Cathedral City's District 4 City Council race has turned personal again, with incumbent Ernesto Gutierrez putting up an attack ad that dredges up Rick Saldivar's decades-old criminal record as the two face off for a third time for the same seat. Gutierrez is seeking a third term on the council, and this latest matchup against Saldivar has reignited old wounds over a conviction from the 1990s, a city-funded alley project, and a police union that once campaigned hard against Gutierrez but is now staying on the sidelines.
According to a report from Uken Report, Gutierrez's ad frames Saldivar's criminal past and history of drug use, both dating back roughly 30 years, as disqualifying. Gutierrez is quoted saying, “The person with a crime record, like Rick Saldivar, is an embarrassment to our culture, to our race,” and he maintains he has never lived a life of crime himself. The outlet's report notes Saldivar has atoned for his past, and this will mark the third time the pair has jockeyed for the District 4 seat.
Saldivar, for his part, denied ever calling Gutierrez a racist and said he never made the statements Gutierrez has attributed to him. He apologized that residents had to see the ad at all, saying he was sorry residents had to focus on drama rather than the issues, and said he intends to stay focused on District 4 residents and the broader Cathedral City community, per the same report.
Gutierrez Says He Was Pushed Into Responding
Gutierrez told Uken Report he has been campaigning on merit, his experience, his profession, what he has done for the city, and his plans for its future. He said he decided to respond to what he viewed as false allegations by telling the truth, after claiming Saldivar accused him of racism, of discriminating against his own people, and of being pro-ICE and working for ICE.
Gutierrez also described a tense incident during canvassing, claiming a person nearly attacked him while yelling accusations, and he said a friend reported that someone visited his home, nearly knocked down the door, and repeated similar accusations about him. He added that one resident discarded a Saldivar campaign sign and put his own sign back up. Gutierrez also said he never intended to display the ad in the first place. He has previously described immigrating to the United States at age 13 without speaking English.
The Alley Project Resurfaces
The attack ad is not the only old controversy hanging over this race. Gutierrez insists he did not vote for a contested alley repaving project and recused himself, telling Uken Report, “The City Council voted for it, not me,” and adding that he made no additional money from the alley being installed or repaved. Cathedral City approved that $128,012.50 repaving project for an alley beside Gutierrez's restaurant in a 3-to-1 vote, with Gutierrez recusing himself from the decision, according to a 2023 report from KESQ.
Saldivar has run against Gutierrez before and lost in 2018, then made a second bid in 2022 when he faced incumbent Mayor Gutierrez again, the earlier Uken Report piece on his second run noted. At the time, Saldivar described his life as an open book, saying, “My life is an open book. I don't think there is anything that my community doesn't know about me,” and he listed grant funding for Cathedral City, business development, and youth programs among his top goals. The Desert Sun previously reported that Saldivar served less than a year in jail in the mid-1990s on charges stemming from drug abuse he struggled with in his youth, according to the Desert Sun. A separate candidate profile from the Coachella Valley Independent described Saldivar as an outreach pastor, a local childcare-business owner, and a Cathedral City resident of more than 30 years who built a successful anti-recidivism program after his own brush with the legal system.
Police Union Sits This One Out
The dynamic with the Cathedral City Police Officers Association has shifted sharply since the last election cycle. The union endorsed Saldivar in 2022 after campaigning hard against Gutierrez, even posting signs and billboards around the city urging voters to support the department by not voting for him, as the Desert Sun reported at the time. That 2022 campaign reportedly included a billboard at Date Palm and 30th, according to an earlier KESQ report.
This time around, the association is staying neutral in the District 4 race. Association president Jesse Borrego said the group planned to call its attorney to seek a cease-and-desist order against Gutierrez over the attack ad, but per Uken Report's account, there was no confirmation as of Tuesday on whether that actually happened. With the race already marked by accusations on both sides, Cathedral City voters are left to weigh a 30-year-old record against a sitting councilmember's own disputed account of recent confrontations on the campaign trail.
