Gaido, Mary Ann

Metadata

Abstract

An oral history of Mary Ann Gaido, former member of the Irvine City Council, mayoral candidate, and longtime city planning commissioner. This interview is part of the Women, Politics, and Activism Oral History Project. The purpose of this interview is to explore Gaido’s challenges as part of the Democratic minority in Republican-dominated Irvine, as well as her service in local politics from the 1970s through the 2010s. Specifically, this interview focuses on Gaido’s city council campaigns [1976, 1980, 1984, 1990, and 2006] and mayoral campaigns [2014 and 2016]; remembers her forty-year service on the Irvine Planning Commission; recalls her role as an Orange County human rights specialist; explains her position as the vice president of government relations for St. Joseph Health; describes the challenges for women running for local office from the 1970s through the 2010s; details the memorable process of developing the city of Irvine over the last forty-five years; describes her fight to achieve equal housing rights for ethnic, socioeconomic, and LGBTQ minorities; recalls discrimination and sexual harassment she endured while serving on Irvine City Council; reflects on the changing environment for women in politics, Irvine’s shift to a more balanced political climate, and her own achievements in local government.