Mayor Andrew Sarega Resigns from La Mirada City Council

Andrew Sarega

By Brian Hews

Just weeks after finally achieving what he always coveted, La Mirada Mayor Andrew Sarega resigned from City Council, his resignation is effective May 8, 2024.

Sources are telling the La Mirada Lamplighter that Sarega will carpetbag move into Anaheim and run for City Council there.

It was a strange move, Sarega and his acerbic father Ion Sarega never let a meeting end without blasting the City Council for not appointing his son as Mayor.  

Mayor Sarega was serving his third term on the City Council.  He was first elected to the City Council on March 5, 2013 and re-elected on March 7, 2017 and June 7, 2022.  He served as Mayor Pro Tem from July 2023 to April 2024 and was recently selected as Mayor on April 9, 2024.

“I am grateful to the residents of La Mirada for allowing me to serve on the City Council during the past 11 years,” said Sarega in a statement posted on the city’s website.  “I have enjoyed being able to represent our community and consider the experience to be a tremendous honor.”

Sarega’s tenure was full of bumps and controversy related to the City Council and the Lamplighter.

In 2017, the Lamplighter  reported that the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) confirmed that the campaign finance investigation involving Sarega, resident Tony Aiello and Residents for a Better La Mirada related to the La Mirada City Council election in March 2017.

The investigation was a result of a series of articles exclusively published by the Lamplighter.

Prior to the investigation, Sarega filed a lawsuit suing the Lamplighter, just weeks later Aiello jumped into the controversy sending a threatening retraction letter and denying involvement.

Sarega’s campaign committee ‘Sarega for Council 2017’ was hit with four violations for failing to file a reports within 24 hours, four $1,000 donations from La Mirada voters in the campaign’s final weeks.

In addition, Sarega was hit with two other violations for failing to file two pre-election statements.

Later research by the Lamplighter found that Sarega was constantly absent from meetings.

For the period between 2018 and 2022 research found that Sarega missed a total of 90 meetings, absent nearly 25% of the time.

One of the worst incidents was in 2022, when fireworks erupted at the ordinarily tranquil La Mirada City Council meeting during the annual reorganization of mayor and vice-mayor council seats.

When the time came to vote for the positions, Sarega was passed over.

Present at the meeting was Andrew Sarega’s brother, Anaheim Police Officer David Sarega, who, after the meeting adjourned, “went berserk,” and according to an attendee, called Councilman Steven DeRuse a “fucking bitch” and then physically and verbally confronted DeRuse at the dais. Sarega also tried to fight Councilman Ed Eng. 

The La Mirada City Council can appoint within 60 days, hold a special election, or hold the seat open until the November election.