current numbers are double what they were two months ago.
All of that adds up to very bad news for the Pulido cabal.
Art,
It’s not that anyone really cares that much…that’s the part you don’t understand. But when you first started posting BNN rankings, others were pointing out their faulty methodology and you basically sat here and accused people of not understanding, or of having sour grapes, and you essentially supported BNN’s methodology.
So your own inconsistency and the opportunism of your opinions on such things is the part that astounds.
I like how you trumpet their rankings when they are flattering and ignore them when they’re not…
ie; having the BNN banner large and up top when you were 2nd and now it’s small and down lower when you’re 7th.
Umm… we’re human? We like to boast when we’re doing well?
Well pardon me Vern, but a little consistency (not to mention humility) goes a long way toward establishing credibility.
#75,
You do know that Red County totally removed the BNN link after we were ranked first a couple of times?
I like the BNN site – I use it a lot. But obviously we can all deduce that there is a problem when they rank a site #11 even as that site is down that week with technical problems.
The bottom line is that as per Alexa.com we are currently trouncing the biggest Republican blog in the state – and I think that is worthy of noting.
I realize you are no fan of mine or this blog, but even my critics have to admit that the Orange Juice has become a significant force in Orange County politics. Today we are once again headed for over 800 hits! That is, as I previously noted, bad news for Pulido.
BTW, I also edit 12 topix.com city pages, where I cross-post our stories. Topix is a news feed for dozens of HOA blogs in Orange County.
In all, we have had over 12,000 unique visitors to our blog. Deny and obfuscate all you want – but keep on reading the Orange Juice and be sure to tell your friends and family about our blog.
So you’re ready to admit that your initial, unequivocal advocacy of the BNN rankings was a mistake?
In addition, I’ll explain to you why you’re so befuddled about The Liberal OC’s ranking…it’s because that ranking has nothing to do with real-world “influence”…it’s all about numbers, which doesn’t necessarily mean “influential”.
#79 –
I won’t speak for Art, but it was my idea to use BNN as a barometer. I was mistaken to do so because as Art pointed out, there is something seriously wrong with a ranking system that puts an offline website at #11. However, we were far from unequivocal about it.
‘The Centrist OC’ was #11 last week… and at the moment it only consists of reprints of my own articles! What does that mean exactly? Who knows?
I still advocate BNN as a source of ratings, but not the source anymore, which is why we moved the ratings down the sidebar. Lesson learned. Moving on.
SMS
SMS,
Art was touting, and displaying, and defending, the BNN rankings WAYYYYY before you came on board. All you have to do is go back and read the archives.
#82,
OK – that’s enough. You have made your tired point. I will delete any further references to BNN on this post. But good job changing the subject from the point of this post, which is that Pulido is a horrible Mayor. My guess is you can’t defend him so you tried to change the topic instead…how mad will you be when the DPOC doesn’t endorse him?
i dont care how OLD, michelle is.
she is DIFFERENT than someone who has become fat and happy in the same position for years.
get your head out of your ass people! this is a different time.
Imagine another 4 years of Pulido, WHAT do you possibly expect if he has the same deal?…just another day for him, get your ass out of the sand, i mean potholes.
we need fresh life with new ideas that at least come from the community, not the same old BS that we are used to.
i just went to a meeting with Irvine and They are wanting to do more- or at least getting people who want to.
THINK BIG MORONS not small
I have to question the integrity and race of the author of this passage. Miguel Pulido might have graduated college, might have owned a muffler shop, but he is still the worst mayor I’ll ever have the honor is living under. If you for a slight second think Miguel is educated, you’re a moron yourself. I’ve helped him a few dozen times at my legal marajuana clinic and he is honestly a laughing stock. No doubt he is a miniature version of the screw heads at DC but he is the single-hand slayer of Santa Ana. Crime, illegals, etc. you name it. We got it. I live next to a coyote den where families change out every week and the cops tell me to knock it off when I call on them. As a citizens, one who is educated, one who took my time and knows of our culture history and values, something someone born in another country can’t just pick up. Miguel is a Mexican. Not an American. And his time in office expresses that.
This is from the founding editor, who hasn’t owned the blog in a decade. As to his integrity and race, I can personally attest to his race. And I agree with your assessment of former Mayor “La Farga,” whose consultant company’s name (meaning “The Forge” literally invoked a tool one uses to heat things up until they become malleable to one’s will. Great job of naming there!
That he successfully stood up to Pulido is one reason that I’m for Sarmiento.