On Wednesday evening the Santa Ana City Council voted 4-0 to place a Charter Amendment on the ballot to limit the term of Mayor to four two-year terms. Councilman David Benavides chaired the meeting because Mayor Miguel Pulido, Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez, and Councilman Carlos Bustamante failed to make it to the Special Meeting of the City Council to consider the recommendations from an ad hoc committee.
Council members Benavides, Martinez, and Tinajero were all first elected to the Council in 2006, and Councilman Sarmiento was appointed in 2006 to fill the vacancy of current Assemblyman Jose Solorio. Councilwoman Martinez proposed Mayoral term limits in her first term and was rebuffed by her colleagues. The decision yesterday may usher in a new day, demonstrating a weakness in Mayor Miguel Pulido’s grip on power and control over the City.
Councilman Tinajero put it this way:
“We said there was going to be a new day in Santa Ana,” he said. “Here we are, in a day where we’re making history. There was a tremendous amount of pressure, and you all know what I’m talking about, a tremendous amount of people pushing us to not go forward with this.”
Councilman Benavides said; “This is in the best interest for the community and of the city.”
Both Tinajero and Benavides are challenging Mayor Pulido for the office of Mayor this year.
Council members Martinez and Tinajero explained that the proposal is not a slam dunk for voter approval. Both claimed that they had received significant pressure from supporters of Mayor Pulido to abandon the mayoral term limit effort. They expect that those same forces will vigorously oppose its passage.
“We said there was going to be a new day in Santa Ana,” Tinajero said. “Here we are, in a day where we’re making history. There was a tremendous amount of pressure, and you all know what I’m talking about, a tremendous amount of people pushing us to not go forward with this. … The campaign against this is going to be brutal.”
If the measure is passed by voters in November, Mayor Pulido would be eligible to serve for an additional three terms, if he is reelected in November. He would still be eligible to serve up to an additional three consecutive four years terms as a Council member before having to take an eight year break from Council service due to existing limits.
This is a start, but he will be still be around for a very long time….my grandchildren will be grown up & wondering why he is still in office!!
The voters in Santa Ana have no clue. The will re-elect people over and over. Heck they would even elect a sex offender if the were an incumbent……….
Term Limits are the only way to get rid of lifetime politicians in Santa Ana. The voters of Santa Ana have a pattern of re-electing incumbents over and over. Heck, they would even re-elect an incumbent sex offender.
The voter’s get to vote on the term limit option’s because?
Because it is about giving up the “RIGHT TO VOTE”.
The office of mayor in Santa Ana is elected at large by all the voters of the city. There are some who think taking away voting rights is the way to go.
How far do you want to go in taking away voting rights? A couple hundred years ago only white men who owned property were allowed to vote.
Everytime you ask someone if they are for term limits the response is almost always yes.
Everytime there is an election you ask someone if they should throw the bums out the response is almost always yes.
Everytime you ask someone if your bum should go the response is almost always no. My guy is the only one that is ok.
While term limits don’t work exactly like we would want them to, at least every once in a while we get to vote with no incumbents running.
Unfortunately we have no criteria what so ever in allowing voters to register. The sad thing is all the pets out there that are registered to vote are probably smarter than 1/3 of the actual registered voters.
I like term limits to get rid of those who use public service to enrich themselves. Most do not serve the public interest.
While I am more on the conservative side of things politically, I am happy to see all elected officials termed out no matter what their political affiliation after 2 terms.
These self-serving councilmembers had an opportunity many years ago to pass a term-limit proposal for mayor, but instead promoted extending the councilmembes term from two to three terms.
The only reason they now support term limits for mayor is they want to run for mayor themselves. What hypocrites? Typical libeal Democrats.