Irvine Faces Litigation Over Tammy Kim’s District 5 Residence

On Friday, Irvine Watchdog’s Jeremy Ficarola published a detailed blog post on possible litigation concerning former City Council member Tammy Kim’s candidacy for the open District 5 city council seat (and did so a day before his family welcomed a new daughter into the world; congrats!)

From his post:

The Irvine City Council will convene in closed session this Tuesday, January 28 at 1:00 PM regarding this “significant exposure to litigation”. See agenda. The attachment on the City Council agenda,item 1.1, revealed that a private law firm Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLC, representing Scolesdang investigated Kim’s residency and eligibility to run as a candidate in District 5. The letter was also sent to Orange County District Attorney, Todd Spitzer, and The United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

According to the private investigator’s report, which was attached as an exhibit to a letter from the law firm representing Scolesdang, the investigator observed Kim’s whereabouts for weeks and attempted to contact Kim at the apartment she had listed in District 5. The “investigation determined that Tammy Kim Shin does not reside [in District 5]”, and Ms. “Park and her teenage daughter were briefly interviewed on the sidewalk and stated that no one but their family has lived with them in their apartment and they have lived there for approximately eight years.”

The private investigator report chronicles five separate days of surveillance, between December 19 to January 9, including early morning and late-night stakeouts at the District 5 and District 3 addresses. The report also includes candid photos of Kim carrying boxes at her District 3 residence. Furthermore, title ownership records, vehicle records, and descriptions of conversations with neighbors were used to support the conclusion that Kim continues to live in District 3.

Now this isn’t the first time an Irvine politician got in trouble with an address to run for office versus their stated residence.  In 2010, TheLiberalOC reported that then City Council member Steven Choi had “moved” into Woodbridge from a pricey Woodbury neighborhood so he could run for State Assembly in what was then AD70.  Choi’s Woodbury home  was less than a quarter mile from the District line.  His mistake was renting a one bedroom apartment where he, his wife and two voting-age children were registered to vote from and a drop by on the apartment showed little signs of anyone living there.  Our post was then used by former Tustin Mayor Jerry Amante to legally challenge Choi’s eligibility to be a candidate for the seat eventually won by current OC Supervisor Don Wagner.

More recently, a former Stanton council member Alyce Van has been charged with several felonies for running for a Stanton city council seat she did not reside in.  From the post in OC Independent:

Alyce Van, who was defeated for re-election to the Stanton City Council in November, has been charged with multiple felonies related to her seeking re-election in a council district in which she did not live.

“Hong Alyce Van, 40, of Anaheim, has been charged with one felony count of perjury, one felony count of offering a false or forged document to be filed, registered, or recorded, one felony count of filing false nomination papers, and one felony account of not being entitled to vote at an election,” the Orange County District Attorney’s office announced in a press release today.

“The integrity of our elections will be safeguarded and political candidates who lie and cheat the system in order to get elected will be prosecuted,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “These are not mistakes. These are deliberate decisions to interfere with our democratic process and they will not be tolerated.”

Let’s not forget the 2019 case of former Santa Ana council member Roman Renya who was busted for district shopping and rented in the wrong address to run for re-election. From a 2019 post on the Voice of OC, this:

Orange County District Attorney investigators, responding to evidence of residency fraud, placed a Santa Ana councilman under surveillance in January and February, and later told a judge the video footage supported their belief the councilman probably committed felonies by falsely claiming to live within his council district.

It’s the first time in years Orange County DA officials have been known to place a politician under surveillance for alleged residency fraud.

The surveillance, which was later cited by DA officials in their request for search warrants, included installing 24-hour cameras to monitor homes linked to then-Councilman Roman Reyna for at least 19 days. Investigators also conducted morning drive-bys to observe where his car was parked.

The DA’s declaration cites probable cause Reyna committed additional perjury when he listed his address on two voter registration forms last year. Perjury and false evidence of candidacy are felonies under California law.

Lastly, former Santa Ana planning commissioner Sean Mill, now a Republican city council member in Riverside, was forced to resign after TheLiberalOC used a private investigator to ascertain Mill had not resided in Santa Ana, possibly for months, and was living with his newlywed wife in Riverside where utility bills in his name were being sent.  An exhaustive report was provided to the Santa Ana City Manager and City Attorney who did nothing as Mill had resigned.  When Mill first ran for Riverside City Council, he was a guest on the John and Ken show on KFI radio.  I almost drove off the road when I heard Mill say he was cleared of any residence issue by the city, which was a lie, because there was no investigation.  Mill gave accounts of his resignation to the OC Register/Voice of OC and a differing account to the Riverside Press-Telegram.  But notably, Mill’s story was he moved in late June.  His wife discovered the PI taking photos of Mill’s car in front of their Riverside home and told the PI her husband lives in Santa Ana.  She did so on July 5, two weeks after Mill said he had moved in.

In the Mill case, the PI searched for records on utility bills, interviewed neighbors and did survelliance at Mill’s Santa Ana address and Mill’s Riverside address.  He reported neighbors had not seen Mill in many months and there were no utility bills mailed to Mill’s mother’s home in Santa Ana, where he resided for years.  There was lots of evidence Mill was residing in Riverside while he got perks from serving on the Santa Ana Planning Commission.  It appears the private investigators hired by former Irvine Mayoral candidate Ron Scolesdang used the same blueprint to gather evidence for their legal action against Tammy Kim.

