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Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Meet The Next Irvine Mayor Tomorrow Night

John Duong will be at our monthly IRC meeting tomorrow night. This is a great opportunity for everyone to come to the meeting and meet the next Mayor of Irvine. Here is the press release from Charlene Hatakeyama Wildermuth:

Dear Republican Neighbors,


Our Republican candidate for Mayor of Irvine, John Duong, will be attending the IRC meeting tomorrow night. This is an opportunity to meet John, and discuss with him the issues that are important to you and your family – traffic, smart planning for the Great Park and IBC, etc.

John will be visiting with us at 5:45 PM, before the general meeting. Also, Dana Point Council member, Diane Harkey, will be our speaker at 7:00 PM, and will discuss what it’s like to run for State Senate.

It promises to be an interesting and informative evening. Hope to see you there!

Date: Thursday, August 17th.

Time: 5:45 – 6:15 PM – John Duong

6:15 – 7:00 PM – General meeting

7:00 PM – Council member Diane Harkey

Location: Irvine Ranch Water District, 15600 Sand Canyon Ave, Irvine



Regards,

Charlene Hatakeyama Wildermuth

Chairman,

Irvine Republican Council



John will also be attending the Mitt Romney event at the St. Regis later the same night. Frank Mickadeit also mentioned John again in his column this morning. Mitch Goldstone has endorsed him and decided not to run for Mayor himself. He had pulled papers.

posted by Unknown @ 8:22 AM  

19 Comments:

  • At 4:08 PM, Blogger Dan Chmielewski said…

    Thought the Irvine council and mayoral races were supposed ot be non-partisan?

     

  • At 5:04 PM, Blogger Unknown said…

    Thanks for your comments Dan. You are welcome to post here regardless of who you are supporting in this race.

    Technically they are non partisan races, but you know as well as I do that Larry, Beth, and Sukkee happen to also be all Democrats and they run the city according to their beliefs which they are fully entitled to do. Beth and Sukkee are entitled to not think independently and to follow Larry's every instruction. It sounds like you're scared of the GOP registration advantage of 43 to 29%. You should be afraid. Last year your guy Larry Agran snuck a "conservative Republican" Earl Zucht(who BTW was a next door neighbor of the late Ed Dornan, Larry's political brain) on the ballot to steal votes away from Mike Ward and it worked to perfection. That was a very shrewd move, but it ain't gonna work this time. A lot of Democrats are unhappy with the current leadership or lack thereof on the council and as well they should be. It shows with the endorsement of Mitch Goldstone already and I'm sure there will be more Democrat and Independent endorsements of John Duong to come. We welcome all people in this campaign who would like to get Irvine back to open and honest government.

     

  • At 11:56 AM, Blogger Dan Chmielewski said…

    Allen --
    Thanks for the invitation to post. But your comment on Beth and Sukee following Larry's every instruction tells me you really don't know either of them. And if the three of them are like minded, why is that any different than Shea and Choi voting in lockstep every time? Pot and Kettle issue. There are a number of Republicans who do support Krom, Agran and Kang; how else can you explain Agran's top vote tally in 2004?

    And despite what you might think, I am not afraid of the party registration differential. Irvine is a growing community and a lot of new residents are coming from Blue States and are Blue voters. The city is more purple than red or blue. But I wonder if you shouldn't be more concerned about the erosion of Republican voters in Irvine and OC in general compared with several years ago.
    In regards to Earl Zucht; he wrote a letter to the Irvine World News after the last election professing his sincerity in running as a conservative for the Mayor's post; I don't know about you, but I tend to take someone at their word. I continue to assume that the only time you guys take the word of a Democrat or Progressive seriously is if and when they come out against Krom or Agran.

    I hope the race will focus on issues and not personalities.

     

  • At 12:32 PM, Blogger Unknown said…

    It would be nice to focus on the issues, but it would be naive to think that Larry is not going to run a scorched earth campaign like he always does. Look at what happened to Mike Ward last year. Politics is rough & tumble. I fully expect Beth/Larry to slime John Duong to the nth degree.

