Familiar names taking aim at mayor's seat in primary race

San Bernardino voters will cast their ballots in the June 7 primary for one of seven candidates running for mayor.

Five names likely ring a bell. Mayor John Valdivia, Henry Nickel, Treasure Ortiz, Jim Penman and Helen Tran all have served or worked for the city in some capacity in recent years.

Valdivia, the incumbent has a decade experience on the City Council. Nickel is the former longtime councilman of the 5th Ward.

Ortiz is a past human resources technician.

Penman is the former city attorney who won election seven

times.

Tran is the former human resources director.

Candidates Gabriel Jaramillo and Mohammad Khan have no such histories in city government.

As the election approaches, those vying for the highest office in town are drawing from their respective experience, or observing City Hall, to shed light on their plans to guide the former All-America City the next four years.

“I worked with five different mayors,” said Penman, who served 26 years as city attorney before being recalled in 2013, “and I know the things that were successful and the things that were unsuccessful. I went through the city's good times and I went through the bad times. I worked with good mayors and not-so-good mayors. Good city managers and notso-good city managers.

“You learn something from everybody you work with.”

Since launching his third mayoral campaign in August, Penman, who has the backing of former Mayor Judith Valles, has championed hiring more police officers to bolster a force of about 260.

To reduce crime and shorten response times, he said in a recent interview, San Bernardino needs more than 400 cops, or more than the city had before filing for bankruptcy protection in 2012.

Valdivia, who was a freshman councilman representing the 3rd Ward a decade ago, staved off the same recall efforts that removed Penman from office and in 2018 won the mayor's seat.

In his three years as mayor, Valdivia has reintroduced community-oriented policing strategies in hopes of reducing crime. He said recently he has overseen “positive growth, exponential growth” at SanBernardino International Airport and vowed to expand such growth to the community.

Valdivia's time in the mayor's seat has not been without its own set of challenges. Late last year, he was censured by his colleagues for misusing public funds for personal gain, and he is being sued by former city employees who allege he sexually harassed them.

Still, he said he sees no better candidate for the mayor's seat than someone with his years of experience crafting and setting policy.

“I've learned a lot in the last three, four years as mayor,” he said. “They've humbled me and I want to continue serving my community. I don't think there's someone more competent with the skill set I've learned over the years to be mayor and lead this city forward.”

Outside of Valdivia, Nickel is the only mayoral candidate with experience serving on the City Council, and with San Bernardino's council-manager form of government, there is no substitute for knowing how to earn the support of fellow elected officials, he said recently.

A mayor must have respect

for and understand the role of the City Council, Nickel said, “and allow the council to do their job rather than interfere and try to impede.”

Nickel returns to the political arena after losing his bid for reelection two years ago.

“My support has always come from the residents,” he said. “By and large, I've really been a grassroots candidate. … I strongly believe in the importance of grassroots candidates not only running, but holding those higher level offices in the city that can really advocate for the homeowners and residents who have really been shortchanged over the years.”

Tran, who in 2019 left her role as human resources director in San Bernardino for the same gig in West Covina, intends to lean on the collaboration skills she sharpened at City Hall to eliminate silos she said existed between departments during her time there.

Tran sees herself as a “consensus builder” who will work with council members, city officials and staffers as an ally.

Together, she said, the city will solve problems efficiently.

With two former mayors and previous city leaders in her corner, Tran said she has gleaned enough insight on the inner workings of City Hall to guide her in the years ahead.

“It's about not forgetting what has transpired, but not repeating any mistakes that have been done,” she said. “I really want to highlight our successes and make sure we worked off that. One thing I do is listen. I take everything and understand the issues from all angles.”

While six years have passed since Ortiz graduated from a San Bernardino intern to a full-time human resources technician, she has found her voice as a City Hall watchdog. Working on the lowest level of city government, she said recently, opened her eyes to “a lot of good and bad, and shaped me as an upcoming professional as well as an employee.”

Ortiz, a professor at Cal State San Bernardino, said she saw politicking firsthand.

“It's a perspective you only get as a public administrator,” she said.

She believes San Bernardino deserves more.

“We are capable of so much more because everybody else around us has succeeded in achieving so much more given equal circumstances absent a bankruptcy,” Ortiz said. “The city of San Bernardino is like this on purpose. … If we do not change from what we have done, and from who we have elected to get us to this point, that will never change.

“The past does not want to hold onto its own failures and does not want to be accountable for why we're here now. Certain candidates are trying to rewrite history regardless of what we know to be true.”

