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Los Angeles Times
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Former Irvine City Council member charged with perjury, multiple felonies in alleged election fraud
Only a few months ago, former Irvine Vice Mayor Tammy Kim had aspirations of returning to the City Council she previously served on for four years. Now her immediate goal is to fight off charges that could put her in prison for several years. The Orange County district attorney's office announced Thursday afternoon that Kim was charged with 10 felonies tied to lying about her residency during her City Council tenure and while campaigning for mayor last fall. Kim was formally charged with three felony counts of perjury by declaration, three felony counts of filing a false document, and one felony count each of a public official aiding the illegal casting of votes, of filing false nominations papers, of knowing of the registration of someone not entitled to vote and of voter registration fraud. She was also charged with a misdemeanor of making a false statement. She could spend up to 11 years and two months in state prison and county jail if convicted on all counts. She is scheduled to be arraigned Friday morning. Kim briefly responded to a call from The Times, saying she was advised not to share too much per her attorney, Caroline Hahn. 'We're entering a not guilty plea,' Kim said. Hahn added that she and her client 'planned to launch a vigorous defense' but did not answer further questions. Kim is accused of using two fraudulent addresses while running for mayor in the November 2024 election and then in a City Council special election in early 2025, according to the criminal complaint. She owned a condo in the city's 3rd District, where she had lived since 2015, according to a separate lawsuit filed against Kim to get her thrown off the City Council ballot. Kim won election to the Irvine City Council in November 2020, receiving nearly 44,000 votes a 14-person, top-three-candidate race. At that time, city elections in Irvine used an at-large voting system, meaning candidates could live anywhere in the city. The city moved to district elections in the fall 2024, requiring council members to live in the districts they represent. Only voters from those districts could vote for those candidates. Kim served until November 2024 when she ran for and ultimately lost a mayoral campaign to Councilmember Larry Agran by a margin of nearly 5,000 votes. The district attorney's office believes Kim improperly used an address to run for mayor, no longer claiming to live in the 3rd District condo she had owned for a decade. To run for mayor, Kim changed her California driver's license and her voter registration to a home in the 5th District, where she never lived, according to the criminal complaint. The home belonged to a family Kim met through a Korean teaching class, the complaint alleges. Kim did not inform the family that she was using their address, according to the complaint. She has been charged with certifying that address as her own under the penalty of perjury. Kim eventually finished her campaign and voted in November's mayoral race based out of the 5th Diistrict home. Shortly after her defeat, Kim declared her candidacy in December to fill the now- vacant 5th District seat, which Agran left after winning the mayoral election. Kim eventually found a room in another 5th District home on Jan. 10 and changed her California driver's registration that same day, according to the complaint. She then filed new nomination paperwork with the new 5th District address, according to the complaint. Later that month, former mayoral candidate Ron Scolesdang sued Kim, claiming that she was fraudulently using an incorrect address. Scolesdang had hired a private investigator to monitor Kim, according to that lawsuit. Kim eventually dropped out of the race on Feb. 7, the same day a Superior Court judge removed her name from the ballot. Betty Franco Martinez won the special election.
Los Angeles Times
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Betty Martinez-Franco makes history as first Latina elected to the Irvine City Council
The balance of power on the Irvine City Council is poised to shift when Betty Martinez-Franco takes her seat next month. The District 5 seat opened up when Larry Agran successfully ran for mayor in November while on the council. Martinez-Franco, a Democrat, took an early lead in the April 15 special election — and never looked back. She won roughly 49% of the vote with former Irvine City Councilmember Anthony Kuo, a Republican, placing second with 41.5%. 'As a woman, as a minority, and as a person that was always told that there's no chance that I could win a race in Irvine, I thought that I needed to be extra prepared,' Martinez-Franco said. 'I pledged to run the first opportunity that I got, and that first opportunity was the special election.' Martinez-Franco, who said she will be the first Latina ever seated on the City Council, has a backstory not common to most local politicians. She immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico without authorization. She is a domestic violence survivor, raised her two daughters as a single mother and worked as a housekeeper at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel when it first opened in 2001. Martinez-Franco originally moved to a Section 8 apartment in Irvine more than 20 years ago with the help of Human Options, an Irvine-based nonprofit that works with domestic violence survivors. In 2016 she became a U.S. citizen. Later on, the pandemic and its unequal strain on the Latino community motivated her to enroll at USC, where she earned a master's degree in public administration. She got involved locally by serving on Irvine's diversity, equity and inclusion committee. 'I have more in common with people that live here,' said Martinez-Franco. 'I am the same as any other person from any other ethnicity with the same experiences, and I think that's what I can offer to my community.' As Irvine makes its full transition to single-member districts, residents in District 5 did not have the opportunity to elect their own council member until the special election. Straddling both sides of the 405 Freeway, the district leans Democrat. According to Orange County Registrar of Voters data, 40% of registered voters are Democrat while 26% are Republicans and 28% are independents. The district is 63% white, 14% Latino and 17% Asian American and Pacific Islander. 'We had no track record for what an election would look like for that district,' said Lauren Johnson-Norris, executive vice chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County. 'Now we have a definitive answer about what the voters care about and want.' A lawsuit and big spending characterized the contentious special election. Former council member Tammy Kim, also a Democrat, dropped out of the race to settle a suit brought forth by Ron Scolesdang that challenged her eligibility based on residency requirements. In the aftermath, Kuo outraised Martinez-Franco on individual campaign contributions by more than $10,000. Independent expenditures, which are not coordinated with respective campaigns, also swayed heavily in support of Kuo. Lincoln Club of Orange County PACs spent more than $75,000 for the race. Another PAC funded by fast-food franchises spent $66,500. The six-figure spending sum did not deter Martinez-Franco. 