Irvine Councilman Slammed For Disrespecting Nancy Pelosi

Christopher Victorio

Did Steven Choi embarrass Irvine?

​Dan Chmielewski at the LiberalOC.com blog today blasted Irvine Councilman and state Assembly candidate Steven Choi for pinning to his back a small poster depicting U.S. House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi as Stalin, the brutal Russian communist of the last century.

"Choi demonstrated no tact, no class and no shame in walking around a hotel event he only gained access to due to his position on the city council," wrote Chmielewski. "To portray Pelosi as Stalin, a mass murderer of millions during his reign of power, is nothing short of outrageous."

Choi, a Republican, wore the picture at the Orange County Democratic Party's annual Harry S Truman Awards Dinner last Friday. After the LiberalOC's post, he told The Orange County Register's Sean Emery that he was merely expressing his opinion of Peliso's policies and called Chmielewski's complaint a "partisan attack" on him.


Chmielewski, however, is not just demanding that Choi apology to Pelosi, his Irvine City Council colleagues and Irvine residents. He also wants him to resign. After all, he says, Choi is now "not fit to serve" because "his behavior is a black eye on Irvine's place as a city of tolerance and influence."

But it's not just Democrats who are squealing. According to Emery, Choi's moves at the Pelosi event didn't impress local Republican operative Adam Probolsky. What pissed off Probolsky? Well, besides the fact the Choi had canned him as his city planning commissioner, Choi posed for a photograph with a woman holding a poster that portrayed Pelosi as a Nazi SS guard.

--R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly