OC Political

By popular request, here’s the complete list of votes at the City Selection Committee for the Orange County cities’ seat at the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) seat, held by Mayor Miguel Pulido (D-Santa Ana) since 2005, which Councilman Dwight Robinson (R-Lake Forest) captured tonight.  My live blog of the meeting is here.

21 cities, comprising 54.06% of the population of Orange County, voted for Robinson.  12 cities, comprising 44.79% of the population of Orange County, voted for Pulido.  San Juan Capistrano (1.15% of the population) missed the meeting.  To win the AQMD seat, a candidate needed both a majority of the cities and votes from cities comprising the majority of Orange County’s population.

The city that saved the day for Robinson was Irvine.  Holding 8.58% of the population of Orange County, had Irvine voted for Pulido, there would have been a stalemate, with Robinson getting 20 cities and 45.48% of the population while Pulido would have had 13 cities and 53.37% of the population.

As was reported here first on OC Political by Brenda McCune and then on Voice of OC by Adam Elmahrek, rumors swirled that Irvine Councilman Jeff Lalloway intended to vote for Pulido.  Responding to this, as reported by McCune and Elmahrek, Irvine Mayor Steven Choi replaced Lalloway with Councilwoman Christina Shea as Irvine’s representative, and Shea duly cast her vote for Robinson.

All six Democrats present cast their votes for Pulido. The two No Party Preference people split their votes between the Pulido and Robinson. 20 Republicans voted for Robinson while 5 Republicans voted for Pulido.

The five who crossed party lines were:

• Steve Mensinger (R-Costa Mesa)
• Jim Katapodis (R-Huntington Beach)
• Ed Selich (R-Newport Beach)
• Al Ethans (R-Stanton)
• Chuck Puckett (R-Tustin)

While Katapodis was instructed by Mayor Jill Hardy (D-Huntington Beach) to vote for Pulido, Mensinger, Selich, Ethans, and Puckett are all mayors, so they were able to vote at their own direction.

Here’s everyone who voted for Councilman Dwight Robinson (R-Lake Forest):

• Mike Munzing (R-Aliso Viejo)
• Tom Tait (R-Anaheim)
• Christine Marick (NPP-Brea)
• Rob Johnson (R-Cypress)
• John Tomlinson (R-Dana Point)
• Steve Nagel (R-Fountain Valley)
• Greg Sebourn (R-Fullerton)
• Christina Shea (R-Irvine)
• Peter Kim (R-La Palma)
• Barbara Kogerman (R-Laguna Hills)
• Laurie Davies (R-Laguna Niguel)
• Scott Voigts (R-Lake Forest)
• Troy Edgar (R-Los Alamitos)
• Cathy Schlicht (R-Mission Viejo)
• Chad Wanke (R-Placentia)
• Michael Vaughn (R-Rancho Santa Margarita)
• Kathy Ward (R-San Clemente)
• Ellery Deaton (R-Seal Beach)
• Diana Fascenelli (R-Villa Park)
• Tri Ta (R-Westminster)
• Gene Hernandez (R-Yorba Linda)

Here’s everyone who voted for Mayor Miguel Pulido (D-Santa Ana):

• Art Brown (D-Buena Park)
• Steve Mensinger (R-Costa Mesa)
• Bao Nguyen (D-Garden Grove)
• Jim Katapodis (R-Huntington Beach)
• Michael Blazey (NPP-La Habra)
• Bob Whalen (D-Laguna Beach)
• Cynthia Conners (D-Laguna Woods)
• Ed Selich (R-Newport Beach)
• Tita Smith (D-Orange)
• Miguel Pulido (D-Santa Ana)
• Al Ethans (R-Stanton)
• Chuck Puckett (R-Tustin)

Katapodis was instructed by Mayor Jill Hardy (D-Huntington Beach) to vote for Pulido.