Most Americans expect that politicians lie to them. That’s not a healthy development for our body politic, but an understandable one.
And one reason Americans have become so deeply cynical about politics and government is the breathtaking dishonesty of elected officials like La Habra Mayor Jose Medrano – whose record over the last four years brings to mind the old joke: “How do you know when a politician is lying? His lips are moving.”
As was previously reported by OC Independent, La Habra Councilmembers James Gomez, Daren Nigsarian, and Jose Medrano each sent mail during their 2022 election promising voters some version of “no new taxes”. Medrano went a step further, with his mail pieces saying he would be “cutting taxes”.
Gomez, Nigsarian, and Medrano each broke their 2022 campaign promise by voting for a sales tax increase in 2024.
Having recently twisted himself into a pretzel on the tax issue, one might think Medrano would be silent about taxes while seeking re-election in 2026. However, in an act of remarkable hutzpah, Medrano is once again sending mail to La Habra voters promising he’ll be “cutting taxes”.
On the few occasions they have been asked about their record on taxes, Medrano and his colleagues typically respond with an answer that it was the voters of La Habra who approved the tax increase, not them. The City Councilmember were merely innocent bystanders to the tax increase!
Of course this is baloney. For starters, why was the city in financial distress to the point they needed to raise taxes? Who has been approving budgets? The City Council of course.
The tax increase was only on the ballot because the City Council voted to put it there. The tax increase could have been stopped before it was started if they had refused to put it on the ballot, which they didn’t do. And any suggestion the council put the measure on the ballot and then stood back to see what would happen is also ridiculous.
After the vote to put the tax measure on the ballot, the City Council and city employees kicked into high gear campaigning for its passage. If you were a vendor with a city contract you got a phone call along the lines of “pretty little government contract you got there. It would be a shame if something happened to it…”. The message was clear: you better donate to the passage of this tax increase or else your government contract could be going away. Ultimately the city’s trash hauler contributed $5,000 towards the passage of the tax hike, the streetsweeper gave $2,000, the city’s lobbyist gave $2,500, etc.
Which brings us back to Medrano in 2026, sending campaign mail saying he is “cutting taxes”. Even if you accept his absurdity that the City Council are merely innocent bystanders to the tax increase in 2024, which taxes exactly has he cut or does he plan on cutting? The property tax? The sales tax? We’ll wait for an answer, but we won’t hold our breath.
