Mayor of Irvine; California

Steven Seokho Choi (Korean: 최석호 Seok-Ho Choi; born January 15, 1944) is a

U.S. Republican Party politician from Orange County, California. He is the current mayor of Irvine, California. Prior to that, he served as the first Asian-American elected to two consecutive four-year terms on the Irvine Unified School Board and one of two Korean Americans on the Irvine City Council and was the first Asian American to have been elected to a four-year term on the City Council. In 2012, Choi successfully ran for Mayor of Irvine, defeating Irvine City Councilman Larry Agran. He was re-elected in 2014.

Born in South Korea, Steven Choi earned his B.A. degree from Kyung Hee University in Seoul, South Korea. He came to the United States from South Korea as a Peace Corps language instructor for the State Department in August 1968. He then continued his post-graduate education, earning his master's degree in Library Science from Louisiana State University, and his Ph.D. in Library and Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh.

He has taught at several universities and colleges including USC, UCI, California State University, Los Angeles, Henderson State University in Arkansas, Saddleback College, and most recently, Coastline Community College. He founded and serves as Director of Dr. Choi's Academy.

With his wife, Janie, and their two children, Choi has lived in Irvine since 1993 and in Mission Viejo from 1981-1993. Both of their children attended public schools in the Irvine Unified School District. Daniel is a physician at Kaiser Permanente in Orange County. Michelle is an attorney working in Irvine.

On September 19, 2008 Steven Choi was the subject of a controversy based on his highlighting of opponent Todd Gallinger's extensive legal work with the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Choi called CAIR "a dangerous Islamic organization."

Weeks after Choi made his comment, Gallinger received a death threat stating, "I want to cut off your head just like all the other Muslims deserve." When asked regarding his statement which may have fueled the incident, Choi stated, "It's a ridiculous question...Am I responsible for someone else making a threat to him? No. This is not my intent at all.

he Irvine City Council is composed of 5 people, including the mayor. The council has 4 Republican members (Choi, Christina Shea, Lynn Schott, and Jeff Lalloway) and 1 Democratic member (Beth Krom). Choi is a part of the conservative council majority, and has been able to promote programs he supports and stop policies he opposes from being enacted. During the course of new sister city negotiations, he successfully opposed the One-China principle demanded by Shanghai's Xuhui government in the People's Republic of China, which would have required Irvine to abandon its existing long-term sister city relationship with Taoyuan, Taiwan.

Choi serves as Chairman of the Orange County Public Library Advisory Board, which consists of Mayors and Council members from 27 Orange County cities, and is also Chairman of the Irvine Library Advisory Committee. He serves on the Orange County Great Park Corporation Board, the Irvine Redevelopment Agency, the Orange County Sanitation District Board and other countywide committees. His vision is to build a large Orange County/City Metropolitan Library at the Great Park.

In addition, Choi is a member of the Concordia University President's Advisory Council and is Irvine’s representative to Growth Management Areas 4 and 9 and the Newport Bay Watershed Executive Committee. He formerly represented the 71st Assembly District on the Orange County Republican Party Central Committee. On June 3, 2008, he became the only incumbent to not be re-elected to the Orange County Republican Party Central Committee, coming in seventh with only 6.5% of the available vote. He is also a member of the Local Elected Officials Association and the 400 Club.