And Sarmiento Responds on Pay Raise Donation

County Board of Supervisor Vince Sarmiento responded to Santa Ana Council member Davd Penaloza’s open letter regarding the nearly $50,000 pay increase Sarmiento voted for, then donated to charity.

Here’s the letter:

 

 

Sarmiento offers to advise the council member on consructive efforts, but fails to note the City Council approved a special fund of $100,000 for families of the city’s immigrant community last week.

Sarmiento fails to address questions of:

• Will he report the charitable donation on his tax returns which lower the federal and state tax burden he might pay.
• That this donation to help families in need could have come from Sarmiento’s bak account while voting against a taxpayer funded increase that means he earns more as supervisor than Govenor Newsom.
• That, with his vote to approve the special fund for immigrant families, Penaloza has helped immigrant families facing challenegs as a result of ICE activity in Santa Ana; and Penaloza …and other members of the Santa Ana city council…have a record of helping the city’s immigrant community.

While it looks like Don Wagner and Janet Nguyen will personally enjoy the extra dough in their paychecks, if Sarmiento and Chaffee had voted “no” the measure would have died and taxpayers — those really on the hook for the raise — wouldn’t be the ones paying for the “generosity” of two Democratic supervisors.

Peanloza was right to have questioned the donation.  And Sarmiento could factor in the difference of the charitable contribution on his taxes for the donation, double it out of his personal wealth, to show his charity is in fact real charity.