Politicians often run for office promising transparency and a commitment to democratic principles. However, once in office, some elected officials ignore their campaign promises and act in ways that subvert rather than support their constituents. Irvine City Councilmember Kathleen Treseder has become one of those politicians.
Treseder ran for Irvine City Council in 2022, promising “transparency and accountability.” She’s running for re-election this year, making those same promises. However, a review of her record shows that Councilmember Treseder has actively worked to deny Irvine voters their democratic right to weigh-in on critical matters.
Here are just three recent examples:
Ranked Choice Voting
During the April 28th City Council meeting, the Council discussed transitioning to Ranked Choice Voting — an electoral system in which voters rank candidates in order of preference on their ballots.
When Mayor Larry Agran proposed placing the matter on this November’s ballot for Irvine voters to decide, Treseder said NO! Instead, she led the effort to make sure the new voting system would go into effect, without voter approval.
Ironically, Treseder promotes Ranked Choice Voting as a more democratic system while denying Irvine voters the opportunity to decide which electoral system they prefer.
Orange County Power Authority (OCPA)
As Irvine Community News & Views has previously reported, OCPA is charging Irvine electricity customers higher monthly rates than Southern California Edison (SCE) while providing dirtier electricity (electricity generated by fossil fuels).
At the April 28th Council meeting, Mayor Agran introduced an agenda item to discuss his proposal to save Irvine taxpayers $759,000 annually by having the City government withdraw from OCPA and return to SCE. Rather than allowing a public discussion, Treseder had the Mayor’s item deleted from the agenda.
Four years ago, Kathleen Treseder supported the forced enrollment of all Irvine electricity customers into the more expensive OCPA electricity plan, without voter approval. Now that OCPA has proven to be dirtier than SCE and more expensive, Treseder is leading the effort to shut down all public discussions related to the failed agency.
Oak Creek
There is currently a debate among Irvine residents regarding a proposal by the Irvine Company to close the privately owned Oak Creek 18-hole golf course and replace it with a new residential neighborhood, a new public school, and a new 50-acre nature park.
While Mayor Agran has stated that Irvine voters should make the final decision on the proposed project, Councilmember Treseder has indicated that if the development proposal includes affordable housing units she will support it, apparently without a vote of the people.
As a longtime elections law attorney, I have witnessed politicians like Kathleen Treseder who ram their personal agendas through without public discussion because they believe they know better than the City’s voters. That is a dangerous precedent — one we should not follow.
