OC Political

On Tuesday, San Juan Capistrano City Councilman Sam Allevato announced his plans to resign less than month after John Perry was appointed to replace Councilman Roy Byrnes who announced his resignation six weeks earlier.

According to the Orange County Register, Allevato resigned because he felt “blindsided” by “total retribution” by the City Council majority who wished to remove him from the board of directors of the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA), which runs all of Orange County’s toll roads, (other than the 91 Express lanes, which are run by the Orange County Transportation Authority).

New Councilman John Perry had made the proposal to remove Allevato from the TCA.  Prior to joining the Council, Perry had led an unsuccessful recall effort against Allevato.  Councilwoman Kerry Ferguson supported Perry’s proposal to remove Allevato from TCA because she wanted to bring “decorum” and “professionalism” to the Council.

The 90-year-old Byrnes announced his resignation in January declaring that he had accomplished his goals and wanted to move on.

Byrnes was elected in 1972 at the age of 48, served one term, and then was elected again in 2012 at the age of 88 before resigning in January 2015, three months after the November 2014 elections.

(Allevato had himself been appointed to the City Council in March 2004 to succeed Councilman John Gelff who had suddenly passed away at the age of 54 in February 2004, just nine months before the election.  Allevato was re-elected in November 2004, 2008, and 2012.)

Councilman Derek Reeve was first elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014.  Councilwomen Pam Patterson and Kerry Ferguson were both first elected in 2014.  For the stability of San Juan Capistrano, hopefully, Reeve, Patterson, and Ferguson don’t resign.