Subject:

Steven Choi

  • Blogs

    May 8, 2012

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    January 13, 2012

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    August 17, 2011

    [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 >>

  • Blogs

    July 29, 2011

    [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 >>

  • Blogs

    June 22, 2011

    [UPDATED with SJC Law on Agenda:] Banning Pervs in Parks Sweeps OC

    ​UPDATE, JUNE 22, 10:09 A.M.: While expressing some concern the county pervs-in-parks ban is too broad, the San Juan Capistrano City Council did decide Tuesday night to bring a local ordinance back for a vote July 5.Among the options the city with huge swaths of open space will explore are applyin ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 8, 2011

    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 >>

  • News

    May 26, 2011

    Larry Agran, It's Time for You to Go

    [Moxley Confidential] Recent interview inadvertently reveals the slimy side of Irvine's most powerful politician

  • Blogs

    May 11, 2011

    [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 >>

  • News

    March 31, 2011

    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

  • News

    January 6, 2011

    Scott Baugh: The Manchurian Party Chairman?

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

  • Blogs

    November 2, 2010

    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 >>

  • News

    August 19, 2010

    The Great Park: Hot Air?

    Thanks to Larry Agran, a few people have gotten very rich from the county's proposed $1.2 billion, still-not-built park

  • Blogs

    July 26, 2010

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    June 8, 2010

    [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 >>

  • Blogs

    May 20, 2010

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    April 15, 2010

    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.

  • Blogs

    December 7, 2009

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    October 2, 2009

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    August 12, 2009

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    August 10, 2009

    "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 >>

  • Blogs

    May 12, 2009

    As Stephen Smith Leaves Town, Irvine's "Tattler" Calls on Others to Step Up

    Stephen C. Smith calls on others to keep tabs on Irvine City Hall.CORRECTED!Lost in Santa Ana a few months ago, half paying attention to the street signs and half to Larry Mantle's KPCC interview show blaring out of the car speakers, I heard the host steer his Orange County "roundtable" guests--Oran ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 19, 2009

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    February 19, 2009

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    December 31, 2008

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    December 22, 2008

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    December 18, 2008

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    November 20, 2008

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    November 5, 2008

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    November 3, 2008

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    October 31, 2008

    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 >>

  • News

    October 30, 2008

    Three Local Elections Worth Watching. Call It Morbid Fascination

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    October 23, 2008

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    October 21, 2008

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    October 21, 2008

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    October 15, 2008

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    August 3, 2008

    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 >>

  • News

    June 29, 2006

    Twisted Sister City

    Irvine shanghais Taiwan

  • Blogs

    June 25, 2006

    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 >>

  • News

    January 19, 2006

    Update: Agran's Pork Probed

    Grand jury eyes OC Great Park shenanigans

  • News

    December 15, 2005

    Agranistas Fire Ordinance

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

  • News

    September 22, 2005

    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

  • News

    July 21, 2005

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

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

  • News

    June 23, 2005

    Great Park With All the Fixins

    Agran doling out pork at $441 per hour

  • Features

    November 4, 2004

    O, America . . .

    Reflections on Election Day, 2004

  • News

    November 4, 2004

    AGRAN AGAIN!

    Newport Beach, 12:14 a.m.

  • News

    October 21, 2004

    A Boy Named Sue

    Irvine Mayor Agran attempts to muzzle his critics with legal threats

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