Newport Councilwoman Daigle seeks water district seat

Newport Beach City Councilwoman Leslie Daigle is running for a position on the Orange County Water District board of directors this fall.

“The water board has lost its way,” Daigle said of her decision to seek the Division 5 seat, currently held by Steve Sheldon.

She pointed to what she described as the board’s frivolous and costly lawsuits and the board’s pursuit of a power plant near a residential area in Anaheim.

“The water district shouldn’t be the ‘lawsuit district’ or the ‘power plant district,’” she said. “The drought requires us to get back to the basics.”

Daigle has served on the Newport Beach council for 10 years, during which time she was an advocate for completion of the Upper Newport Bay ecological restoration project. She was appointed to the council in 2004 and has served the maximum two four-year elected terms. Daigle ran unsuccessfully for state Assembly in 2012.

The water district board’s Division 5 includes parts of Newport Beach and Irvine. Daigle said the mayors of both cities have endorsed her.

— Emily Foxhall

Twitter: @emfoxhall