Every election has lessons to offer, and from the election of Jose Trinidad Castaneda to the Buena Park City Council and we can conclude the voters of that city are perfectly willing to elect carpetbaggers.
Castaneda was elected from District 2, winning 43.39% over two opponents in a low-turnout election.
READ: Buena Park Council Elections: Castaneda Makes Carpetbagging A New Civic Tradition
Castaneda is a professional progressive climate activist. He’s currently a council aide to Irvine Councilmember Tammy Kim, and was Orange County policy manager for the Climate Action Campaign before that.
Castaneda moved to Buena Park from Fullerton sometime during the spring of 2021. Prior to seeking greener pastures in Buena Park, Castaneda was pursuing a political career in Fullerton. He was a member of the Fullerton Parks Commissioner, and tried to run for the Fullerton City Council but didn’t qualify due to insufficient valid voter signatures. He had secured an appointment to the Fullerton Planning Commission in January 2021 – several weeks before he decided to move to Buena Park and run for council there.
However, Castaneda gave conflicting and contradictory stories about when he moved from Fullerton to Buena Park. In fact, it seems fairly certain he was already living in Buena Park during his last two meetings as a member of the Fullerton Planning Commission. More than a month before his final meeting as a Fullerton Planning Commission member, Castaneda identified himself as a Buena Park resident while speaking at a Buena Park council meeting.
Castaneda’s election means that, along with Councilman Connor Traut, two of the five members of the Buena Park City Council will consist of carpetbaggers who moved into the city for the express purpose of running for city council.
If anything, Traut’s carpetbagging was even more egregious. Castaneda moved into Buena Park a year and a half before the election. Traut waited until the election year itself to move from Anaheim to into a section of Buena Park with an open council district seat, and immediately filed to run.
And so a new civic tradition in Buena Park is born!
