Dr. Jose Moreno
Anaheim City School District board members Dr. Jose F. Moreno and James Vanderbilt, both Latinos, are among the many candidates that are running for the Anaheim City Council in this November’s General Election. Dr. Moreno was one of those who who filed a lawsuit charging that the city’s current at-large voting method puts minority voters and candidates at a disadvantage, according to the O.C. Register. But Dr. Moreno could face an uphill battle as Anaheim resident Jose “Joe” Moreno, an Orange County Health Care Technician, has also filed to run for the City Council. The two Morenos could not be more apart on the issues. Dr. Moreno is a liberal who recently joined the Democratic Party after years of being a Decline to State voter. The other Moreno is a Republican who was his party’s nominee for the 69th Assembly District in 2012, against former Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly. He is also a contributor to our New Anaheim Blog’s Facebook page. Other Anaheim City Council candidates who will be on the ballot in November include incumbent City Council Members Gail Eastman and Kris Murray; attorney Doug Pettibone (who is running with Vanderbilt as part of Mayor Tom Tait’s City Council slate); Donna Acevedo, a mom who became an activist after her son was shot and killed by a member of the Anaheim Police Department; and retired Anaheim police officer Jerry O’Keefe. Candidates for Anaheim mayor include the incumbent, Tait, plus former Anaheim City Council Member Lorri Galloway, current Council Member Lucille Kring and activist Denis Fitzgerald. Tait and Kring are Republicans. Galloway is a liberal Democrat. Fitzgerald is a Council gadfly who has made a habit of being uncouth at City Council meetings. He has perturbed Council Members Murray and Eastman by accusing them of being controlled by Disney, according to the O.C. Register. Robert “Bob” Tiscareno pulled papers for council but didn’t file, according to the Voice of OC, which also reported that Kring’s candidacy is still pending qualification. That is the case for Council candidate Moreno as well. There are only two Anaheim City Council seats open in November. The presence of up to four Latino candidates on the ballot favors the incumbents, Eastman and Murray. But they damaged themselves by voting to give away millions of dollars to a hotel developer to fund the construction of two hotels at the failing Anaheim GardenWalk shopping center. Eastman and Murray also oppose by-district City Council elections, a system that supporters say will guarantee adequate representation for the city’s Latino majority. Eastman and Murray, as well as Kring, are associates of former Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, who has mastered the art of taking millions of taxpayer dollars as a consultant on various public works and transportation projects.