Anaheim's First Latina Councilwoman Votes Against Pro-Immigrant Taskforce

Denise Barnes quietly made history when she won an Anaheim council seat in District One last month. The morena is the first Latina councilwoman ever elected in the city, but she never campaigned on her ethnicity, only briefly mentioning on her campaign website that she was born to Marie and Abelardo Avila in La Mirada. Barnes presented herself as Mayor Tom Tait's choice for West Anaheim instead, promising to oppose massive tax breaks for hoteliers. The other thing going for Barnes? She isn't Steven Chavez Lodge, the Republican dirty ex-cop the Weekly exposed in story after story and who lost the council race to Barnes by less than 300 votes. (Quick aside: Hey Steve, it doesn't take a homicide detective to figure out who killed your campaign, eh?) Lodge hired immigrant-hater Amanda Edinger to manage his failed campaign and railed against sanctuary cities after the issue arose at a candidate forum both he and Barnes didn't show up to. But where did Barnes, also a Republican, stand?

Read more on my latest OC Weekly Navel Gazing Blog post:

http://www.ocweekly.com/news/anaheims-first-latina-councilwoman-votes-against-pro-immigrant