Supervisorial candidate Vince Sarmiento, the mayor of Santa Ana, crossed a legal line with a digital campaign ad featuring a photo of himself with Santa Ana Police Chief Dave Valentin that implied the chief’s endorsement for his candidacy.
The Santa Ana municipal code explicitly prohibits use of uniformed city employees in political campaign ads. In late June, City Manager Kristine Ridge sent an e-mail to Mayor Sarmiento and all the council members to remind them of this prohibition.
The digital ad features a photo of Sarmiento standing with Chief Valentin. According to sources, it was cropped from a photo of them at a city event last year.
“I have worked closely with Santa Ana Chief of Police Valentin to reduce 911 emergency response times, get our officers more special training, develop youth & community partnerships, decrease officer involved shooting, and get guns off the streets.”
Sarmiento’s use of Valentin image and implying his endorsement comes on the heels of an explicit warning from the city manager and the city attorney to all city employees to avoid exactly this use of uniformed city employees.
On June 23, City Manager Kristine Ridge and City Manager Sonia Carvalho sent a long e-mail to every city employee with the subject line “City of Santa Ana General Municipal Election November 2022, Reminder on Legal Restrictions on Campaign-Related Activities.”
The memo goes on to state:
“Employees who wear a City provided uniform required by their employment may not participate in any political activity while in uniform. This may also present a problem when an employee takes pictures while in uniform with elected officials. If an elected office then uses that picture in a campaign-related manner the employee should contact the official and demand that they cease using that photo.
It is unknown whether or not Valentin has endorsed Sarmiento for supervisor.
OC Independent e-mailed the chief this morning to ask whether Sarmiento’s campaign used the photo without his consent, and whether or not he has asked the mayor to withdraw the ad, per the requirements of the city code. City PIO Paul Eakins and SAPD PIO Sgt. Maria Lopez were copied on the e-mail request.
We have received no response from either Chief Valentin, Eakins or Sgt. Lopez.
On October 31, Santa Ana mayoral candidate Valerie Amezcua e-mailed Ridge about the ad.
“As a community member this is quite disturbing to me because the Chief is an employee , your employee. I would like to ask if he recvd permission to be a part of this advertisement?” wrote Amezcua.
“I have nothing but respect for Chief Valentin and we all know it’s the season of silly and sometimes illegal political behavior, however this picture is unacceptable. The Mayor is misleading the voters and I would like to believe that Chief Valentin and you as the City Manager do not approve of this type of activity,” wrote Amezcua.
Ridge responded to her e-mail last night that the matter has been “addressed.”
“Thank you Ms. Amezcua for the email. Our employees are aware of our policy on the prohibition of engaging in political activities while on duty. The matter has been addressed,” wrote Ridge.
When contacted by OC Independent, Amezcua said “The city manager has a responsibility to address this publicly.”
As the illegal ad provoked complaints, the Sarmiento campaign eventually swapped it out for another digital ad that attempted to portray Sarmiento of tough-on-crime.
While the Sarmiento campaign deleted the implied endorsement from Valentin, it is clear from the photo that the police officers are members of the Santa Ana Police Department -which is still a violation of the city municipal code. Furthermore, state law also prohibits the use of images of public safety officers and vehicles in which the department can be identified.
These violations of city and state laws by the Sarmiento campaign come in the wake of an announcement by the state Fair Political Practices Commission that it is investigating allegations that Sarmiento has violated state financial disclosure rules by not listing income from his wife on his annual disclosure forms.
