Photo by Gustavo ArellanoNativo Lopez refuses interview requests from Orange County Register reporters because, he says, the paper has smeared him. But the Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) trustee—who is the focus of a furious recall campaign that will reach its apogee on Feb. 4—ought to buy a lifetime subscription to the paper. It's the least Lopez can do to thank the Register for ignoring his history of receiving school board contributions from special interests who have nothing to do with educating Santa Ana's kids.
Consider the paper's generous Jan. 13 story purporting to tell readers how Lopez assembled a $90,368.38 war chest. Santa Ana beat writer Courtney Perkes did nothing more than simply ask contributors why they donated money to Lopez. Most responses echoed that of Orange County Labor Council president Rick Eiden, whose organization ponied up $1,000.
“It's very admirable, the type of work [Lopez] does and the leadership he's shown within the Latino community,” Eiden said. “He does what's in the best interest of the kids.”
Three paragraphs later, Perkes asserted that companies “that donated to Lopez said they did so out of respect for his work, not in hopes of gaining more business.” As evidence, she quoted Meg Waters, head of Lake Forest-based public-relations firm Waters N Faubel, which donated $1,000 to Lopez. “He's someone I always want to be able to know,” Waters gushed. “Whether I'm on his side or not is going to depend on the issue. I'm certainly happy we contributed to his campaign.”
In fact, Eiden and Waters have another reason to support Lopez: all three were behind the liquor-license campaign of Gigante, the Mexico-based supermarket chain looking to build its first Anaheim store.
Lopez and Waters' relationship goes back at least to 2001. That year, Lopez and the rest of the school board voted to pay Waters N Faubel $69,320 for helping SAUSD in its effort to force Tustin to hand over part of the former Tustin Marine Base—an effort still unresolved. Perkes said only that Waters N Faubel “did work in the past for the [school] district's law firm.”
More recently, on Feb. 26, 2002, Lopez seconded a motion made by another Santa Ana school board member to appoint Waters N Faubel as a consultant for “community outreach/public communications consultant services.” Minutes from the July 23, 2002, board meeting shed no light on what those services included but reveal that the six-month contract paid $25,000. During that meeting, Lopez also seconded a motion to reward Waters N Faubel with a $4,400 bonus.
More important, Perkes ignored the questionable timing of Waters N Faubel's donations to Lopez. According to Lopez's most recent political contributions statement, the firm made its $1,000 donation on Aug. 16, 2002. Then and now, Waters N Faubel provided PR for Gigante. The same day the firm cut its check to Lopez, Lopez told a press conference that Anaheim's denial of a liquor license to Gigante was tantamount to “market ethnic cleansing.”
Eiden was also involved in the Gigante campaign. Perkes' report failed to mention that Eiden doubles as an organizer for Buena Park-based United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 324, which chipped in an additional $3,500 for Lopez. That money came in November 2002, a couple of months after Gigante—with whom UFCW enjoys an exclusive contract—finally won its Anaheim liquor license. Lopez appeared with Eiden at press conferences, including the one at which he used the phrase “ethnic cleansing,” sponsored by the multinational.
So did Eiden and Waters contribute money to Lopez because Lopez “does what's in the best interest of the kids” or because Lopez has consistently shilled for Eiden and Waters? That's one question Perkes apparently did not ask.