Khan, a business owner who wants to expand education opportunities for young people, shares a similar sentiment, contending he would bring “new ideas and perspective” to the mayor's seat.

“Past folks,” he said, “a majority of them have mistakes

and you look online and people are pointing out certain candidates for their past bad influences and negative actions they took. For me, I've had a clean record from the start, so there's no sphere of influence on me that would keep me from doing what's best for the community and solving many of the problems we have.”

In the same vein, San Bernardino “just needs new blood,” Jaramillo said. “If you already have ties with everyone that's in city government now, that's where all the problems are.”

Jaramillo sees his status as a newcomer as an advantage.

“I know residents are tired of everything now,” he said. “If we get rid of politics as they have been, everything will be OK.”

In order for any candidate to win a seat outright in the primary, he or she must secure 50% of the vote, plus one vote. Otherwise, the top two vote-getters will square off in the Nov. 8 election.

In addition to the mayor's seat, three posts on the City Council are up for grabs June 7.

Ward 1

The two men vying to represent the 1stWard are no strangers.

Councilman Theodore Sanchez and challenger Gil Botello squared off in the 2018 midterm elections after emerging from a field of four candidates in that year's primary.

Their maiden race for the 1st Ward seat made headlines when Botello sued Sanchez for making what he said were defamatory statements about him on a campaign mailer.

A judge threw the lawsuit out, ruling the matter should have been addressed in the political arena, not in court.

Botello was to pay Sanchez's attorney's fees.

This go-around, Sanchez is running as the incumbent, on a platform of improving residents' quality of life, fast tracking development that brings good paying jobs to the community and rededicating resources to rebuilding sidewalks, streets and parks, according to his candidate statement.

Botello, a representative on the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, intends to hire more police officers to make the city safer, reduce homelessness by improving access to housing, mental health and addiction treatment services and support small businesses.

“Like many of my 1st Ward neighbors,” he wrote in his candidate statement, “I'm fed up with the failed leadership on our City Council. We need to make a change.”

Ward 2

Councilwoman Sandra Ibarra and pastor Terry Elliott are campaigning to represent the 2nd Ward through 2026.

Ibarra won election in 2018 as a political newcomer and has since “fought against big political forces to do what is right for our city,” she wrote in her campaign statement.

Additionally, she said she has “questioned contracts and projects coming into our city.

“I am focused on making

sure your tax dollars are properly spent,” she wrote.

Elliott, a pastor and public safety commissioner, contends San Bernardino “desperately needs new leadership on the City Council to improve the quality of life for our families and neighborhoods,” according to his candidate statement.

Among his priorities are hiring more police officers to expedite police response times, creating a more business-friendly environment and stopping illegal homeless camping.

With only a pair of candidates running in the 1st and 2nd wards, the two who receive more than 50% of the vote next month win their seats outright.

They will take office before the end of the year.

Ward 4

The longest-tenured member of the City Council again faces multiple challengers for his seat.

Four years ago, Councilman Fred Shorett looked to have secured another term in the June primary before slowly losing his grip on the threshold needed for outright reelection.

Ultimately, the longtime city leader won another term in that year's November election by the slimmest of margins.

This year, Shorett faces another pair of primary foes in Vince Laster and Teresa Parra Craig.

Few know San Bernardino City Hall as intricately as Shorett.

In his candidate statement, Shorett wrote he has balanced the budget and increased the city's reserve fund, increased the police force and improved fire service response times to strengthen public safety; and invested in homeless outreach and housing assistance, among other noted accomplishments.

“I am working hard to build consensus on the City Council and restore accountability at City Hall,” he wrote. “Through my leadership, our city is gaining momentum.”

Laster, a longtime resident and Del Rosa Neighborhood Action Group president, vows to be “a public servant not a public official,” in his candidate statement, adding he wants to make San Bernardino “a more ‘livable city.'”

“Many low-cost projects can be implemented to increase the quality of life of our residents,” he wrote. “A Marine veteran, I am ready to take on the challenge!”

As a former San Bernardino school board member, Craig has worked on two successful bond measures to build new schools, create jobs and enhance development in San Bernardino, she wrote in her candidate statement.

Craig, an active community volunteer who wants to hire more police officers, reduce homelessness and remove blight, “is fed up with the political infighting at City Hall,” according to her statement.

As with the mayor's seat, a candidate in the 4th Ward must receive 50% of the vote, plus one vote, to win the post in the primary. Otherwise, the top two vote-getters will square off in the Nov. 8 election. 3200 Guasti Road, Suite 100, Ontario, CA 91761