The race for Ward 3 on the Santa Ana City Council, which incumbent Councilman Carlos “Water Bra” Bustamante represents, just got weirder as one of Bustamante’s challengers, Steve Rocco, was arrested cited for stealing a bottle of ketcup at Chapman University.
Our first impulse might be to scoff at this, but the O.C. Register revealed that Rocco may have had a nefarious reason for being at Chapman. “Fred Smoller, an associate professor of political science at Chapman, said Rocco might have been looking for him. Smoller and another professor made a film, debuting Wednesday in a showing to the faculty, about Rocco’s election and term on the school board.”
Rocco was elected to the Orange Unified School District’s board of education after he ran against a Democrat who used the ballot designation of “park ranger.” Many Republicans in Orange chose to vote for Rocco, as there was no one else to vote for and they did not want to vote for the Democratic park ranger. The OUSD Trustees eventually gerrymandered Rocco out of his seat in order to get rid of him.
But if Rocco is stalking Smoller, that is a cause for concern. I have always thought that Rocco needs help. It is obvious he isn’t playing with a full deck of cards as the theft of th ketchup bottle illustrates. In fact he got arrested some years ago for stealing a sausage from a local supermarket, if memory serves correct.
Rocco clearly needs some counseling. I hope he gets some help before he ends up hurting someone. Mental illness is no laughing matter. It can have grave repercussions.
I wonder if that park ranger’s hispanic surname hurt him in Orange?
I’ll bet that ketchup was heading for Smollers stuffed white shirt.
Rocco – freedom fighter, one ketchup stain at a time.
You know he IS a hero to some.
Rocco has a fascination with something called “The Partnership”, a fictitious organization that he claims has been harassing him since being caught stealing sausages and a pack of batteries from an Albertsons in the 80’s.
Anon, He isnt a hero to anyone. If anything he represents the tangible problem of the uninformed and apathetic voter. Watch Dr. Smoller’s film and you will see the many problems he has created for the Orange school district. He is a person with apparent mental problems and not a person that can help the city. He made constant threats and publicly announced issues that were meant to never be discussed in public. Hence the censure that was presented to him afterwards and the ensuing lawsuit against the city, which was declared without merit by a judge and ended up costing Orange hundreds of thousands of dollars. He even disagreed on voting for the minutes and agenda for every meeting he attended, something that is inherently illogical to do.
He is now running in Santa Ana for Ward 5. If voters do not become informed then our city will only suffer and ruin our credibility to run our local government competently.
correction, Rocco is running in Ward 3
“I wonder if that park ranger’s hispanic surname hurt him in Orange?”
anonyms,
I don’t know about that. But do you suppose that a white surname would hurt a candidate in Santa Ana?
Actually, Rocco was cited, not arrested.
Matt/Jubal,
My bad. Thanks for correcting the record.
With that nutcase, it’s not likely that he was arrested for stealing the ketchup. One can only wonder what the real story is.
SMS
This story made http://detentionslip.org! Check it out for all the crazy headlines from our schools.
Hugh, I think it might. Point taken. It doesn’t make either right.
We shouldn’t even be wasting our valuable time and energy on a wacko like Rocco……he’s nothing but an attention whore.
I don’t think anyone will take Rocco seriously.
Given the choices in that ward, Rocco might still be the one person who will do the least damage to the city.
anonymous @ 12:38
I really hope you are kidding.
That is my Ward we do not want Rocco or Busty
Art for Ward 3.
I really wish he’d move to Huntington Beach. He’d be right at home. If he can’t even get arrested, he’d be an honest Mayor for a change.