No, Anaheim District 5 Voters, Ken Batiste is NOT the DPOC/CDP Endorsed City Council Candidate

With a week to go before election day, voters have collected enough mailers and door hangers to re-paper their living rooms or have plenty of kindling for a fire.  TheLiberalOC received a few tips from sources in both parties that Ken Batiste, a Democrat running for city council in Anaheim 5, was provided with — and used — a small number of door hangers identifying him as the endorsed candidate for city council by the DPOC and the California Democratic Party.

He’s not.

That race is going to be tough because there’s another strong Democrat in the race to defeat Republican incumbent Steve Faessel, and that is Sabrina Quezada.  She actually scored more votes in the DPOC endorsement meeting that Batiste and neither candidate earned the required 60 percent for party endorsement.

Party endorsement is something earned.  The Party’s brand is important to protect.  Why Batiste felt he could use these to score some voters makes me shake my head.  Does he knock over lawn signs of his opponents too?

I confirmed the receipt of the doorhangers after a call with Cynthia Aguirre who is seeking to replace Jeff LeTourneau as North Vice Chair.  Aguirre has received the party’s endorsement for LaHabra School Board and had access to the literature and gave some to Batiste explaining that she didn’t know she couldn’t.  And she did ask for them back and received them.  Aguirre says he believes Batiste used less than 60.

Before I go further, Aguirre knows she made a mistake here.  She was honest about it and took responsibility for it.  And that is an attribute that we as Democrats have to admire and I appreciate her honesty.  I admire her for that. But she should also know better and told her so.

When this race came up at the endorsement meeting, I cast my endorsement ballot for Quezada because she’s smart, passionate and dynamic — her energy was obvious over Zoom.  And apparently, she’s more ethical that Batiste who is aware his volunteers are adding his candidate literature to food boxes being provided to those who need it in Anaheim 5; something Batiste pretended not to know about and then admit to when he called me seeking my vote.

Two Democrats in a three horse race against an incumbent isn’t easy.  But if you’re a Democrat who wants city council representation in Anaheim that’s honest and ethical the choice is clear — it’s Sabrina Quezada.

Here’s what she offered on Ballotpedia:

My name is Sabrina Quezada and I am running for Anaheim City Council District 5 to be a voice for the community I have lived in for all my life. Let me tell you my story, as this will reveal why I am the best candidate. I grew up in Anaheim. I, like many other residents of District #5, I am the child of an immigrant working class family. At the age of 3 I lost my father to deportation, which caused a huge disruption in my family. I was raised by a single mother. And at a young age I understood the pitfalls associated with being a single mother. Because of this, I took refuge in education and saw it as an opportunity to improve the quality of my life, as I saw the struggles my mother and I faced, and the inequities we suffered. I attended my K-12 education in Anaheim. I am an alum of Katella High School, Fullerton College, and Santa Ana College. At 19 I found myself expecting to become a mother and a single mother at that. I remained in school, graduated with a 4.0 during my pregnancy and transferred to UC Berkeley. At Berkeley, I would sometimes have to take my son to class with me and eventually graduated with a BS in Environmental Science. I am currently in my last year of my masters program in Education at USC, where I student-teach for high school science students. I am not a politician, I am a product of my community, seeking to make it a better place to live and work.