Irvine City Council: The Games begin
Posted by: tylerh | 08/12/2008 9:49 AM
The Irvine City Council race again features two slates led by faces familiar to Irvine voters since way back when Amanda Beard was swimming for Irvine's club team. This year's round of Christina vs Larry has been officially christened as Team Irvine vs Keep Irvine Great.
Team Irvine is Christine Shea for Mayor, Steven Choi and Retired Irvine Police Lieutenant Pat Rodger. Their five point platform is to get traffic moving again, put the great park back on track, stop the Musick Jail from growing into a large maximum security facility, maintain quality services without raising taxes, and extend a helping hand to Irvine's schools.
Keep Irvine Great is Sukhee Kang for Mayor, Beth Krom and Larry Agran. They are running on their accomplishments as the current majority The first item on their list is that they helped to defeat the El Toro airport, which is pretty cheeky considering that Christina was mayor for much of that fight. They also list improved traffic flow, the great park, Irvine being "Safest Big City in America" for three years in a row, increasing the city's financial reserves, establishing the Irvine Educational Partnership Fund to support local schools, and their Comprehensive Greenbuilding Ordinance.
While much of the messaging for both slates may boil down to who can shout louder, this year's real issue doesn't readily fit onto roadside campaign signs: who gets to control a largely-invisible Great Park budget that is almost as big as the entire city budget.
There are also six other candidates, of whom only Margie Wakeham is likely to matter. Margie served on the school board for many years and therefore has citywide name recognition. She is explicitly running to be the swing vote between the two slates and has the credibility to do so.
The other five candidates are less well-known. I've included what I could find. If you know who these folks are and/or why they are running, please post in the comments.
Business Attorney Todd Gallinger has been an active commenter on OC Blog.
Pari-Mutuel/Writer Paris Merriam has served on the Orange County Housing & Community Development Commission, having been appointed by the Republican Board of Supes. She may be a Woodbridge resident.
If Teacher Beatrice Foster is the same person as OC political fixture Bea Foster, then she is a long term Democrat.
Businessman Eric Johnson probably isn't this Texan guitarist or this sculptor. Darn.
Fashion Consultant Ruby Young is a cipher. Maybe that's more fashionable
Amil Esmailpour at least shares a name with someone who has a cool Facebook page. He might be this UCI grad and restaurateur. But since he isn't on the the City Clerk's list qualified candidates, we may never find out.
Team Irvine is Christine Shea for Mayor, Steven Choi and Retired Irvine Police Lieutenant Pat Rodger. Their five point platform is to get traffic moving again, put the great park back on track, stop the Musick Jail from growing into a large maximum security facility, maintain quality services without raising taxes, and extend a helping hand to Irvine's schools.
Keep Irvine Great is Sukhee Kang for Mayor, Beth Krom and Larry Agran. They are running on their accomplishments as the current majority The first item on their list is that they helped to defeat the El Toro airport, which is pretty cheeky considering that Christina was mayor for much of that fight. They also list improved traffic flow, the great park, Irvine being "Safest Big City in America" for three years in a row, increasing the city's financial reserves, establishing the Irvine Educational Partnership Fund to support local schools, and their Comprehensive Greenbuilding Ordinance.
While much of the messaging for both slates may boil down to who can shout louder, this year's real issue doesn't readily fit onto roadside campaign signs: who gets to control a largely-invisible Great Park budget that is almost as big as the entire city budget.
There are also six other candidates, of whom only Margie Wakeham is likely to matter. Margie served on the school board for many years and therefore has citywide name recognition. She is explicitly running to be the swing vote between the two slates and has the credibility to do so.
The other five candidates are less well-known. I've included what I could find. If you know who these folks are and/or why they are running, please post in the comments.
Business Attorney Todd Gallinger has been an active commenter on OC Blog.
Pari-Mutuel/Writer Paris Merriam has served on the Orange County Housing & Community Development Commission, having been appointed by the Republican Board of Supes. She may be a Woodbridge resident.
If Teacher Beatrice Foster is the same person as OC political fixture Bea Foster, then she is a long term Democrat.
Businessman Eric Johnson probably isn't this Texan guitarist or this sculptor. Darn.
Fashion Consultant Ruby Young is a cipher. Maybe that's more fashionable
Amil Esmailpour at least shares a name with someone who has a cool Facebook page. He might be this UCI grad and restaurateur. But since he isn't on the the City Clerk's list qualified candidates, we may never find out.
