Now that failed Orange County Power Authority CEO Brian Probolsky has left the organization that never fulfilled a single Public Records Request TheLiberalOC submitted, it was time to see if the new regime would do the right thing and verifiy longstanding rumors about two OC political figures and any possible role they had with this failing organization.
On the heels of former Democratic consultant Melahat Rafiei’s plea agreement with the Department of Justice, critics were all but blaming Melahat for anything that wasn’t working in OC — notably the OCPA. New Irvine councilmember Kathleen Treseder wanted the city of Irvine to launch an investigation to Rafiei’s activity’s after June 1, 2022 when Progressive Solutions — Rafiei’s political consultancy — closed. The problem there is the FBI seems to be conducting an investigation in Irvine without any specifics about the subject of an investigation. If anyone would like to identify the federal crime that was committed, please put it in the comments, because I don’t think this investigation will produce anything.
Nicole Capritz, CEO of the Climate Action Campaign, and the third wheel to June 2021 meeting with Treseder and Rafiei, chimed in with a Tweet last January while sharing a Voice of OC story on the plea agreement.
“Enough said,” Capretz tweets in January 18 this year. “OCPA — created by the community! — is hanging on by a thread because this woman (i.e. Rafiei) and others used OCPA for personal self-dealing. Tragic.”
She replies to another tweet on the string with: “Grr-the more I think about this and what they put us and other community members through for the past two years – while we are still wading through the wreckage of this community-driven public power agency- arghhh.”
Treseder tells the backstory at a candidate’s debate in Fall of 2022:
“How do I know about the FBI investigation? I am a witness. They have interviewed me. And I will tell you, (audio cuts out) …starting making very strange decisions about which contracts to award to which vendors. Some of the activists I work with, we were trying to reach some of the board members including Mayor Farrah Khan to ask her to potentially step in. We heard that in order to persuade Mayor Khan, we had to talk to Melahat Rafiei, her campaign coordinator. We met with her. During that meeting, we asked her to ask Mayor Khan to remove (Brian) Probolsky. She said ‘nope’ ‘no way’ We’re not going to do it. And I said I heard a rumor that Mayor Khan has been protecting Brian Probolsky in exchange for political favors. Is that true? And Melahat Rafiei said yes. She is. Brian promised to get her nominated to the Coastal Commission in exchange for protecting his position. Specifically, he was supposed to whip votes for a committee of cities but where they decide to send forward to the state for this appointment. The person I was with (Capretz) said it sounds like you’re talking about almost a cabal. By the way I don’t like that word but that is what she said. Melahat Rafiei said in response “Yes. It is a cabal and your mayor is part of the cabal. Thank you.”
Here’s the problem with this entire story. Khan was nominated in early June 2021 but was not selected to the body. If Probolsky was supposed to whip Republican votes to push forward Khan’s nomination with Republicans, he did a lousy job as Khan didn’t get a single Republican vote. So a year later, Khan was protecting Probolsky’s job at OCPA? That’s fiction. Oddly enough, a week after that story broke about Khan being one of three OC politicos vying for a Coastal Commission spot, Treseder and her team had scheduling a meeting with Raefiei about working with Progressive Solutions to run the Treseder coucnil campaign. Everyone was very excited to move forward.
Calendars matter.
And Treseder is keeping her eye on lobbyist Patrick Strader of Starpoint Ventures; long associated with FivePoint, Strader is involved with LiveNation’s efforts to build a new ampitheater at the Great Park.
Our friends at Irvine Watchdog think Strader is involved with a number of things in Irvine, including the OCPA.
From this June 2023 post:
“Straders’ footprints seem to be everywhere in Irvine. He has been linked to Irvine’s participation in the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA), a clean energy program previously rife with questionable hiring practices, scathing audits, verbal abuse, and internal feuding. Reportedly, former Irvine elected officials have stated that OCPA embattled former CEO, Brian Probolsky, and his brother, Adam Probolsky, may have worked closely with Strader during elections. Renowned OC pundit and current LA Times Columnist, Gustavo Arrellano (sic), described Adam Probolsky as a “GOP Hack”. In 2020, Adam donated $10,000 to the Republican Party of Orange County PAC. On August 10, 2021, indicating a possible link between Strader and the Probolskys, Strader’s spouse, Dana Strader, appeared in the public comment queue during an OCPA meeting. When her name was called, she provided no comment. Hear the audio here. Her mere presence was unusual given that, on paper, the Straders have no relationship or business with OCPA. Irvine Watchdog’s public records request asking for the OCPA Zoom attendance logs to confirm Strader’s attendance at OCPA meetings has not been responded to.”
Adam Probolsky is a pollster and shouldn’t be held responsible for actions his brother undertook at OCPA. And Strader’s wife isn’t a consultant.
I’m not a Strader fan and he’s not a fan of mine either, but he picked up the phone when I called him last month for a factcheck. He said he has had nothing to do with OCPA, period.
So, we have smart people all over saying Rafiei and Strader are tied to OCPA. I submitted a public records request in June and actually got a timely response.
Dear Mr. Chmielewski:
On behalf of our client, Orange County Power Authority (“OCPA”), this letter is in response to your Public Records Act (“PRA”) (Gov. Code § 7920.000 et seq1.) request received by OCPA on June 12, 2023. Your request is as follows:
… “Please provide copies of any emails, letters, notes, phone calls, meeting invitations between members of the OCPA management team, staff and board members with Patrick Strader of Starpointe Ventures or Melahat Rafiei of Progressive Solutions — or with either as private citizens. Please send to (email redacted).” …
OCPA conducted a search of its records and has determined that there are no records responsive to your request.
With this letter, OCPA has completed its response to your request. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns regarding the information provided in this letter.
Treseder is now the Vice Chair of OCPA. I encourage her to scour the financial documents the agency has processed since its inception to find any evidence, any invoice, any email, any letter, meeting minutes that show either Rafiei or Strader had any influence over OCPA. If she finds it, she should report it. But a lack of any record of Rafiei’s involved with OCPA undermines the “cabal” story in Irvine. And kudos to OCPA for being actually responsive to our records request.
So why write this now?
The City of Anaheim’s investigation into the city council/Chamber of Commerce Cabal, brought down by the FBI with Rafiei’s significant help, is about to be made public after redactions are made. To date, former Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu has not be charged with any crime. Former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce lead Todd Ament has agreed to a plea deal and was supposed to be sentenced late last year is still free. Public affairs consultant Jeff Flint hasn’t been charged with anything. Rafiei will be sentenced in October.
Just what is taking the FBI so long to charge Sidhu and Flint?