Steven Choi

Christopher Jordan Dorner $1 Million Split Injunction Request Denied by Judge: Update

See the updates at the end of this post about one of the eight parties shut out from the $1 million Christopher Dorner reward going to court to stop the distribution of funds today, and a judge in Los Angeles shutting him down.The Los Angeles Police Department on Thursday released a three-judge pane ... More >>

Christopher Jordan Dorner Manhunt Reward Fund to Get $100,000 Boost from City of Irvine

When Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief Charlie Beck announced a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of then-living fugitive Christopher Jordan Dorner on Feb. 10, they were surrounded by other city and police officials from LA, Irvine, Riversid ... More >>

Larry Agran's Sabotage Squad

[Moxley Confidential] The sneaky campaign to save Democrats' control of the Great Park failed but kept Beth Krom on the Irvine City Council

Irvine Makes Sweeping Changes To Clean Up Struggling Great Park Operations

Irvine's first majority Republican city council meeting in more than a decade kicked off last night and the winds of change raged like a hurricane. With the five-member body focused on the Orange County Great Park, the new council voted for sweeping changes including a restructuring of the ... More >>

10 Orange County "City Leaders" We'd Just as Soon Not Hear from the Rest of 2013

Being a city council member is a thankless job, although they do usually save you a nice parking spot at city hall.While we applaud public service, many, many holders of local office in Orange County use their positions of "power" to do some really fucked-up things.Here are but 10 supposed city lead ... More >>

[UPDATED with Newport-Mesa Meeting:] Irvine Holds Town Hall on School Shootings

See the update at the end of this post on a Newport-Mesa Unified School District special meeting this afternoon.ORIGINAL POST, DEC. 18, 6:08 A.M.: In the wake of the mass shootings in Newton, Connecticut, the City of Irvine is holding a town hall meeting dedicated to school shootings and city prepar ... More >>

TheLiberalOC: Allan Bartlett, Ron Paul Fan, Will Get Irvine Finance Commission Appointment

Veteran Orange County Republican activist Allan Bartlett, an outspoken critic of Larry Agran's lefty, tainted political machine in Irvine, will be appointed to the city's finance commission, according to a report today by TheLiberalOC.com.Bartlett, a huge Ron Paul fan, has made no secret that he's b ... More >>

Tony Rackauckas Is a Robo Cop

[Moxley Confidential] DA's election-eve robocall for Irvine Democrat Larry Agran angers Orange County Republicans

Orange County Republicans Outraged That DA Tony Rackauckas Aided Larry Agran's Campaign

The most historic, local moment of Tuesday's election happened around 9 p.m. when elated (literally jumping up and down) Orange County Republicans realized they were finally on their way to not just finally defeating Larry Agran but also taking control of Irvine.But the GOPers were also fuming becau ... More >>

Larry Agran's Great Irvine Election Robbery

[Moxley Confidential] Yet more evidence emerges in the Democrat's Republican-vote-splitting caper

OC's Scariest People 2012!

Child molesters, Shaheen Sadeghi, serial killers, Dana Rohrabacher and so many more!

David Richard Sparks, GOP "Christian Family Man," Gets 6.5 Years for $4.3 Million Scam

Orange County Republican insider, former Irvine planning commissioner and "Christian family man" David Richard Sparks will pray in a federal prison cell for the next 6 1/2 years. Over the recommendation of federal prosecutors, who sought 15 months less prison time for Sparks, a U.S. District Court ... More >>

Irvine Korean Festival This Saturday

​Dense in the head that I am, it still took me all of 3 seconds to realize how the City of Irvine came to host the Irvine Korean Cultural Festival tomorrow. Steven Choi, city councilman and a candidate for mayor, is also its founder. Why tomorrow? Well, because today, January 13th, is the day the ... More >>

[UPDATED with SJC Spooked:] Banning Pervs in Parks Sweeps OC

​UPDATE, AUG. 17, 11:17 A.M.: It's become so routine it's lost its news value: The District Attorney's office announces it's sending a rep before the latest of the 7,000 city councils in Orange County considering a ban on sex offenders in local parks modeled after the county law co-written by DA T ... More >>

[UPDATED with Early RSM Nod:] Banning Pervs in Parks Sweeps OC

​UPDATE, JULY 29, 9:41 A.M.: The Rancho Santa Margarita City Council voted Wednesday night to move ahead with a ban on registered sex offenders in city parks that is similar to the county law enacted in April.The council agreed that banning only those who have preyed on children would leave kids v ... More >>

David R. Sparks, Smooth-Talking GOP Liar and Real Estate Broker, Convicted of $4.3 Million Ponzi Scheme

Sparks​David R. Sparks lavished the Republican Party and GOP candidates with thousands of dollars over the years. He was so well liked that when ultimate party insider Adam Probolsky was removed amid controversy from the Irvine Planning Commission, Probolsky praised his chosen replacement, Sparks, ... More >>

