Former Irvine Council member and Mayoral candidate Tammy Kim was arraigned Friday morning at a courthouse in Newport Beach. She faces 10 felony charges related to perjury and election fraud and a single misdemeanor charge that could result in a maximum prison sentence of more than 11 years.
While Kim can claim her second address in Irvine’s District 5 met all the legal requirements, it’s her first District 5 address that’s problematic. She claimed to have been renting a room from a family since May as a “plan B” to run for the special election if she lost the Mayor’s race. She did and filed candidacy papers for this first District 5 address until a lawsuit and Private Investigator’s efforts revealed Kim didn’t live there. We’ve been told OCDA Todd Spitzer’s team has had documentation for months and spent considerable time interviewing those aware of the case.
The gnawing question now turns to who knew about the first District 5 address and when did they know it. Kim had a ton of endorsements for the race, including former Congresswoman Katie Porter, current Congressman Dave Min, Supervisor Katrina Foley, Assembly Reps Cottie Petre-Norris and Sharon Quirk-Silva, the DPOC, and a host of unions. While the names are all prominent, it’s not likely any of these electeds had any idea about Kim’s physical address in District 5.
And then what about Kim’s endorsed candidates for council seats and her colleagues on the city council. Did Liu know? What about William Go, who gave Kim a finance commissioner appointment and then withdrew it after the lawsuit against Kim’s candidacy was filed? I’m guessing they didn’t give a second thought to Kim’s District 5 address and were happy for the endorsement.
But…
Shouldn’t the City of Irvine have known? Did Kim submit any chnage of adddress form for 2024? Were paychecks automatically posted or were they mailed to Kim’s new District 5 address? What about Kim’s city staff? Did her chief of staff, Evette Kim, know where her boss lived? Did Tammy’s communications team know? Should the city insititue new guidelines for verifying candidate information. And if Kim was elected Mayor, and these charges were brought, would she expect the city to pay her legal fees? If I’m Oliver Chi, I’m asking for meetings with anyone who’s still a city employee that reported directly to Tammy Kim. Evette Kim, Tammy’s former Chief of Staff, is now Chief of Staff for District 1 council member Melinda Liu and other members of Tammy Kim’s city staff were placed with other electeds. Where they aware of the alleged “new” address in 2024; didn’t have have an obligation to report falsehoods to the city? Kim’s own son was an unpaid intern for her office; what did he know? Will the DA’s office put him on the stand?
What about county institutions Kim was a part of? OCPA for example?
What about Tammy Kim’s political consultants? They had to be aware of the plan B move to District 5 to prepare to mount a campaign for city council in the event she lost the Mayor’s race, which she did. Did they check on the documentation to make sure everything was on the up and up?
And Kim’s biggest supporter from the Dais — Council member Kathleen Treseder — did she know? Did she even ask Kim about how renting a room was working out? Treseder has worked hard to build a reputation as Irvine’s corruption fighter always letting the public know the FBI was investigating Irvine or people close to the Irvine City Council for perceived violations of federal law (hey, it’s been 2 years since Oliver Chi’s Q&A with the feds…let me know where that case stands). Treseder was Kim’s ony supporter on the Dais for that last council meeting to thank Kim for her service all the while identifying every public speaker by there association with Mayor Agran. If Treseder knew Kim’s first District 5 address was a sham and said nothing, well there goes that reputation. My biggest question for Treseder is ” how did you not know?”
Tammy Kim spent serious money to ward off the threat of a recall that was never going to happen. Lots of firefighter Union money was spent on mailers and PR. Didn’t they check on her paperwork before cutting a huge check?
For those who’ve been following this case since last year, there’s a lot of head-scratching as to what Kim’s defense is going to be. It’s likely to focus on the details surrounding her first address in District 5 and wheter or not there was a misunderstanding.
Kim’s political obituary of former Council member Anthony Kuo needs a second chapter; her own story. Last month, Kim wrote:
Anthony Kuo’s humiliating defeat in Irvine’s District 5 special election isn’t merely a political loss—it represents a complete and spectacular implosion, a profound rejection of the disgraceful tactics he and his allies employed to manipulate the election outcome. Despite District 5 being shamelessly engineered specifically for Kuo through Larry Agran’s blatant gerrymandering, Kuo’s severely flawed candidacy failed spectacularly against a virtually unknown opponent. This embarrassing defeat marks a new low, underscoring voters’ definitive repudiation of Anthony Kuo and Larry Agran’s unethical and manipulative brand of politics.
His loss is especially humiliating given the unprecedented level of dirty political maneuvering and massive special-interest spending—over $400,000 dumped into a desperate attempt to prop up his floundering candidacy. Kuo’s defeat epitomizes the absolute rejection of dirty politics by Irvine voters.
I am never happy to see anyone in legal trouble. The last five years of unfair justice for jailed Jan. 6ers, Steve Bannon, Tina Peters and Peter Navarro have changed my view of lawyers. John Eastman and even President Trump are continually harassed. So when misdeeds by ambitious politicians are exposed and confronted, I can’t stop smiling! Is this a good time to bring up Bob Page?
