This is the first election in which the Irvine City Council will be elected from districts, instead of at-large.
There are four districts on the ballot, and a total of 15 candidates running for them.
One of those is William Go, who is running for City Council from District 2, which includes the Great Park neighborhoods.
You’re supposed to run from the district where you live.
Go apparently feels unconstrained by this legal requirement, as evidenced by a text message that Go sent to a group text in February 2023. He openly discussed how he felt he could run for city council from any number of council districts, as if where he really lived – or didn’t live – wasn’t an issue.
The “El Camino Green Tree district” to which Go refers in the first part of his text is in District 3.
The UCI/airport property to which he refers is in District 5 (which isn’t on the ballot this election cycle).
Ultimately, Go decided on District 2.
Does he live there?
In his text, he states that “Tom Chomyn is my neighbor at Green Tree.”
Chomyn is also running for city council…in District 3.
So are Chomyn and Go still neighbors?
In another text from October 2023, Go writes that he’s moving to San Diego “for the next few months to a year.” That would have him living in San Diego until…about now.
The apartment to which he moved, in a luxury high-rise in San Diego’s hip Little Italy neighborhood, just recently came back on the market.
Let’s recap.
William Go, by his own admission in a group text, takes a very expansive view of the meaning of residency. He said, in black and white, he believes he can run from anywhere he owns a property by claiming he lives there. It’s just a matter of deciding what works best for him.
A year ago, he also said he was leaving Irvine altogether and would instead be living in San Diego for up to a year.
Go appears to be a nomad, a migratory subspecies of city council candidate attracted to hospitable political climates.
Go’s texts raise serious questions. Not only about his true residency. But about his political and personal integrity. At best, Go went district-shopping, which defeats the purpose of moving to district elections and electing council representatives with roots in the district they represent. Go doesn’t seem to have roots anywhere.