CATEGORY:
2008 Elections, Irvine Mayor's Race
Mr. Ayer registered as a Republican to be electable in an interim election with no incumbents. He did...
Gallinger will be part of the Agran slate (because incumbent mid-term councilmembers are the only candidates running for mayor, Irvine voters will elect three councilmembers and a mayor in November). He's a liberal attorney in the Agran mold.
I don't know if Todd Gallinger will or will not be part of the Agran slate. He may be just smart enough to say no and run an independent campaign supported by Agran & Co., but an arms length from the shenanigans. Given the questionable conduct of the campaigns Agran & Co. run, too close an association with Agran could prove costly. I don't think Todd will risk it.
Agran & Co (Keep Irvine Great Team?) through slate mailers first run by Dornan, then his now-deceased wife and we don't know who is running it since then - the last filing I believe indicated that the widow intended to run the organization and make the decisions - but I haven't seen an update since she passed. Maybe long-time Agran supporter Ed Pope will serve this function. I have no idea.
The slate mailers suffer a potential problem of being coordinated by an office holder or campaign if former Agran ally Mark Petracca was telling the truth about Larry Agrans involvement. If so the whole slate mailer organization is/was a sham and the individuals involved should be prosecuted.
If one discounts Petracca's charges, there is still the problem of possible campaign involvement and coordination as evidenced by the documents uncovered by Scott Moxley and published in the OC Weekly, purporting to show Larry's direct involvement in the mailer. Again, if true, should lead to prosecution of all those involved.
Although it is explained in some detail on the www.irvinetattler.com website, I will try to explain the other problem with the slate mailers below:
A slate mailer must have four candidates or issues or some combination of candidates and issues that total to four (4) to qualify as a slate mailer. The candidates and the issues must pay their pro-rata share for their advertisements in the mailer.
So if the mailer has four candidates and they each receive twenty five percent (25%) of the space, each must pay an equal share (assuming that all the mailers go to constituents of each of the candidates and in an area where the issues are before the prospective voters). In this example, that means that they would have the same amount of space each, would pay the same total dollar amount and as a result would pay the same rate per square inch for the ad space. Space that is used for legally required notice, addressing and postage would be borne equally by all the parties.
If one ad were larger and another smaller, one campaign would spend more and the other less. If some bear the overhead costs and others do not, the failure to pay the overhead costs would be deemed, I believe, a campaign contribution. Discounts to one candidate would be an in-kind contribution to that candidate and would have to be reported. Such in-kind contributions would also be subject to the City of Irvines campaign contribution limits.
What I have been told is happening is this - individuals and companies with business before the City - have been making donations to organizations who, in turn, make contributions to either the candidates and/or measures advocated/supported in the slate mailer.
Of course, the campaign contributions limits apply to those candidates - the donations must be reported. The loophole appears to be in the area of the support of measures. The District Attorney, the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC)and the Attorney General of the State of California have been noticed of this loophole and asked to investigate. The wheels of justice have moved slowly and Agran & Co. have been the benefactors of large dollar donations paying to support measures on the city ballot and the measures appear to have been charged more (significantly more) for their advertising space.
So, say that the Yes on Measure _ takes up 10% of the space on the mailer and it appears pays for more like 75, 80 or even 90% of the mailer costs.
What cannot happen is this: the candidates and the measures cannot be charged a different dollar amount for their space. The math and calculations are relatively straight-forward. Anyone involved in the slate mailer organization should be aware of the possible consequences of their action. Todd - this is a freebee - don't get too involved with Agran & Co.
I have successfully served 2 terms on the Housing & Community Development Commission (H&CD) here in Orange County. I was recently appointed to my 3rd term on the H&CD Commission which ends June 2010. I am also a Member of the Homeless Continuum of Care Leadership Cabinet in Orange County as well.
I am no longer a Woodbridge resident as I have moved to the Quail Hill area of Irvine. I did, however, live in Woodbridge for 3 years.
As a Pari-Mutuel, I have been licensed by the California Horse Racing Board since 1986. I work in the horse racing business.
I am also a regular contributor to the American Orchid Society magazine Orchids. My most recent article was titled 'Orchids at The Flower Fields' and was published in June 2008.
I am male, not female.