Nativo Lopez

Four people, including a former city councilman who also served as a school trustee, filed candidacy papers Thursday to replace Santa Ana school board member Nativo Lopez in the event he is recalled in a special election early next year. Robert L. Richardson, who served on the school board in the late 1980s before winning two City Council terms in Santa Ana, brings name recognition and clout to the contest as it heads to a Feb. 4 showdown.

Only a handful of people turned up last month for a board of education meeting at Santa Ana Unified School District's headquarters. The front two rows of seats were empty as staff members gave presentations to trustees on the district's dire economic situation and an extensive construction project. As the hours dragged on, eyes grew weary. People yawned. The scene contrasted dramatically to the upheaval a year earlier, with the approaching recall of then-trustee Nativo Lopez.

When City Council members met recently to divide up a $3.6-million pie of federal funds, they found themselves confronted by an audience of more than 200 people from Hermandad Mexicana Nacional. But few from the Latino rights group paid much attention to the council members; instead their eyes seemed locked on Nativo V. Lopez, a muscular, mustached man of 38 who is Hermandad's Orange County director.

In their own ways, the two politicians champion Santa Ana and its mostly Latino population. But their conflicting visions divide the community. Mayor Miguel A. Pulido sees a Santa Ana of growth and prosperity, an emerging center of mainstream commerce and industry. But former school board member Nativo V. Lopez sees a Santa Ana of simple aspirations, of disenfranchised immigrants struggling to make ends meet in a new homeland.

For nearly two decades they were almost inseparable. The civil rights leader and his protege, the man who would some day carry on the legacy of one of the nation's oldest Latino rights organizations. When Bert Corona, the fiery and charismatic director of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, passed away earlier this year at the age of 82, Nativo Lopez, 48, who had long headed the Orange County chapter, seemed poised to succeed him.

The Santa Ana school board jumped into the middle of a raging recall battle against one of its members by voting to spend up to $30,000 to examine allegations that voters were deceived when they signed petitions calling for the ouster of trustee Nativo Lopez. The 3-1 vote, cast in a closed session late Tuesday night, immediately touched off a flurry of reaction from recall supporters in the district.

Nativo V. Lopez knew he'd lose the white vote and the anti-bilingual vote. But an analysis of Tuesday's election, in which the Santa Ana school board trustee was overwhelmingly ousted, shows that Lopez also lost the heavily Latino neighborhoods he dominated just two years ago.

A long-standing unpaid bill has put the Santa Ana Unified School District in the unusual and uncomfortable position of pursuing its own board president for money. Hermandad Mexicana Nacional Legal Center, administered locally by school board president Nativo V. Lopez, owes the district $27,291.70, according to interviews and invoices supplied to The Times by the school district.

California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley said Thursday that his office will send two investigators to monitor activities at polling places during Santa Ana Unified School District's recall election of trustee Nativo Lopez on Tuesday. The campaigns have generated complaints from both sides and the monitoring is a precaution to ensure the vote's integrity, Shelley said. Both sides have traded accusations of intimidation and of tearing up each other's campaign signs.

Re "Ousted Santa Ana Trustee Lost Even His Latino Base" (Feb. 6): Alas, poor Nativo V. Lopez. He's toast. And all because he was "vilified and demonized." Let that be a lesson for his foes: They won't have Lopez to kick around anymore. Dick Lewis Balboa The Times is obviously reeling from the defeat of its favorite school board trustee, Nativo Lopez, in the Santa Ana recall election. Now you are saying that Santa Ana schools need outside help, presumably from The Times.

The recall election spoke volumes about the good people of Santa Ana. The overwhelming majority of voters that removed Nativo Lopez from the school board must have been far more impressed with the integrity and leadership of Supt. Al Mijares than they were with the self-serving and divisive performance of Lopez. While Mijares was willing to put his job on the line to reveal the shady and questionable ethical dealings of Lopez and fellow school board member John Palacio, Lopez was claiming endorsements he never received, such as Sheriff Michael S. Carona's, and crying the same race-baiting messages he always hides behind.