    Larry would like to turn Irvine into a West LA/urban type of city because he knows that these type of urban dwellers tend to be a lot more liberal than Irvine is right now. That's why has pushed all this stupid mass transit and high density housing. No one rides mass transit Dan, but why does this majority keep trying to shove it down our throats? Why won't they open city and GP contracts to open bidding system?

     

  • At 10:20 PM, Blogger Dan Chmielewski said…

    Allan --
    My first reply disappeared into the ether, so I'm trying again. Before I do, it is a pleasure to debate issues like this like grownups; I respect your opinion and hope you respect mine even though I am sure we disagree on much.

    That said, the Republicans in Irvine are hardly angels when it comes to campaigning, so please don't put it all on Larry. If you'll recall the 2004 race was all about questioning Larry's ethics, and then the Irvine First Party came out with the Irvine Chronicle. A mock up of the Irvine World News with reprinted and edited articles from the LA Times, OC Weekly and OC Register. First off, the articles were reprinted without permission and they were altered from the original content to make them even more negative than they were. This is both unethical and illegal copyright infringement, and one that Ward, Smith and Chooi should have lost their homes to in a lawsuit had the papers actually pursued it. Th ebiggest sin of the Irvine Chronicle was that if offered voters not a single positive reason why the Irvine First team should have been elected; not one shread of platform, ideas, or vision.

    And let's not forget the Pink Sign people who clearly had a conservative bent to their messages.

    Irvine is a lot more liberal than you think it is; despite the huge differentiation in registration, Agran and Krom were the top two vote getters in the last election.

    And as far as mass transit goes, maybe you don't use it, but my wife in on the train to LA every day and its packed; so are the parking lots. If you have ever lived in a city with mass transit, its a no brainer and people will and do use it (I lived in Boston for 9 years, the T and commuter rail were wonderful).

    Unless you talk to Larry on a regular basis, how can you pressume to know what he wants to turn Irvine into? Everything is see is part of Irvine's long term long range plans.

     

  • At 12:08 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Dan

    Is that all you've got? Why am I not surprised you are from BOSTON and are a liberal? Too much Kennedy & Kerry.

    However, I do agree we need mass transit.

     

  • At 9:08 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I may not agree with everything Beth has done. But there is no way I am voting for Mr. Duong. His benefactor is a developer from Westminster. And I have no intention of letting that door open. I moved to Irvine because of the quality of life we enjoy, and I don't see that being kept if this guy gets elected mayor.

    Secondly. The GOP establishment (and I am a registered GOP) has been wanting to get control of the Great Park. They have been angry since their pork barrel airport was shot down and now want to line their pockets at this trough. Since Larry hasn't cut them in on any of the dealings they have been on a jihad to smear him six ways from Sunday. One of the last Op Eds in the OC Register started pulling heart strings about the 'promise' made during the Measure W fight. The same group who fought and supported the airport at every turn. You know someone is about to get screwed when a platitude is brought out. We just have to make sure it isn't those of us who live in Irvine.

    A vote for Duong is a vote to make Irvine look like Westminster.

    No thanks.

     

  • At 2:03 PM, Blogger Dan Chmielewski said…

    The Promise of Measure W was simple: to Build a Great Park instead of an airport. That was it. No discussion of how it would be managed.

    Shea and Choi keep telling everyone to read the Grand Jury report. Pages 7 and 11 of the report is the recommendation that the County BOS seek or sue to get some control of the park back. And on Page 5, the report says Irvine owns the land.

    I think a vote for Duong, Shea and Mavity is a vote to give control of the Park back to the county.

     

  • At 10:01 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I am referring to high density congested roadways. And the rest of the ills that accompany a city whose infrastructure is clearly overloaded.

    If Frank Jao is willing to invest $200K on behalf of Duong are you going to tell me with a straight face he has no interest in pursuing business within the city?

    Please sell that somewhere else.

     

  • At 10:08 PM, Blogger Dan Chmielewski said…

    Matt --
    where are you getting this news from: a 200K investment? You can only contribute $390 and only $250 if you plan to do business with the city. Context please.
    Dan

     

  • At 11:16 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Dan.

    It will be done via IE's.

     

  • At 11:39 AM, Blogger Unknown said…

    We're going to use the same rules that Larry uses to raise and spend unlimited amounts of soft money.

