Election 2020: Where Do The Candidates Stand On The Issues? Recap of Last Night’s Candidate Forum (UPDATED)
(This post has been updated for clarity)
Irvine Watchdog held its Irvine Mayor & Council Candidates Forum last night, but not without technical issues. We sincerely apologize to the viewers and candidates for the technical issues and the late start. We are grateful for everybody’s patience and understanding. Despite the technical difficulties, the Forum did proceed with 3 of 4 mayoral candidates and 13 of 14 city council candidates.
Click here to watch a video of the Irvine Mayor & Council Candidates Forum at your convenience.
Due to the number of candidates and the number of questions we received from the community, we were only able to provide a birds eye view of where the candidates stand on the issues. We encourage you to read our Voter Guide and to visit candidate websites to learn more information about each candidate.
Below is a recap of the questions and answers from the candidates on the Yes/No questions:
Round 1 – Question #1 – If elected, will you hold weekly constituent office hours?
Candidates unanimously answered “Yes”. 
Round 1 – Question #2 – Should Great Park residents be part of the decision-making process on Great Park development projects?
Candidates unanimously answered “Yes”. 
Round 1 – Question #3 – Will you support the formation of a Great Park Advisory Committee, consisting of Great Park residents and other community members, to provide input on future Great Park development projects?
- YES – Park, Johnson-Norris, Green, O’Malley, Dillard, Garg, Pole, Kim, Agran, Jiang, Daigle, Bratton, Newgent, Khan
- YES/NO – Carroll, Shea
Round 1- Question #4 – Many residents have voiced concern that the development in the City has moved away from the Master Plan “village concept”. Do you agree with this sentiment?
- YES – Johnson-Norris, Green, O’Malley, Dillard, Pole, Kim, Agran, Jiang, Bratton, Khan
- NO – Park, Carroll, Shea
- ABSTAINED – Newgent
Round 1 – Question #5 – Will you preserve the existing “village-style” communities as Irvine continues to grow?
Candidates unanimously voted “Yes”. 
Round 1 – Question #6 – Are you in favor of creating an independent Ethics Commission for Irvine that has the power to receive, investigate, and remedy allegations of ethics code violations?
- YES – Park, Johnson-Norris, Green, O’Malley, Dillard, Garg, Pole, Kim, Agran, Jiang, Daigle, Bratton, Newgent, Khan
- YES/NO – Carroll, Shea
Round 1- Question #7 – Are you accepting financial support from developers, their lobbyists, or Political Action Committees that accept funding from developers?
Candidates unanimously answered “No”. 
Round 1- Question #8 – Long Answer Question – What challenges do you see with ethics, transparency, or accountability in our city? And what solutions would you propose to address these concerns?
Click here to hear candidates answers to Question #8
Round 2 – Question #9 – Are you in support of creating a housing program with wrap around services for the homeless in Irvine?
- YES – Johnson-Norris, Green, Dillard, Pole, Kim, Agran, Carroll, Shea, Khan
- NO – Park, O’Malley, Jiang, Daigle
- YES/NO – Garg
- ABSTAINED – Newgent
Round 2 – Question #10 – Do you support building a State Veterans Cemetery in Irvine?
Candidates unanimously answered “Yes”. 
Round 2 – Question #11 – Do you support building the State Veterans Memorial Park & Cemetery at the ARDA site?
- YES – Johnson-Norris, Green, O’Malley, Dillard, Pole, Agran, Daigle, Bratton
- NO – Park, Garg, Jiang, Carroll, Shea
- YES/NO – Newgent, Khan
- ABSTAINED – Dillard (held up YES, then switched to abstain), Kim
Round 2 – Question #12 – Do you think the City’s response to COVID-19 has been adequate?
- YES – Garg, Carroll, Shea, Khan
- NO – Johnson-Norris, Green, O’Malley, Dillard, Pole, Kim, Agran, Jiang, Daigle,
- YES/NO – Bratton
- ABSTAINED – Park, Newgent
Round 2 – Question #13 – Would you be in favor of developing an Irvine specific public transportation service for residents to major Irvine destinations?
- YES – Johnson-Norris, Green, O’Malley, Dillard, Garg, Pole, Kim, Agran, Jiang, Daigle, Carroll, Shea, Khan
- ABSTAINED – Park, Bratton, Newgent
Round 2 – Question #14 – Are you in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and supporting their interests and concerns in Irvine?
- YES – Johnson-Norris, Green, Dillard, Garg, Pole, Kim, Agran, Bratton, Newgent, Khan
- NO – Daigle
- YES/NO – Shea
- ABSTAINED – Park, O’Malley, Jiang, Carroll
Round 2 – Question #15 – Irvine is waiting to hear back from other cities on whether they will join us in a Community Choice Energy Joint Powers Authority. If no other cities join Irvine in a CCE program this year, would you vote to support Irvine filing paperwork by Dec. 30, 2020 to launch CCE independent of other cities?
- YES – Johnson-Norris, Green, O’Malley, Dillard, Garg, Pole, Kim, Agran, Jiang,
- NO – Carroll
- YES/NO – Shea, Khan
- ABSTAINED – Park, Bratton
- VIDEO OFF – Newgent
Round 2 – Question #16 – Long Answer Question – This City Council will have an important role in Irvine’s Climate Action Plan. What do you see as the top policies that should be included in the Climate Action Plan?
Click here to hear candidates answers to Question 16
Round 3 – Question #17 – Are you in favor of having homeless and mental health matters responded to by social service professionals along with members of the police department, rather than continuing to leave the responsibility primarily to the police department as is the practice today?
- YES – Johnson-Norris, Green, O’Malley, Dillard, Garg, Pole, Kim, Agran, Jiang, Daigle, Carroll, Bratton, Shea, Newgent, Khan
- ABSTAINED – Park
Round 3 – Question #18 – Will you help protect and advance LGBTQ rights in Irvine?
Candidates unanimously voted “Yes”.
Round 3 – Question #19 – Do you think City Hall is taking a strong enough stance on traffic mitigation when approving new projects?
- YES – Garg, Jiang, Shea
- NO – Park, Johnson-Norris, Green, O’Malley, Dillard, Pole, Kim, Agran, Daigle, Bratton, Khan
- YES/NO – Carroll
- VIDEO OFF – Newgent
Round 3 – Question #20 – Most cities the size of Irvine have at least 9 city council members. Would you be in favor of increasing Irvine’s City Council from 5 to 7 or 9 members?
- YES – Park, Johnson-Norris, Green, O’Malley, Dillard, Garg, Pole, Kim, Jiang, Daigle, Khan
- NO – Agran, Bratton, Shea
- YES/NO – Carroll
- VIDEO OFF – Newgent
Round 3 – Question #21 – Should Irvine switch to district elections for City Council seats, similar to our IUSD School Board elections, in the future?
- YES – Johnson-Norris, Green, O’Malley, Dillard, Agran, Jiang, Daigle, Bratton,
- NO – Garg, Pole
- YES/NO – Kim, Carroll, Khan
- ABSTAINED – Park, Shea
- VIDEO OFF – Newgent
Round 3 – Question #22 – Should councilmembers recuse themselves from voting on matters involving their campaign contributors?
- YES – Park, Johnson-Norris, Green, O’Malley, Dillard, Garg, Pole, Kim, Agran, Jiang, Daigle, Carroll, Bratton, Newgent, Khan
- ABSTAINED – Shea
Round 3 – Question #23 – Long Answer Question – What are your two most important goals that you would like to see accomplished for the City of Irvine?
