Steven Chavez Lodge, a former dirty Santa Ana cop, is the grandest farce of Anaheim's first go at district elections. The Republican is carpetbagging his way to city council, asking residents to really believe he's a full-timer at the Azul apartments in West Anaheim (Betcha he never had a potato taco from El Patio in his life!). But the true hilarity of Lodge's council bid comes from his supporters, from an anti-immigrant campaign consultant to a Trump lover!
Sure, Lodge's campaign coffers are awash with cash from the minions of Dark Lord and former Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, including his own Pringle & Associates firm. There's max contributions from Orange County Business Council, Support Our Anaheim Resort (SOAR) Area, and Anaheim Chamber of Commerce PACs. No surprise there! Lodge also got chip-ins from Todd Priest, Vice President for Pringle & Associates, the Pringle-tied Faubel Public Affairs, and GardenWalk hotelier (and Pringle & Associates client) Bill O'Connell.
But among Lodge's more amusing supporters is Teresa Hernandez, a Lincoln Club Latina from Newport Beach who infamously professed her love for Donald Trump to the Orange County Register earlier this year. Hernandez, who owns the Cielito Lindo Mexican Restaurant in South El Monte, lauded Trump saying, “I want someone who is going to turn the tables over in Washington,” despite finding him “cringe-worthy” when he opened his mouth.
Teresa's famous husband, Jose Hernandez of Mariachi Sol de Mexico tried to handle the damage control over his wife's statements spinning them away in Spanish media despite Teresa telling the Register's Martin Wisckol that she was “willing to overlook all of The Donald's flaws.” With Lodge, there's no room for dispute, with Teresa chipping in $250 for the cause. Maybe she's willing to overlook all his flaws, too, including enough excessive force lawsuits to shake a baton at!
Lodge's supporters are chock-full of other unsavory people. Since he's not really from West Anaheim, Lodge tapped Amanda Edinger to be a campaign consultant. The West Anaheim Neighborhood Development Council (WAND) member collected $1,500 for her services, another hilarious move for Lodge, the Mexi self-hater. Who's Edinger? She voiced opposition to single-member districts when serving on the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) group formed to study the issue. But better yet, while on CAC, the Save Anaheim blog exposed her anti-immigrant rantings on Facebook with an endless supply of screenshots, showing support for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and for revoking birthright citizenship for those pesky anchor babies!
While we're at it, what gives, Northgate Gonzalez? The Anaheim-born Mexican grocery giant (and employer of the pops of our Mex-in-Chief) gave Lodge $1,000 back in June! They're amigos with Mayor Tom Tait and should know better!
Lodge, of course, ran for city council and lost in 2012 from the comforts of Anaheim Hills, moved to Murrieta afterward and is now dating Coto de Caza's Vicki Gunvalson of The Real Housewives of Orange County fame. West Anaheim hasn't elected a resident to city council since the late Frank Feldhaus won a seat in 1998. If Lodge bests his opponents, that will still be true in spirit!.
Back to Lodge, there's an old saying in Spanish: Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres. Have somebody translate it for ya!
Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!