[UPDATED with Split Response:] Rackauckas and Hutchens Support Ban on Sex Offenders in Irvine City Parks

Irvine council members Sukhee Kang, Beth Krom and Larry Agran​UPDATE, MAY 11, 9:54 A.M.: The proposal to ban sex offenders from Irvine city parks did not wow all council members Tuesday night. Mayor Sukhee Kang, Councilman Steven Choi and the councilman who brought the matter before the panel, Jef ... More >>

Welcome to the Ronald Reagan Great Park

EXCLUSIVE! Super-secret plans are afoot to name Orange County's largest public-works project after the Great Communicator

Scott Baugh: The Manchurian Party Chairman?

[Moxley Confidential] Are Republican insiders mad enough at Baugh to vote in an outsider to replace him?

Election 2010: Who's In and Who's Out in Irvine?

​Updated throughout the night, with the freshest post on topLate: Oy. Squeezed my way through the madness (good-looking madness) that was the OC Republican election night party in search of some Irvine players to chat with. No luck. Instead, I got to wander through a sea of boos when Presiden ... More >>

Coming Up Next From the Christina Shea Echo Chamber: Contamination Under the Great Park

​Christina Shea is not termed out as an Irvine City Council member until November, but she has given her first exit interview.If you expected the longtime City Hall fixture--who served as mayor from 1996 to 2000--to leave quietly, you obviously haven't been paying attention. Indeed, Shea lets slip ... More >>

[UPDATED:] Today's Important Unimportant Election, From My TV Screen to Your Computer/Phone Screen

​11:15 p.m.: Don't be surprised if KOCE is accused of turning over its election coverage to that rare Orange County bird known as the "Democrat." The "live, election night edition of Real Orange" came from the Artists Village in Santa Ana, OC's version of Havana. Their election expert was the Voic ... More >>

OC Democrat Asks Republicans To Drop 'No New Tax' Pledge

Photo by Christopher VictorioDemocratic Assembly candidate Melissa Fox has a taxing idea.​According to Melissa Fox, a Democratic Party candidate for Orange County's 70th Assembly District, the problem with California government isn't high taxes, a bloated bureaucracy or the massive $20 billion bud ... More >>

From the Irvine Tea Party: It's Not Okay to F*ck Obama

Spencer Kornhaber / OC WeeklyA Wheel of Fortune joke? Really?​That sign seems mean, right? Well, some people at today's tea party at the Irvine Auto Center agreed. They knew that scummy media types (ahem) would take pictures of it. So they made it go away.

Irvine Councilman Slammed For Disrespecting Nancy Pelosi

Christopher VictorioDid Steven Choi embarrass Irvine? ​Dan Chmielewski at the LiberalOC.com blog today blasted Irvine Councilman and state Assembly candidate Steven Choi for pinning to his back a small poster depicting U.S. House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi as Stalin, the brutal Russian ... More >>

Agran Crony and Gore Campaigner Agrees to Guilty Pleas in Federal Wire Fraud Case

Irvine attorney Sandeep Baweja, the 39-year-old money man for that town's "progressive" political boss Larry Agran and a former official with Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, agreed in court papers to plead guilty to two felony charges related to a scheme where he ripped off nearly all of the $ ... More >>

Park Place Owners Have a Rocky History in Irvine

Maguire had this office tower built at Park Place in 2006.​Maguire Properties' announcement today that it has sold its Park Place I office property in Irvine is just the latest twist for a massive campus that seems to have been dogged by controversy since the Los Angeles-based developer acqu ... More >>

"Press Conference" Against Iran Government Produces No News, Much Political Support in Irvine

Rep. Laura Richardson (inset), Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Rep. Ed Royce, together at last.If the goal of a press conference is to produce a "big announcement" that makes news and warrants coverage--the usual reason one calls a press conference in the first place--then the Iran Sup ... More >>

Agran Reelected Great Park Corp. Board Chairman

The Great Park Corp. Board of Directors this morning unanimously reelected director Michael Pinto to another four-year term and then reelected the Laguna Canyon Foundation founder their vice chairman. It was initially announced to be a straight flush, with the unanimous reelection of Irvine City Cou ... More >>

Will Obama's Stimulus Plan Help Make the OC Great Park a Reality?

Calling the action "momentous," the Great Park Corp. Board of Directors voted unanimously today to recommend the Irvine City Council adopt the Great Park Design Studio's Comprehensive Park Plan, the final planning piece required before the building phase can begin--as soon as March 20--on the ambiti ... More >>

Attorney Who Misspent Clients' $2.7 Million Was at Center of Irvine Election Controversies

The Register's Greg Hardesty has the scoop on 38-year-old Irvine attorney Sandeep Baweja admitting to burning through nearly all of a $2.7-million settlement that was supposed to be shared by about 1,000 plaintiffs he represented in a class-action labor lawsuit.According to the story, Baweja played ... More >>

Great Park to World: Crisis? What Global Economic Crisis?