Treseder had to know Kim’s address in November was fake. She’s going to have to explain why the FBI case she says she’s a witness in has gone nowhere
Thanks fake Vern
I’m sure Tammy will appreciate any tips from Vern or Paul Lucas about incarceration
Local Democratic party fail.
I can’t believe she is still lying. Her first attempt at an address change was proven to be a lie, and instead of admitting to it, she decided to REALLY make the appearance of moving by securing ANOTHER District 5 address. Everyone knew she didn’t live in District 5, and rather than just stop her shenanigans, her desperation to get back on the council was too great, after all, it was her only source of income. And the hypocrisy of Kathleen Treseder is of no surprise. She acts like she fights against corruption, yet she inserts herself right in the middle of it! The Orange County Power Authority is just one of her many failures, and why she was voted off the board! And her support for Tammy Kim can only be seen as more evidence of her protecting people who have blatant disregard for the truth and election laws that serve to protect us all! Tammy Kim’s greed is what cost her, her whole career. If she just ran for re-election, the honest way, and she had true friends to guide her, things may have gone a whole lot different. But with friends like Treseder, Tammy Kim didn’t stand a chance!
They got the name of the union PAC wrong and Tammy did spend the money even though there was no recall.
What did Larry know and when did he know it?
Doreen/ Dee Fox and Sarah (longtime Larry supporters) both repeatedly posted the lie that Tammy Kim received $150,000 and other help from the OCFA when it was actually from the Orange County Professional Firefighters Association. It could be argued that enough Irvine voters saw and believed that lie that it changed the outcome of the mayoral election. People like Harvey Liss vouched for Doreen/Dee Fox as a “Larry supporting truth teller. I question the integrity of the whole bunch.
Are you the Lake Forest Dean L who just loves Tammy Kim, and attacks Larry on everything? You have so much hatred for Larry and blind support for Tammy Essig Kim.
Did you know anything?
You almost got the Lake Forest part correct. Then you drove off the cliff.
Upate your next door profile then
It looks current to me.
Defend Tammy Kim now
Tammy Kim rant she wrote attacking another person is the classic example of “every accusation is a confession” of her crimes.
She ended it by writing “ Karma is a bitch “
Asking me to defend Tammy would be like me asking you to defend Doreen/Dee. Anyone who breaks the law should face the consequences. I don’t know Tammy but I hope she gets a fair trial. I would equally hope that Doreen/Dee and Sarah also get a fair trial if the DA or the AG decide to prosecute. And there does seem to be a connection between Larry and Dee Fox if someone wants to further investigate. Did she purposely lie on his behalf to help get him elected?
Prosecute Dee and Sarah for what crime? Tammy got $150K from a fire fighters union. True or not? It was to fight a recall that never qualified for the ballot. True or not. Tammy spent almost all that money on mail and PR. True or not?
Are you saying it’s ok for a prominent supporter with connections to candidate A to deliberately and publicly accuse candidate B of a crime they didn’t commit?
Who,is candidate A and who is candidate B? The charges against Tammy are about the November 2024 election.not the special election. If she was living at the first District 5 address, why the emergency move to a new address. The PI is former FBI. Try to explain why you think Tammy isn’t guilty of the felonies she is accused of.
I’m not defending Tammy Kim. I am pointing out that what Doreen/Dee Fox and Sarah did was as bad or worse.
Candidate A = Larry
Candidate B = Tammy
OCFA = a governmental agency not a union
Even though I brought this to their attention (a number of times) they continued to post the same false claim. That makes it a deliberate lie.
It was the OCFA union PAC that made the contribution. If you didn’t think there’s a vested interest in Tammy’s vote to have Irvine pay a disproportional amount of money for county fire services while she used the opposite argument to opt out of library services, well, I can’t help you. But if lies are a crime, Tammy has told her share of them too.
And IF they claimed that the UNION had helped her it would probably had been just an ethical conflict of interest. As opposed to claiming that a government agency gave her tax dollars. She even speculated in one post that Tammy would probably use the money to help her son buy a condo in Irvine. But if you can’t see the hypocrisy in Dee calling Tammy a liar when she is just as bad then I can’t help you. Two wrongs don’t make a right and the ends don’t justify the means.
But I’ll let you have the last word.
The union did help her through its PAC. She spent all of the money to ward off a recall that never qualified for the ballot. Tammy didn’t need to spend any of that money and she spent it all. Tammy is a liar. She lied about her first district 5 address in November 2024. She took credit for the idea of a botanical garden at the Great Park when one was planned in 1998. She stole ideas Larry Agran had for a city health system for Covid dollars by denying him a second to debate the idea on the council dais. She lost a ton of supporters over the years due to her quest to get selfies with leading Democrats. She’s great at playing the victim card. You place undue weight on Dee’s words. Tammy outraised Agran. Had way more endorsements. And she still lost. If you want to help her. Set up a crowdfunding site to raise money for a lawyer
Of course Treseeder knew Tammy faked her residency; the two are super close. Maybe the FBI should investigate mushroom girl for corruption and conspiracy