IRVINE : State Appeals Court to Hear Gaido Case

A state appellate court hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 9 in the City Council’s continuing attempt to prevent Mary Ann Gaido from taking a seat on the council.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Eileen C. Moore ordered the council late last month to seat Gaido, who placed third in the June election, in which two council seats were vacant and a third vacancy was created by Councilwoman Sally Anne Sheridan’s victory in the mayoral race.

But Irvine City Atty. John L. Fellows appealed Moore’s ruling, an action that has stayed the judge’s order.

Gaido had sued the city, alleging that under its election law, she deserved to take the council seat vacated when Sheridan was elected mayor.

Under the law, Gaido, as runner-up in the council race, normally would have taken a seat on the council and completed Sheridan’s term, which has two years remaining.

The city’s election law, however, also allows residents to challenge the seating of a council member to fill an unexpired term, and a residents group filed a petition signed by 3,965 registered voters to keep Gaido off the council. Instead, those residents argued, the vacancy should be filled by a special election.

On Aug. 31, the judge threw out the petition on the grounds that its wording might have misled residents who signed it into thinking an election was the only way to fill the open council seat.

Fellows, who alleges that Moore followed the wrong law in making her ruling, appealed the decision to the state Court of Appeal. The City Council later endorsed Fellows’ appeal and has scheduled a special election for Nov. 6. Five candidates will be on that ballot.

Meanwhile, Gaido’s attorney, Christopher Mears, filed a request with the state Court of Appeal to force the Irvine council to seat Gaido pending the Oct. 9 appeal hearing.

The council is expected to respond to Mears’ request with its own legal arguments next week.