He's been around for all of Santa Ana's big political battles of the last generation -- and been in the middle of some of them -- but John Palacio seems strangely mellow. And while some in the city have long wished he'd either go away or just be quiet, Palacio has no plans to do either.
"I'm the kind of person who will question things," says the three-term school board member.
But will anyone pay attention?
With municipal government moving under the watchful eye of longtime Mayor Miguel Pulido and the school board majority often relegating Palacio to a minority dissenter, the question is: Can this veteran activist still make a difference in town?
You bet, he says. But not boastfully. Nor defensively. Nor defiantly.
"I will always be a voice," he says evenly. "My very nature is to question and question for the right reasons. The nice thing about not always being on the right side of the vote is you can modify the outcome. You can move people to the middle."
That's not where a lot of people have put Palacio over the years. Now 55, he's been an immigrant-rights activist for much of his 28-year residency in Santa Ana and was visible and vocal during the 1996 congressional election in which Loretta Sanchez unseated Rep. Bob Dornan amid charges that much of her support came from unregistered voters in Santa Ana.
In 2003, Nativo Lopez, Palacio's closest ally on the school board and a renowned immigrant rights activist, was recalled. Some in the winning camp hinted Palacio might be next. It never happened, but new board members reduced his clout. Two weeks ago, voters passed a bond measure for school district improvements that Palacio didn't even want to put on the ballot.
Nowadays, City Hall is pondering a "Renaissance Plan" that would remake a large area around downtown. Some say it would "gentrify" the area by eventually displacing small shops and businesses with more upscale housing -- including condos -- and more modern businesses.
Palacio opposes the current plan, but what I wanted to hear from him was whether he thinks anyone cares.
"I don't think of myself as the loyal opposition," he says. "I don't go along to get along. I ask the questions I need to know to make an informed choice. Oftentimes, elected people are just concerned about getting elected."
He won't have a vote on the redevelopment plan, but his argument against the current version sounds like an echo of his long-standing fight for the little guy.