You'd think the dotcom crisis was just a bad dream, the housing bubble never burst and we'd mysteriously been time traveled back to the halcyon days of the Clinton economy considering the bullish way the Orange County Great Park Corporation is pushing the financial envelope. &nb ... More >>

Auto Industry's Demise is Orange County Great Park's Gain

No one is buying cars in this country. That means new cars aren't leaving dealer lots. That means U.S. ports are getting backed up with cars that, at least temporarily, have no place to go. And that means ships bringing these cars into those ports are getting backed up as well.Gee, if only there was ... More >>

Great Park's Hired Design Reviewers Get Another $2 Mil to Add to Their Previous $2 Mil

"Um, yeah, that's not gonna work for me." The city of Irvine is paying a private company at least $400 million to design the Great Park. It has set aside $9 million for city staff and an independent company to check the Great Park Design Studio's plans to make sure they more quickly clear future ci ... More >>

You Read the Irvine Election Results Here First

Kang, Krom and Agran: staying put. Allow me to take you way, way, way back in time to last Thursday, Oct. 30, when the following was posted here (and it was in the print edition that hit the streets that day, too): [Irvine mayoral candidate Christina] Shea and fellow incumbent Sukhee Kang are the ... More >>

More Blast From the Past Fraud Allegations in Irvine Election

This examines a fraud case from the past involving a big donor to, ironically enough, Irvine Citizens for Ethics in Government, the independent committee against Irvine's Measure R, which asks residents to give a vote of approval to the Irvine City Council's planning of the Great Park on the old El ... More >>

Who is Down on Measure R (and How Much Are They Down For)?

Shea and Choi: big anti-R funders Measure R on the Irvine ballot asks residents to approve what a great job the Irvine City Council is doing on planning the Great Park on the old El Toro Marine Corps base (or if the measure loses, one supposes, what a piss-poor job they are doing). The conflict-of- ... More >>

Three Local Elections Worth Watching. Call It Morbid Fascination

Pin the $285,560 on the Non-Fundraising Fundraiser

Steven Choi: unsatisfied Down four members, the Orange County Great Park Corporation Board of Directors voted 4-1 today to recommend the Irvine City Council spend $285,560 for a private fundraising consultant. That's for one year, and the chosen firm is not expected to actually raise any funds dur ... More >>

Irvine Candidate Forum: Mostly Civil, Some Fireworks

Irvine is either a city where the sun does nothing but shine, the streets are lined with gold and bad stuff never ever ever ever ever ever ever happens, or it's a swirling cesspool of cronyism, backroom deals and looming Muslim threats. That was the message voters were given as a busload of people r ... More >>

Irvine Candidate Forum, Part 2

The mayoral candidates are covered in the previous post. Here are the council candidates: Eric Johnson: Run the city like a business. Build Great Park like a business, incrementally, so it pays for itself. More transparency and open meetings. While saying Gallinger's right to practice the Muslim fa ... More >>

What's Bad for Obama is Good for Todd Gallinger?

Irvine City Council races have a long, rich history of generating critical looks from the county grand jury, tireless political reformer Shirley Grindle, state Assemblyman Chuck Devore (R-Irvine), solidly Democrat UC Irvine political science professor Mark Petracca and, of course, our own R. Scott M ... More >>

Muffle Scuffle

*Moved up, 'cause the conversation's fun! Irvine's reigning feet-to-the-fire holder Stephen C. Smith has a very interesting post on his IrvineTattler.com site. Here is an excerpt from “Sukhee Kang Knows Your Birth Date”: Councilman and mayoral candidate Sukhee Kang used a California Public Re ... More >>

Twisted Sister City

Irvine shanghais Taiwan

Irvine Wants Communist $$$ for the Great Park?

The controversy surrounding Irvine's new "Sister City" relationship with Communist officials in Shanghai and the bizarre snub of democratic Taiwan began with numerous "irregularies," including breaches of protocol, "odd" outside influences and possible "deliberate deception," according to a June ... More >>

Agranistas Fire Ordinance

Proposed law takes aim at political consultants, advisers and the media

Criticize Larry Agran, Go to Jail

Irvine's Rules of Ethical and Open Governance would restrict criticism of politicians, passing of "GO", collection of $200

During Brain Surgery, Keep Your Eye on the Ball, You Cockroach

The Agran team responds to evidence of ethics problems with analogy, metaphor, psychoanalysis

Great Park With All the Fixins

Agran doling out pork at $441 per hour

AGRAN AGAIN!

Newport Beach, 12:14 a.m.