'If I only knock on enough doors, if I only talk to enough people, those are the people that are going to vote for me, not money,' she said. Unite Here Local 11, a hotel workers union, spent an estimated $25,000 in support of Martinez-Franco's campaign. Even though the City Council is nonpartisan, the race took partisan overtones, especially when a mailer paid for by the 1962 PAC of the Lincoln Club of Orange County featured Kuo pictured between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The mailer suggested 'liberals win if conservatives don't vote' and that Kuo would rid Irvine City Hall of 'waste, fraud and abuse.' Johnson-Norris, a District 5 voter, claimed the mailer was a huge mistake. 'Why they thought the mailer was going to help, I don't know,' she said. 'There's no chance it did, especially in this district at this time.' With Martinez-Franco set to become Irvine's fifth Democrat on its seven-member council, the local party is hopeful her victory can spur a number of key policy objectives, from passing a climate action plan to strengthening hotel worker protections. In January, the council voted 4-2 to strip double pay for heavy workloads from a hotel worker law first passed in 2022. Having worked as a housekeeper before, Martinez-Franco is supportive of revisiting the law. 'I know the struggles that housekeepers go through,' she said. 'They deserve better protections.' Affordable housing, traffic congestion, parks, libraries and environmentalism are other top priorities. A factor in how a climate action plan goes forward, Irvine is poised to withdraw from the Orange County Power Authority sometime this year. Once sworn in, Martinez-Franco wants to talk to OCPA and see what they have done, in particular, for low-income communities to meet their clean energy needs at affordable prices. Before getting to work on the City Council, she hopes that her election stands as an example, one that already inspired a UC Irvine student to consider a future in electoral politics along the campaign trail, a moment Martinez-Franco called a 'dream.' Latinas have proven to be an emerging force in Orange County politics, with more candidates running for office in recent years than ever before. Next month, Irvine joins the political trend. 'You have the right to run in a city that you love,' Martinez-Franco said. 'If you're going to do better for your community, if you have the passion, nothing can stop you.'
Los Angeles Times
16-04-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
3 Irvine city officials honor Planned Parenthood after chamber rescinds award
The Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce was all set in January to recognize organizations, businesses and individuals whose innovative work makes a meaningful difference in healthcare and patient outcomes, when a mysterious last-minute edit to the event's program was made. One of the recipients due to be honored — Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties — was quietly removed from all public mention associated with the Jan. 16 ceremony. Irene Salazar, senior vice president of community education and outreach for the Orange-based nonprofit, said members of her team were 'devastated' to hear the news on the day of the event. 'At first I was a little bit shocked. We thought maybe it was a safety issue,' she said of the organization whose Costa Mesa health center was the scene of a 2022 firebombing attempt that spurred the need for a security presence at public occasions. 'Then we found out it was something completely different.' Held at the Hilton Irvine, the chamber's Excellence in Healthcare and Innovation award had intended to pay tribute to Planned Parenthood's 'Equal Voices' and Male Involvement programs — two initiatives that provide education, support and a forum for students with intellectual disabilities and young men in the justice system, respectively. Instead, officials were told by the Irvine chamber's chief executive Dave Coffaro their removal from the night's program was 'a business decision,' though no additional information was provided. They were offered the chance to receive the award in private, so long as they did not post about it in social media or share the news publicly. They declined. Representatives of the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce, including Coffaro, did not respond Tuesday to requests for comment on the matter. Sadaf Rahmani, who oversees public affairs for PPOSBC, said some wondered at the timing of the chamber's decision, just days before Donald Trump's second presidential inauguration and amid increasing rhetoric about the dismantling of educational programs aligned with diversity, equity and inclusion standards. 'Being Planned Parenthood, it's easy to see what they may have meant by 'business decision,' especially given the environment we're in right now with the current administration,' Rahmani said. 'So, we were disappointed but not necessarily surprised by this.' Still, the snubbing was unsettling given that, in June 2022, the Irvine City Council passed a resolution formally opposing the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe vs. Wade and encouraging residents to 'continue to support efforts to protect reproductive freedom, through education and advocacy.' The declaration was proposed by then-Mayor Farrah Khan and adopted on a 3-2 vote, with former Councilman Anthony Kuo and current Councilman Mark Carroll opposed. Now, a contingent of relatively new Irvine City Council members have stepped up to show their support for Planned Parenthood's programs and impact on the local community — and to deliver the recognition they say the group and its staff deserve. During an April 7 summit hosted by the Public School Defenders Hub, an initiative of the Anaheim-based nonprofit Contemporary Policy Institute, Irvine council members Kathleen Treseder, Melina Liu and William Go presented a certificate of recognition as a gesture of appreciation for Planned Parenthood's local outreach programs. Liu, who attended the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce award ceremony in January, initially had no idea of the rescinded award and was stunned to hear from others what had happened. 'I reached out to our government relations person and tried to see if there was anything we could do to give them the proper recognition,' she said. 'I find their services invaluable, as far as what they've done [to assist] our low-income population and what they've done to educate young men and women. That's a very indispensable part of what they do.' Treseder said she reached out to Irvine Mayor Larry Agran, who had backed the 2022 council resolution supporting reproductive freedom, to see whether officials might present some formal recognition to Planned Parenthood in a council meeting presentation, but he wasn't interested. So, she teamed up with Liu and Good, and the trio was made aware of the April 7 summit in their communications with the nonprofit. 'I think Planned Parenthood deserves all the recognition in the world,' Treseder said Tuesday. 'They're working with folks who might not otherwise be able to get healthcare. In addition, I'm really relying on them to beat the drum for reproductive freedom for our young women. [They're] on the front lines and they don't back down — we need them.' Rahmani said she and her colleagues are grateful to the Irvine City Council members for rectifying the situation. 'We're certainly not going to be silenced, whether it's providing care in health centers or the education team working out in the community,' she added. 'We're always going to be loud and proud of the service we provide and the work that we do.'
