SAUSD Bully: Police Candidate Cecilia Aguinaga’s Lies & Sleazy Tactics

By
Zorro
– October 21, 2019Posted in: "The OC", Cecilia Iglesias, David Benavides, Education, Fresh Juice, Santa Ana, SAUSD

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Santa Ana, October 2019 – “Police Union supports School Board Candidate Cecilia Aguinaga, Sends Campaign Literature Full of Lies and Sleazy Tactics as Election Nears.”

This has certainly been a contentious school board election in Santa Ana. SAUSD is the sixth biggest district in the California and has a monstrous budget. Up until now, interactions between the candidates has been mostly respectful, but that has begun to change.

The latest in a slew of underhanded jabs comes from candidate Cecilia Aguinaga, who’s received over $60,000 of help from the Police Officer’s Association Independent Expenditure Fund called ‘Community Leaders United.’  The fund officially documented as ‘Community Leaders United, primarily formed to Support Cecelia Aguinaga for School Board 2019, major funding by Santa Ana Police Officers IE’ has spent just under 60K in web ads and mailers in support of Aguinaga.

click for full image

The latest POA flier for Aguinaga photoshopped all of the other candidate’s faces to look foolish or demonic. The piece is intended to be a comparison between Cecilia and her opponents but is done in a way that demonstrates bullying and immaturity. It is full of lies and misrepresentations.

Torres

The sole teacher in the race, Carolyn Torres, is also the primary target of this ad.  Completely dismissed is Carolyn’s experience in education. Torres has over 15 years of working in the field of education and is a current seventh grade teacher. Her Master’s Thesis is about Santa Ana.  The flyer also calls Carolyn a supporter of ‘radical sex ed curriculum.’  This is also untrue – her position on the CA Sex Ed curriculum is practical and focuses on age appropriate material, students making healthy decisions with their bodies, affirming of LBGTQ students, and working with parents to find solutions to their concerns.

Cecilia also falsely accuses Torres of being supported by ‘union bosses.’  That’s another lie – the candidate who’s gotten the most money from labor unions is actually David Benavides, who’s received thousands of dollars from the Plumber’s Union and Laborers. This is a nefariously ironic accusation considering the pro-Cecilia Aguinaga mailer is funded by the Police Officer’s Association, the biggest union bosses in Santa Ana.  In actuality, Torres has not received any big contributions – ALL of her campaign donations have come from educators and parents.

Benavides

The flyer accuses David Benavides of funding his campaign with developer money. It’s actually unclear where exactly David gets his funding from. The money for his campaign was moved over from a PAC originally intended for a potential mayoral run in 2020. This PAC money was moved from another PAC of funds likely left over from his days on the city council. This was exposed in an article written by Gabriel San Roman earlier this month. Since then all of David’s prior filings have been erased from the OC registrar website. Unless the records surface, we will never know where he received the original nine thousand dollars he reported to upstart his campaign.  

We do know that Benavides loves development, given his support of the 2525 Main St. development in Park Santiago. He also gladly admitted he would accept money from anyone, including developers, during the last candidate forum. The flyer did get one other thing right about Benavides – his top priority appears to be running for office. David has indeed run for numerous positions since he moved to Santa Ana from East LA.

Contreras

Next, Aguinaga claims that Gisela Contreras is sponsored by wealthy donors. That’s not true either – as of 9/21/19 Contreras had not received a single reportable donation. She has a fundraiser scheduled for Oct. 28 th.  Gisela has not enjoyed the funding and popular support that her conservative mentor, Ceci Iglesias, had when she ran for office.

It’s hard to say exactly how much support Contreras has. Her Facebook page is mostly filled with statements and contains no pictures of her or her supporters canvassing Santa Ana neighborhoods or talking to voters.  

Well then, let’s take a look at Cecilia Aguinaga herself. Cecilia, whose legal name is Xochitl, is a three-time loser in school board elections. Xochitl ‘Cecilia’ Aguinaga has run for school board 3 times, losing each time by a wide margin. As of now she has not filed a legally required expenditure report.

Looking real genuine eh? Click for full image.

She began her stint at Roman Realtors early this year and has no known experience in public education. Her Facebook page has a paltry 85 likes and very little engagement despite the tens of thousands of dollars the POA has poured into supporting her.  Torres’ page is the most popular with 640+ likes, David’s closely follows second with 620+ likes, and Gisela’s page has a little over 300. What’s noteworthy here is that Benavides’ page has been up for years, since he was on city council a few years ago.

Cecilia Aguinaga is also her own biggest Facebook follower. She has shared some of her own posts over 50 times. Her website in inactive and pictures of her canvassing also appear staged. 

It disheartens me that a school board candidate would resort to such petty accusations and blatant dishonesty. The altered photos of the other candidates are appalling and disgraceful. If someone approves of such dishonesty on their behalf it frightens me to think what behavior they would display if elected. Given the evidence I would not hire Aguinaga as a realtor much less support her in any election. No matter which of the other three candidates you support its clear that CECILIA AGUINAGA IS THE WORST POSSIBLE CANDIDATE FOR SAUSD STUDENTS.

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About Zorro

Yes, Zorro is gay. Zorro is gay in San Francisco, black in South Africa, an Asian in Europe, a Chicano in San Ysidro, an anarchist in Spain, a Palestinian in Israel, a Mayan Indian in the streets of San Cristobal, a Jew in Germany, a Gypsy in Poland, a Mohawk in Quebec, a pacifist in Bosnia, a single woman on the Metro at 10pm, a peasant without land, a gang member in Santa Ana, an unemployed worker, an unhappy student and, of course, a good government advocate in Anaheim. Zorro is all the exploited, marginalized, oppressed minorities resisting and saying `Enough'. He or she is every minority who is now beginning to speak and every majority that must shut up and listen. He or she is every untolerated group searching for a way to speak. Everything that makes power and the good consciences of those in power uncomfortable -- this is Zorro.