Just two months after Irvine voters rejected her bid for Mayor, Tammy Kim is back on the campaign trail, running for the District 5 City Council seat vacated by Larry Agran when he was elected Mayor.

Even though Kim has been running for the District 5 Council seat since her loss to Agran, she acknowledged her continued residency in District 3 during the November 12th City Council meeting when she stated: “I’ve lived in District 3 for nearly 20 years.”

For most of us, the beginning of the year brings a renewed sense of optimism and hope. When it comes to the Irvine City Council, I am cautiously optimistic that many of the contentious items from last year may soon be overcome.

After backlash from the community, the new Council appears to be more receptive to listening to constituents (and the City’s commissioners) before pushing forward.

November 5th is Election Day! If you are not registered to vote, you can register and vote at the same time at any Vote Center, right up to and including on Election Day.

The good news for Irvine voters is this: The two leading candidates running to become Irvine’s next Mayor — Vice Mayor Larry Agran & Councilmember Tammy Kim — have four years of votes that we can examine. We have a chart that displays major votes the two candidates have taken since they were elected to the City Council in 2020.

This past week, Irvine residents received their vote-by-mail ballot for the November 5th election....

October 1st marked the two-year anniversary since Irvine residential electricity customers were forced into the more expensive plan offered by the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA).

And, OCPA has not provided anyone in Irvine with greener electricity. Our electricity comes from the California electricity grid. There is not a separate transmission line pumping “100% renewable” electricity into the homes of OCPA customers.

As founding publisher and editor of Irvine Community News & Views, I’ve always made it clear...

Since being elected to the Council in 2020, Tammy Kim has made it her priority to advocate for those who will benefit her financially. Here are just a few examples:

Tammy Kim took a political contribution from the head of Business Affairs at Amazon and then voted against the Planning Commission’s request to place restrictions on massive warehouses being built near Irvine neighborhoods (one is the size of 5 Costco stores!).
 

The person with the most money should not be allowed to buy a seat on the City Council. That’s what Irvine voters made clear back in the 1980s when they passed a ballot measure that put a limit on how much an individual could donate to a political candidate running for local office. In the November election, that contribution limit is $620.

In the race for Mayor, Tammy Kim has received most of her campaign donations — about 60% — from out-of-town business interests. She’s also relying on two newly created big-money political committees to get around Irvine’s campaign contribution limit.

I am an experienced elections attorney. Years ago, I was General Counsel for the Illinois Elections Law Commission. I also served as Chair of the Illinois State Board of Elections — an independent state agency responsible for administering and enforcing campaign finance and election laws.

Read more here.

Independence Day, also called Fourth of July, is America’s annual celebration of nationhood. The holiday commemorates the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. It’s a time to come together as Americans to honor our revolutionary history —  and our military — through parades, concerts filled with patriotic music, and awe-inspiring fireworks.

Regardless of how you plan to spend the day, we urge our readers to take some time to reflect on the many sacrifices our brave men and women — both those in uniform as well as civilians — have made these past 248 years to keep our nation free.