     

  • At 1:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Allan. It's good to know the "I hate Larry" crowd approves of this tactic to support candidates.

    In the meantime take a drive up to Westminster and get a preview of the future.

    You'll be able to look back one day and say to yourself, "I helped".

     

  • At 2:35 PM, Blogger Unknown said…

    Gimme a break Matt. I do want to thank you though. I think we now know what the tone of the slime that is going to hit John now. Well done.

    This city needs a break from Larry and his cronies running the show.

     

  • At 2:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    No. Thank YOU Allan.

    You don't deny it isn't true.

     

  • At 3:57 PM, Blogger Dan Chmielewski said…

    Allen --
    The city has a huge budget surplus, it's one of the safedsst cities in America, and its school system is the envy of the state if not the nation. John, in constrast, has almost no record to run on. He was a Wilson/Bush appointee (both short term appointments) but what accomplishments does he have? The only thing has has said is that he's the Republican candidate, like that it all he needs to say.Google offers nothing on John's record.

    Beth Krom, on the other hand, was one fo the authors of Measure W and, if you live in Irvine, her work on beating the airport is one of the main reasons why our home value are up so dramatically.

    You seem to forget that the Republicans in Irvine are hardly innocent when it comes to slime during the campaign.

    The city has thrived under Beth's leadership and Larry's before it; population has steadily increased and the community services expands with it.

    Unless of course, we want an administration that seriously investigates ways to make Irvine a more romantic city, there's no reason to change.

     

  • At 5:19 PM, Blogger Unknown said…

    Just so people know, Beth And Sukkee had no experience to speak of when they ran for council. That is a weak argument.

    "The city has thrived under Beth's leadership and Larry's before it"

    It's not because of Larry and Beth. I don't think handing out no bid contracts is good leadership. I don't think constant Grand Jury investigations are showing leadership. I don't think being insensitive towards Tiawanese residents is showing leadership. Face it guys, the baggage is too much this cycle to handle. Larry can go back and run for President again though when he loses power. That should be another fun side show.

    As far as being a romantic city...oh well. Do we want that? What city would you like to be more like?

     

  • At 6:08 PM, Blogger Dan Chmielewski said…

    You missed my point Allen. John was a Wilson/Bush appointee and there's almost nothing to show for it and there should be lots. No bid contracts were handed out to continue work in process; those have since been competitively bid. Constant grand jury investigations -- asked for by political opponents. Ain't nothing there. And if you want to go to the Grand Jury report about Great Park Manageemnt, Agran was right -- it does call for the BOS to seek legal rememdies to take some or all control. And on Page 5, a nugget -- Irvine owns the land. You're believing the one-sided coverage on the Sister City issue -- Irvine, at most, has 3,000 Tawainese and they got everything they asked for from the city - the offer was rescinded. In case you're forgetting, Choi was on that trip to. If he knew about this and didn't raise it as an issue then, then its placing party politics ahead of duty to the city as a councilman (he's alrerady ethically-challenged, having lent his name to Irvine Chronicle, voting against tought ehtics policy and campaigning in front of a store with an early voting machine). Has Shea recovered from the nasty battles with the gay and lesbian commiunity here from the mid-90s? I have to believe there are more gays and lesbians in Irvine than there are Tawainese. The issue you make is not significant and if you want to make it one, there's lots of blame to go around and it includes Choi.

    Re: Krom/Kang's experience. Both own businesses that are successful. And both have proven themselves effective in government.

    I think its funny you want to comdemn Agran's politics but its ok for you to justify his alledged practices (hasn't been proven) to raise tons of soft money for your guy. Do as I say, not as I do.

    Irvine - a romantic city? Sorry bub, Irvine is a family city. Any romance that happens here is after the kids get put to bed.

    As always, fun discussion.

     

  • At 8:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Allan. Are you kidding me? The BoS has a good track of ignoring the Grand Jury until it suits their needs.

    Witness how they ignored the issue of jail overcrowding?

    The Great Park gets play because there is cash out there with which to line pockets of those not being given the opportunity by the current city council.

    As Dan pointed out. The no-bid contracts issue has been resolved.

    The other issues you address are non-starters.

     

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