Is Irvine Council candidate Huntley-Fenner an undercover liberal Democrat?

Two candidates have filed with the Irvine City Clerk for the 2012 Irvine City Council election.  They could not be more different from each other. One of them, Evan Chemers, is a Republican and a business owner.  The other, Gavin Huntley-Fenner, claims to be an independent – but closer scrutiny makes that sound like a load of B.S.

Huntley-Fenner serves on the Irvine Unified School District’s Board of Education.  He ran in 2006, garnering 30.9% of the vote – good enough to win.  He won again in 2010, with 37.8% of the vote.  He was endorsed in both elections by the Irvine teachers’ union.  He was also endorsed in 2010 by the Orange County Young Democrats.

Republican consultant Adam Probolosky interviewed Huntley-Fenner in 2010, and check out what he admitted to:

Despite millions in aid from the City of Irvine, Irvine Co. and others, the school district faces a massive budget deficit. The voters rejected a parcel tax for schools four times – in 1983, 1991, 1999 and 2000 – yet when asked at the PTA-sponsored candidates’ forum whether they support a parcel tax for schools, Huntley-Fenner and Wallin said they do. And they support lowering the voting threshold to pass a tax. 

That’s right – Huntley-Fenner is a tax increase advocate.  Irvine has great schools but do they really have an income problem, or a spending problem?  Most school districts waste millions of dollars – and most Democratic school board members are big time advocates of increasing taxes to pay for the waste.

Is Huntley-Fenner an Indepedent?  I don’t think so…

And it should not be a surprise that Huntley-Fenner donated to ActBlue – a Political Action Committee that supports Democrats only, last year.

Why is this guy masquerading as a Democrat?  Simple.  He knows Irvine has a Republican majority and he is hoping to fool the voters in November, as he did in 2006 and in 2010.  Trust me, this guy is no independent.  He is an undercover Democrat.

While Huntley-Fenner may be a Democrat, in practice if not in registration, he is a fairly useless one.  An Irvine resident tried to talk to him about how the school D.A.R.E. program is ineffective and Huntley-Fenner blew him off.  Most likely he is another lame liberal who clings to the drug war, even though one third of African American teens end up in jail because of it.

Probolosky also interviewed Chemers in 2010.  Chemers had some good ideas, including:

Cutting the iShuttle, instituting a hiring freeze and eliminating the holiday banner program are some of the ways Chemers says he would balance the city’s budget. He also wants to end summer concerts in the park and the winter ice skating rink there too.

I must say I am not a fan of Probolosky’s writing.  He comes off as pompous and all-knowing.  And for whatever reason he sucks up to horrible Democrat Larry Agran.  Birds of a feather I guess.  But while Probolosky wrote off Chemers, he has the money, as a successful business owner, to get his message out.  It should be noted that while he has pulled papers to run for the Irvine City Council, he doesn’t yet have a campaign I.D.

Huntley-Fenner also owns a business, in an area I am familiar with – safety.  But this guy looks like a classic limo liberal.  He is quite likely an Agran ally.

The people of Irvine can at long last dump at least some of the Agranistas in 2012.  Irvine Council Member Steven Choi is a lock to take out Beth Krom in the Mayor’s race.  Hopefully good candidates will emerge to defeat Huntley-Fenner, and any other Agran allies – and Chemers just might be one of them.

Looking back at the 2010 elections, Agran’s ally Shiva Farivar got her tail kicked – and Republican Jeff Lalloway won, despite being stabbed in the back by termed out Republican Christina Shea.  Republican Lynn Schott just missed getting elected.  She just might prevail if she tries again this year.