Irvine council now has majority of women

The Irvine City Council swore in members Tuesday night, creating a historic reconfiguration.

For the first time, three women form a gender majority on the five-person panel, with first-term Councilwoman Lynn Schott joining incumbents Christina Shea and Beth Krom.

Mayor Steven Choi and Mayor Pro Tem Jeffrey Lalloway were reelected to their offices last month, while Schott won the seat held by long-time council member and former Mayor Larry Agran. All three were sworn in during the largely ceremonial meeting.

“It’s very humbling. I feel the weight of responsibility and I just pray that I will live up to it,” said Schott, who ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in 2012. “I will work hard every day to live up to the faith and the trust that people put in me with their vote.”

Perhaps more significantly, the council reconfiguration now includes a 4-1 Republican majority, with Krom the only Democratic voice remaining on the panel. Krom said she doesn’t believe that being the lone liberal voice should have too much affect on policy decisions.

“I feel like I’ve governed very consistently, regardless of the composition of the council over the last two years,” she said after the meeting. “Going from a minority of two to a minority of one isn’t that dramatically different.

“Councilwoman Schott has been very gracious. I’m hoping she’s looking forward to working well together.”

Schott she planned to do just that.

“I do want to be someone who fulfills a campaign pledge of really working across party lines and not focusing on a partisan divide,” Schott said.

Choi couldn’t let the shift in gender representation go by. “This council is now outnumbered by the ladies. That’s a good thing. They are softer than men,” he said with a smile. “More lovable.”

Krom concurred, noting, “Women kind of play nice in the sandbox.”