- June 9, 2023
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Wesley Oliphant22 Posts
Wesley Oliphant lives with his wife and two children in Irvine's Portola Springs neighborhood. He is an Assistant Professor of Economics at a community college and a volunteer with Irvine Watchdog.
Acronyms Guide for Irvine Government
While acronyms are used for convenience for people familiar already with the terms, they can also take on the form of their own language and constitute a barrier to understanding to those unfamiliar with the terms. To remove this barrier, Irvine Watchdog has created this guide so you can look up acronyms. This guide is […]
Irvine’s Election: Forget About Blue or Red…How Did Another Color Do?
By Wesley Oliphant – Like most things, an election can be seen in different ways. Of course, most are analyzing the recent election in terms of the Blue and Red divide. Why did the Democrats not do as well as predicted? Is Trump and his particular brand of politics finished? However, another color to consider […]
What If? A Fire Hits Irvine…Can We Escape in Time?
During the summer and fall of this past year, much of the news surrounded the fires in California. It is little wonder why. This year’s wildfire season was considered to be one of the most damaging ever recorded. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, nearly 1.7 million acres burned which is […]
The New Political Trend in Irvine: Make it a Stepping Stone
“Never treat anything you do as a stepping stone. Do it fully, and follow it completely.” – Mira Nair Irvine. Over the years, the city has experienced major changes. The most prominent is the huge amount of growth in residents. In 2000, the city’s population was a little below 150,000. By 2018, the city’s population […]
The Campaign Tactic You Never Heard of: Selective Deletion (Part 2)
In part 1, I discussed how the tactic of selective deletion on Facebook is used to influence people’s opinions on local politics – turning what look like open forums into echo chambers to convince people of policies and views that may be against these people’s own interests. Unfortunately, this tactic is not only confined to […]
The Campaign Tactic You Never Heard of: Selective Deletion (Part 1)
Another election has passed in Irvine. It was mostly the usual distasteful stuff – anonymous attacks, fliers, fake profiles, attack mailers, endorsements from civic organizations that may or may not have more to do with donations than actual policies. But there is another tactic you may not be aware of that can be just as […]
Exclusive: The Council Candidates Weigh in After the Election
While the votes continue to be counted, we at Irvine Watchdog decided to reach out to the candidates for City Council. We wanted to thank them for their participation and to ask them the questions we felt Irvine residents would be interested in. These questions were the following: What did you learn from this campaign? […]
Endorsement? Yes. Rationale? No.
Endorsements. They are supposed to encourage us to vote for a candidate. However, to be a useful endorsement, we should know about the group or person endorsing and the reasons for the endorsement. So, what do we know? Recently, I have received mailers of candidates sporting their endorsements by organizations. For example, one prominent group […]
Key Takeaways from Irvine City Council Candidate Forum
Eight of the twelve City Council Candidates attended the Irvine Council Forum on Sunday, September 30th to give their positions on issues that ranged from whether Irvine should remain as a sanctuary city to how they would handle a court order mandating that 50 homeless people will need to be settled in Irvine. The candidates […]
“What’s in it for Me?” Why You Should Attend the Upcoming Candidate Forum
A candidate forum. With all the options available to us, you might ask “Why attend a City Council Candidate forum, and why particularly the one coming up this Sunday?”. First, a forum is a much better source of information on the candidates than almost any other. As we strive to be informed citizens during a […]
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