It’s long been our position that candidates moving (carpetbagging) to another district to serve voters that they have represented in other offices (we didn’t object to Choi’s carpetbagging in 2010.  We did object to Mimi Walter’s fake address to run for State Senate and to JoannaWeiss’s Congressional campaign for CA47 from San Juna Capistrano.

From the Watchdog piece:

In furtherance of this evidence, our client has received the attached report from a licensed private investigator who has observed both residences over the course of the past few weeks and he has observed her coming and going from, loading groceries into, and regularly parking her car at her true residence on [Redacted] in District 3. Photos within the attached report show Kim bringing a load of items into her home at [Redacted], not a nominal delivery for a home where she doesn’t reside…The private investigator also reports he did not once witness Kim visit or sleep in the sham residence in District 5 and observed other people using the parking garage assigned to the address, which he later confirmed belonged to a Board Member of her organization and who told the investigator that they had lived there for 8 years and never rented a room to anyone.

The report also described efforts by Kim to refile her nomination paperwork with the City days before the filing deadline. It is alleged that this resubmission of paperwork was an effort to “cure” the residency deficiency and is “a prima facie admission of guilt to both Voter Fraud in the November 2024 election as well as the attempt to defraud the voters of Irvine in the Special Election of 2025.” The record reflects that Kim owns a condo in District 3, but has publicly stated that she is renting in District 5 in order to avoid harassment received in District 3 by her opponents.

Under California Elections Code Section 201, no individual is eligible to be elected or appointed to an elective office unless they are a “registered voter and otherwise qualified to vote for that office at the time nomination papers are issued.” Kim may have voted in a jurisdiction that Kim did not reside in.  The ROV would be able to confirm that.  Additionally, a candidate who knowingly files false candidacy papers is guilty of a crime, punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment. Elections Code section 18203 says:  Any person who files or submits for filing a nomination paper or declaration of candidacy knowing that it or any part of it has been made falsely is punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code for 16 months or up to three years or by both that fine and imprisonment.  The report received ny the city suggests Kim could be guilty of filing a false affidavit of voter registration.

Kim’s defense will rely on prodcuing bills with her new District 5 address, a copy of any rental agreement, and an amendment of the statement made by her District 5 “landlord.”

On the dais, Kim said she made a move into an apartment in District 5 because she felt unsafe after her Distirct 3 home was broken into. That happened in January 2024 and the police report says Kim discovered her garage door was open and campaign signs were stolen from her unlocked car.  For most people, a Ring doorbell and a call to a garage door company would restore her peace of mind.  There appears to be no evidence her residence was breached, only her garage and campaign signs don’t strike me a significant financial loss.

Kim issued a statement to Watchdog after the post was published:

“The complaint filed with the City of Irvine is politically motivated, backed by Republican interests. It is a cynical ploy to promote their favored candidate, based on distortions and a flawed opposition research report. My relocation to District 5 early last year was driven by security concerns due to the council’s inaction on a resolution concerning the Israel-Hamas conflict. We’ve learned that a well-known GOP operative in Orange County has been openly boasting about orchestrating these unfounded attacks, which clearly illustrates the lengths they are willing to go to disrupt our democratic process. The tactics being used are not merely desperate; they are a calculated distraction from the issues that truly matter to the residents of Irvine.”

There’s no denial of the issues presented by the complaint filed by Scoledang.  Of course, Kim would be a target of opposition research.  But there’s no denial of photographs, lack of presence at the District 5 address, the visitation to her District 3 address.  There seems to be no connection between the break-in and Kim’s position on the Israel-Hamas conflict.  I found her response weak at best.

Kim’s best hope is to somehow have the special election be considered City-wide and not District wide, except the city seemed to have addressed how Larry Agran’s council seat would be dealt with:

The Amendment to the City Charter Rule 400 restructuring the City Council contains the following:

Notwithstanding the first sentence in the third paragraph of this Section 400, the second sentence in the first paragraph of Section 401, or the first sentence of the second paragraph of Section 401, the Mayor and Council members in office at the time this Charter provision takes effect shall continue in office until the expiration of their respective terms and until their successors are elected and qualified, so long as they remain legally registered voters and residents of the City. Recall proceedings, if any, of any Council member(s) serving the remainder of a term pursuant to this provision, and the election of a successor to such Council member(s) to complete that term, shall be conducted at large. If any Council seat held by a Council member serving the remainder of a term pursuant to this provision becomes vacant prior to the end of such term by means other than the recall, such Council seat shall be filled by appointment or election at large; provided, however, that if the vacating Council member resides in either the Council District designated 5 or the Council District designated 6 then, notwithstanding Section 403, a by-district election shall be held for the District where the vacating Council member resides at the earliest feasible date.

While Kim is endorsed by the DPOC, its entirely possible her candidacy might be barred by the City of Irvine; she’d still have a Finance Commissioner’s post with District 2’s William Go to hang on to until the seat is up again in 2026.