The Twitter Debate on Farrah Khan is Nothing

Making the rounds on Twitter last night was a message from the city of Irvine in regards to a Public Records request from Michael Fox, a former Irvine resident and husband of former Irvine council member Melissa Fox, stating that the city did not provide text messages between Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan and Congresswoman Katie Porter used by CNN and Fox News in stories where Porter is critical of the Irvine Police.  Porter criticized the Police for arresting a man on her staff for assaulting a violent protester because Irvine Police told Porter’s team they had to provide their own security.

Now we can debate whether or not the Irvine Police should have been on hand to discourage the first fight that broke out or if Porter should have had a private security detail (heck, I’ve seen four Irvine police cruisers surrounding a gardener’s truck for whatever reason).  We should also debate the wisdom of Porter refusing Khan’s request to talk about it on the phone instead of exchanging text messages.  And we should debate disconnects between Khan and city staff over when the text messages were submitted.

A source suggested to me that one of Councilmember Mike Carroll’s cronies at City Hall leaked evidence of the text messages to Fox. And that’s still possibly true.

Here’s a timeline for you:

A September 9, 2022 Public Records Act Request was submitted to Mayor Khan from Andrew Kaczynski with CNN KFile.  He sought the following records regarding the July 11, 2021 incident at 20 Lake-Alton Parkway:

• Any emails between Mayor Farrah Khan and then-police chief Mike Hamel.
• Any emails and/or text messages between Mayor Khan and Representative Katie Porter.
• Any emails and/or text messages between then-police chief Mike Hamel and Representative Katie Porter.
• It’s unclear if this request was routed to the city’s Police Department PIO; I’m seeking confirmation of that one because reporters usually cast a wide net when hunting for this information.
• Khan sent relevant text messages to the City Clerk’s office and the City’s Legal Department for processing on 9/16/22.
• Khan also informed the DPOC Chair and Executive Director of these requests around 9/26/22 so the Party was aware of pending stories.

On September 22, 2022, a Public Records Act request was received from Houston Keene with FOX News Digital for text messages between Representative Katie Porter and Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan regarding the Irvine Police Department from July 10 to July 16, 2021.

Keene asked for all responsive records, including:

• Communication (e.g. email, text messages, and voicemail) within City devices and files.
• City officials told Khan, “There is no need to provide email currently in Outlook. Our office will retrieve email from Enterprise Vault.”
• Communication from your personal accounts, devices, and files.
• Khan had already submitted the text files on 9/16/22 and returned the same on 10/3.
• The 13-day gap lends credibility that someone in city hall (that alleged Carroll crony) tipped off Fox News regarding the existence of that text message file.

On October 3 same Carroll crony?), a Public Records Act request from Michael Fox for the full and complete text exchange between Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan and United States Representative Katie Porter on July 12, 2021, and any other text exchange(s) between Khan and Porter thereafter, from July 12, 2021 to September 27, 2022.

Michael Fox sought:

• Communication (e.g. email, text messages, and voicemail) within City devices and files.

The city staff told Khan “There is no need to provide email currently in Outlook. Our office will retrieve email from Enterprise Vault.”

• Communication from your personal accounts, devices, and files.
• I made similar requests for text messages between then council member Fox and anyone limited to times when City Council meetings were in session and the city suggested they did not exist.
• Michael Fox and Khan have a long acrimonious association and he’s downright eager to shame her whenever he can.  My favorite text is when Khan told Fox to F#ck himself.  Because he should.
• A reminder that Michael Fox refused to surrender the Facebook page of Democrats of Greater Irvine, changed the name of the page to Irvine Democrats, and blocked anyone who was critical of his wife’s assembly campaign; after a hostage negotiation, the page was returned to DGI and the volunteer who re-instated it said there was a “digital graveyard” of Democrats that had been blocked by Fox. Classy. In many ways, Fox is as harmful to Democrats as Republicans can be.
• Ask Michael Fox how John Scott Horner III is doing these days and if his old Wisconsin Law School buddy still speaks with him.
• The response from the city doesn’t come from the PIO’s office but some someone who might not be authorized to comment.  A Fox friend?  We’ll see. But she was wrong to say the city had just received the file.

Khan tweeted in September she did not leak anything to CNN or Fox News.  Porter had endorsed her long before this so what’s her incentive to do something harmful to one of Irvine’s most powerful Democrats.

The disconnect between the city’s legal department, the city clerk’s office and the public information office suggests a breakdown in process from Khan’s delivery of text messages on 9/16/22 to the uncharacteristic detail in the communication with Michael Fox.  I’ve filed more than 100 PRA requests from the city and can practically write their cover letter myself.

If you’re an Irvine voter, cast your ballot for Katie Porter because while she might have been upset with the Irvine police department, she certainly appreciates the public safety it provides to the community (and do ask Scott Baugh if the FBI should be defunded for raiding Mar-a-Lago or if he’s OK with Donald Trump grifting taxpayers of $150 million so he can golf at resorts he owns).

If this development causes you to pause a vote for Khan, consider the full facts before making your decision.  There are four other candidates you can vote for.