Los Angeles Times
26-03-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Irvine delays adopting climate plan on achieving carbon neutrality by 2040
On Tuesday, Irvine City Council dusted off its draft Climate Action and Adaptation Plan draft at cutting greenhouse gas emissions and discussed it for the first time in nine months. Councilwoman Kathleen Treseder requested the update from city staff and sought a vote to approve it. 'If we really want Irvine to be the greenest city, this is the foundational document to do that,' she said during the council meeting. 'We can't have it both ways. We can't say…we want Irvine to be the greenest city, we emphasize the environment, and then keep delaying the CAAP.' Back in 2021, Irvine became the first city in Orange County to set a carbon neutral goal. The following year, it earned the distinction of being the largest city in the county to opt for 100% renewable energy as a means to meet the climate goal by 2030. But in June, council directed staff to make the draft a work plan, instead of a regulatory document. City staff also received direction to explore a new carbon neutral goal of 2040, just five years before California's own statewide objective. That revised effort was complicated in December when a new council voted to withdraw from the Orange County Power Authority sometime this year. The agency has been rocked recently by audits and departures from two members, including the city of Huntington Beach. In the meantime, the city lowered its renewable energy plan with OCPA to a 47% Basic Choice tier, which paused finalization of the draft climate plan, per city staff. The delay on approving the plan motivated several climate activists to speak out during the council meeting. 'The more we wait, the more unready we are for the decades to come,' said Tomas Castro, an activist with Climate Action Campaign. 'It also bears remembering that the CAAP goals cannot be met without participating in OCPA.' Luis Estevez, Irvine's acting director of public works and sustainability, outlined that much of the city's greenhouse gas emissions come from land use, transportation and building energy in a presentation to council. The original 2030 carbon neutral goal would have required significant fleet overhauls, substantial electric vehicle charging station installations and a complete pivot away from landfills. A new goal of carbon neutrality by 2040 could be more attainable, Estevez said, even as Irvine's energy options appear limited for now. Estevez told council members that Southern California Edison's 'Green Rate' program, with a 100% renewable option, isn't accepting new applicants due to capacity constraints. OCPA's option at that tier would entail significant rate increases for this year and next. But Estevez outlined three achievable pathways to carbon neutrality before council. The first two options considered updates to the draft climate plan with either 100% or 47% renewable energy supplying Irvine residents and businesses with power. A third option could delay carbon neutrality until 2045, when state law will mandate 100% renewable energy for all electrical utilities. 'I am pleased to hear from the staff that even though we're on Basic Choice, we can still meet our goals by 2040,' Treseder said. She wanted a vote from her colleagues on adopting the climate plan draft before the meeting adjourned Tuesday night. Irvine Mayor Larry Agran acknowledged that he had not reviewed the draft climate plan thoroughly and favored revisiting the issue at a future council meeting with a final draft in hand. Agran had outlined lofty green goals during his state of the city address earlier this month, a speech that was briefly disrupted by climate activists who want the city to stick with OCPA. 'I'm not only sympathetic, I'm actually enthusiastic about real implementation of a climate action plan,' he said on Tuesday. 'But just saying yes tonight to something that hasn't even been distributed to us seems to me to be a very, very poor example of governance.' Councilman Mike Carroll raised his hand when Agran asked who on the council had thoroughly reviewed documents related to the draft climate plan. He spoke in opposition of the plan and also called Treseder's push for a vote a political 'charade.' 'I'm not enthusiastic about a political trap,' he said in wanting to punt discussion of the climate plan off the agenda indefinitely. Council voted 4-2 to scuttle discussion at the moment, with Agran and Treseder voting against the move.
