So Where Does Iyad Afalqa Live?

Mirvette Judah is not the only late entry for a Regional Director election in Orange County.  Irvine’s Iyad Afalqa is running, as a late entry, for Regional Director in Region 18 (not the same one); And there are three other candidates for this spot.

I’ve received multiple emails asking about Afalqa’s address.  The confusion stems from the fact he ran and won a spot on an ADEM slate in AD-68 and became an alternate on the DPOC Central Committee in AD-74 a month later.

I wrote to Afalqa and asked about this and he provided the response below; I have edited only to remove his exact address, because I’ve verified it.  There was a question posed as to how he could reside at this address when the home was sold.  He addressed that question below as well; the home is a rental. But per Afalqa’s request, I’m publishing his response in its entirety.

Thank you for reaching out and giving me the opportunity to address this. Yes I am the late runner for California Democratic Party Region 18 Director, and I have been residing at:  (editor’s note: I’m deleting his address but have verified it independently; he has resided at this address since Feb, 2017.

an in AD68, following the rules of CDP, I had to run in the Assembly District where I resided. At the time, CDP Membership  called me and verified the details and I was qualified to run in AD 68 and our address was off Yale and Irvine Drive. 

We needed to move back to AD 74 seeking a bigger house and closer to my son school. Therefore, we rented our house in AD 68 as of late February 2017 when we our rental application was approved. Yes, we rented OUR home and moved to a rented house as the case of many American households, they move for a job or school proximity for their children within the country, state, county or city or even the same neighborhood. Again, this is a rented house not our owned house.

My voter registration is current with both CDP and OC Registrar of Voters. As a matter of fact, yesterday at 5:40 p.m., Emma Harper, CDP Membership Director verified  over the phone my current address when I called. I even as a practice of transparency, I gave her my DOB and Last 4 digits of my Driver Licence and she went on vote.com and verified it, just in case,  “instigators” and “agitators” ask for this. 

As a Democrat who values the civic engagement and political involvement, I gave up my elected spot in AD 68 upon moving to our new residence, and secured and a delegate appointment in AD 74. As far as Dean Inada selecting me to become his alternate, he approached me during the January 2017 DPOC Central Committee meeting to become his alternate in AD 74. I indicated that we are now in AD 68 and we are waiting on our move to AD 74 and I informed him, I will get back to him once I know for sure I find the place. Once moved and I was appointed as a Delegate in AD 74 and my Voter registration was updated and received an email confirmation from Registrar of Voters on February 6th (Please see attached proof), I informed Dean that I will be honored to be his alternate. 

My alternate application was turned in by Dean Inada during February meeting. On March 7th, Erik Taylor send me an email about my dues. Which is shortly after Dean submitted the application. In January I was not Dean’s alternate, and that’s why I did not participate in the Synergy Session was conducted during the meeting to discuss the DPOC Strategic Plan, not I was able to sign up to serve on any standing committees during the meeting, because the secretary did not make enough copies and only central committee members and their alternates were able to sign up. 

To recap, I am in Region 18, AD 74, SD 37, and CD 45 in the Quail Hills Area of Irvine. 

Again, thank you for reaching out. I look forward to working with all Democrats to unite our party and turn Orange County BLUE.

Kindest Regards,

Iyad Afalqa

So I hope this clears up the many rumors about Afalqa’s residency.  By my count; its his third move in a year.

But I’m not satisfied with a decision to run for ADEM in AD-68 and moving shortly thereafter.  Moving to a new residence is typically a several week process.  Why run in AD-68 if you were planning to move the following month (about three weeks to be exact).

I asked a follow up on his and Afalqa accused me of bullying him, copying several members of the DPOC on the email.  It’s not the first time he’s done this.

In January, Felicity Figueroa, Fran Sdao and I were on the nominating committee for officers for the Democrats of Greater Irvine.  Over the course of two hours, we debated the merits of those who applied, their skill sets and time commitment before making our selection.  Afalqa sent notices on the election at the Duck Club; members arrived in pouring rain only to discover a child’s birthday party was in progress and the Club didn’t have access to the building for the election.  The election was rescheduled for the following week and in that time Afalqa had put together a new slate and Ron Varasteh, who had joined the club 11 minutes before the meeting, was elected chair with Afalqa making a speech in support of the new slate.  Had the election not been delayed a week, the leadership of the club would be very different.  For the nominating committee, our work was a waste of time.  Afalqa never took responsibility for the scheduling screw up.  There was a general apology instead.

I’ll also take issue with his frequent claim about waiting to unite the party to turn Orange County blue.  The DGI election is a perfect example of that.

When Tom Perez was elected DNC chair, Afalqa was livid on social media, posting this on Facebook: