Indicted Santa Ana Official to Resign, Then Seek 3rd Term

Councilman Ted Moreno, under federal indictment alleging extortion and mail fraud, plans to resign from office to take advantage of an apparent loophole in the city charter’s limit of two terms for council members. Moreno plans to then run for a new term next fall.

“There are a lot of people out there who still support me,” Moreno said Wednesday.

The 32-year-old councilman, first elected in 1992, would have finished his second four-year term this year just as his federal trial began on allegations that he and three others conspired to extort campaign funds from local businessmen.

However, Moreno, who has strongly maintained his innocence, said a third election campaign would be the ultimate referendum on his credibility.

“It is for the citizens of Santa Ana to decide,” he said.

The Santa Ana City Charter states that council members can serve a total of “two full terms.” But if Moreno resigns before the end of his second term, he would appear to be eligible to run a third time.

City officials Wednesday could not recall any other candidate resigning from office to run for reelection since the law passed in 1986.

“To some degree, if you left office, I guess you could run again another time,” said City Atty. Joseph Fletcher. “But it is all hypothetical at this point. The city clerk and myself have not taken any formal positions.”

Fletcher said he will render a legal opinion when Moreno officially resigns and files for this year’s elections.

Some said Moreno’s action defied the spirit of the law.

“I don’t know what he’s trying to do other than get around the intent of what term limits is all about,” said Councilman Tom Lutz, who is serving his last term. “It is what the citizens voted for when they approved the charter 15 years ago.”

In 1998, a federal grand jury indicted Moreno and four other political figures on charges that they conspired to extort campaign contributions in the 1996 city elections.

Moreno, who lost a bid for the mayor’s office shortly after the indictments, said he has been quietly raising funds for his council race. He declined to detail the amount. He said he will officially announce his resignation sometime before Aug. 11, the deadline for council candidates to file their papers.