Santa Ana Council member Carlos Bustamante and Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez are expected to appear in separate Superior Court rooms today. (Correction: Avarez will not be appearing in court. The hearing was yesterday and she did not appear.) Councilman Carlos Bustamante faces the continuation of his arraignment on sexual assault and false imprisonment charges in criminal court. Alvarez has joined the the suit by city commissioner Max Madrid to require the Santa Ana City Clerk to provide Alvarez with nomination paperwork to seek another term on the City Council.
UPDATE: Bustamante pled not guilty to all charges at his arraignment this morning.
Council member Carlos Bustamante was arrested on July 2nd in the City Hall Parking Garage just prior to a city council meeting. His arraignment on 12 felony charges for assaults against severn women employees of the OC Public Works department where he was a senior executive manager was continued to today.
Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez on Tuesday joined a lawsuit filed by her appointed Parks and Recreation Commissioner, Max Madrid, challenging the determination by City Clerk Maria Huizar that Alvarez is ineligible to run for a fourth consecutive term on the City Council. Santa Ana voters approved a revision to the City Charter in 2008 that extended existing terms from two to three four-year terms. After the judge in the case questioned whether Madrid had standing to challenge the determination, since he was not the person harmed, Alvarez joined the suit on Tuesday.
It was suspected that Madrid was merely the from person for Alvarez to hide her involvement in a suit against the city. By joining the suit, Alvarez has revealed that those suspicions were likely true.
What time are the hearings?
Claudia Alvarez’s hearing was yesterday (unless maybe it was heard then and continued to today), and Carlos Butamante pled “not guilty” this morning and now has an August 30 court date.
The Alvarez was indeed yesterday, Tuesday, we were in the court room with 2 SA city attorneys observing.
Most of the court papers are now viewable at the court house, including the super-secret 8 thousand dollar plus opinion the city would not release to the public who paid for it.
Only the papers filed on the hearing date are not yet available.
My mistake, the super-secret opinion is still locked away in the judge’s office.