The day after losing his Santa Ana school board seat in a landslide, Nativo V. Lopez sounded serene. Almost. The man who marched with Cesar Chavez and whose supporters compare him to civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. instead likened himself to a legendary boxer on the bloody losing end of the 1951 middleweight championship. "After the fight, Jake LaMotta looks at Sugar Ray Robinson and says, 'You never knocked me down, Ray.

Re "Ousted Santa Ana Trustee Lost Even His Latino Base" (Feb. 6): Alas, poor Nativo V. Lopez. He's toast. And all because he was "vilified and demonized." Let that be a lesson for his foes: They won't have Lopez to kick around anymore. Dick Lewis Balboa The Times is obviously reeling from the defeat of its favorite school board trustee, Nativo Lopez, in the Santa Ana recall election. Now you are saying that Santa Ana schools need outside help, presumably from The Times.

Re: "Nativo Lopez's Successor Is Sworn In," Feb. 12: Your story made mention of a letter released by state Assemblyman Lou Correa (D-Anaheim) requesting an investigation by the state attorney general's office and Orange County district attorney's office into allegations by Santa Ana Unified Supt. Al Mijares regarding supposed ethical violations committed by board members John Palacio and me in our "dealings with district contractors." Surely you remember the Mijares letter timed for the expected political effect two days before the recall election?

The bitter, nearly yearlong recall saga of Santa Ana school trustee Nativo V. Lopez ended formally Tuesday with the swearing in of his replacement and the election of board officers, signaling a new chapter for the troubled 61,000-student district. Recall supporters, who packed the boardroom at the Santa Ana Unified district's headquarters on Chestnut Avenue, cheered when newly elected trustee Rob Richardson assumed Lopez's former seat.

A priority for Santa Ana's school board, which meets tonight for the first time since an acrimonious Feb. 4 recall election, will be to review millions of dollars in contracts awarded by ousted trustee Nativo V. Lopez and his board allies. The review is prompted in large part by Santa Ana Unified Supt. Al Mijares' recent allegations that Lopez and trustee John Palacio pushed for the hiring of certain firms, micromanaged projects and shielded contractors from criticism by district staff.

Spanish Speakers Re "Santa Ana No. 1 in Spanish," Nov. 20: This article states that 74% of Santa Ana's residents speak Spanish. Nativo Lopez, from Hermandad Mexicana Nacional of Santa Ana, said, "About half the people here are not citizens. . . . They cannot make their numbers felt at the polling place." Have we gone crazy? Should I feel badly about illegal immigrants not being able to vote? Illegal aliens have broken the law, no matter how long they reside in an area. They should not be included in one of our most precious rights, the right to vote.

Re "Group Sues to Block Lopez Recall Election," Dec. 13: Nativo Lopez, the incompetent and deceitful Santa Ana school board member, continues the campaign to derail his recall election set for Feb. 4. His previous attempts, such as trying to have the school board approve $30,000 of taxpayer money to investigate the matter, was rebuked by his colleagues after the district attorney did not find any wrongdoing. A month ago, he convinced his cronies on the board, Sal Tinajero and John Palacios, to approve a resolution asking the legislators to launch an investigation into the matter.

Last week's successful recall of a high-profile Latino school trustee was both a signal that Santa Ana's City Hall and business interests remain powerful and an illustration that even in a heavily Spanish-speaking city, Latino voters do not follow a single political agenda. Nativo V. Lopez, an immigrants' rights activist, was ousted Tuesday in a lopsided election that stripped him of a school board seat he had used as a bully pulpit for six years.

Nativo V. Lopez knew he'd lose the white vote and the anti-bilingual vote. But an analysis of Tuesday's election, in which the Santa Ana school board trustee was overwhelmingly ousted, shows that Lopez also lost the heavily Latino neighborhoods he dominated just two years ago.