Gutierrez Erects Vicious Attack Ad on Saldivar

Ernesto Gutierrez Says He ‘Never Intended’ to Display the Ad

CATHEDRAL CITY — Ernesto Gutierrez, who is seeking a third term on the City Council, has displayed one of the vilest attack ads the city has seen in recent memory.

The ad is aimed at one of his opponents, Rick Saldivar. This will be the third time the pair as jockeyed for the District 4 seat.

Four years ago, the Cathedral City Police Officers Association, endorsed Saldivar. This year, the Association is staying neutral in the District 4 race, according to Jesse Borrego, the Association president.

Borrego said the Association was going to call its attorney to seek a “cease and desist order against Gutierrez. No confirmation Tuesday on whether that happened.

Saldivar said he has never said the things Gutierrez is accusing him of, adding that he will stay focused on what matters — the residents of District 4 and the community of Cathedral City.

“I apologize that the residents have to see this,” he said. “I’m really sorry they have to focus on drama.”

Saldivar also denied ever calling Gutierrez a racist.

“I’m running a clean campaign,” Gutierrez told Uken Report in a telephone interview. “I never intended to put this up, but Rick Saldivar started going to the (same) homes that I have knocked on — personal friends of mine, even extended family, to tell them that I was a racist towards my own people, that I discriminated against my own people, that I probably work for ICE, that I’m pro-ICE, which none of that is true. And he not only did it once, I was almost attacked once by an individual when I was canvasing, who started yelling me and almost came across the street to attack me, yelling and screaming the same things. That alerted me that someone’s saying something that is not true, and I knew immediately who that was.”

Gutierrez claims he then got a phone call from a friend of his saying, “Hey, this guy just came by my door, and he saw your sign and he knocked on my door, almost knocked the door down until I answered, and he said all this about you. And I know you, I work for you, you’re extended family. And if he’s doing that to me, I guarantee you he’s doing that to everybody.” So that made me really upset. Then I went to another house, and this gentleman called me, goes, “Hey, I heard this about you.”

“I said, “Well, let me clarify this. This is who I am, Gutierrez said.” And he immediately took Rick Saldivar’s sign and threw it in the trash and put mine back.

“Another people called me, went to their house. He did the same thing. He’s going home to home, tells them I’m a racist, I discriminate against my own culture, my own people, and I’m pro-ICE and everything you can think of in between that is absolutely far from the person that I am,” Gutierrez said. “I’m an immigrant myself. I came to the United States without speaking one word of English at the age of 13 years old. I took advantage of this country’s opportunities and that’s the reason why I am where I am today. I never took a life of crime, never. I always want to be a person that my culture, my race can be proud of. And also the American people, Caucasians, this country, I want to make sure they’re proud of the immigrants that come to this country, that we’re good people. The person with a crime record, like Rick Saldivar, is an embarrassment to our culture, to our race, because we are not like that.”

Gutierrez continued, “I never wanted to do this, tell everybody about his record because it definitely hurt him and his family four years ago. Four years ago, he’s the one that started another dirty campaign against me and saying a lot of lies about me. He’s doing the same thing now. From the alley that he talks about that I voted for, I never voted for the alley. I recused myself from the alley. I never made any extra money from the alley being installed or repaved. The City Council voted for it, not me. I recused myself, even though the city attorney said, “You do not have to recuse yourself for this.” I just did it, so I did not have any issues.”

Rick Saldivar and another person are the ones that are trying to say that this is an issue. It’s not an issue. I did not vote. So, I’ve been running this campaign, in other words, very clean. I’ve been running it on merit, on my experience, my profession, what I’ve done for the city and what I plan to do in the future with our city. That’s what I was running my campaign on. I was never mentioning the other competitors or the other candidates ever,” Gutierrez said.

“Once this came to light that somebody was smearing me and saying all these lies about me and not truths, I was really disappointed,” Gutierrez said. And I said, “Okay, if he’s saying this, I’m going to play his own, but I’m not going to lie. He’s lying about me. I’m just going to tell the truth.”

The sign alludes to Saldívar’s criminal past and drug use, all of which took place 30 years ago. Saldivar has atoned for his past and bared his soul to Uken Report in 2018. There is nothing new here, just a last-minute attempt at shocking the public.