The case of former Orange County Democratic Party Executive Director and political consultant Melahat Rafiei continued to roil Irvine politics this past week, as the press and public strained to figure out which former City Councilmembers Rafiei allegedly tried to bribe in 2018 while the current City Council grappled with the issue of starting its own investigation into Rafiei.

Last May, it was revealed by the FBI that Rafiei — who managed the campaigns of Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan and Councilmember Tammy Kim in 2020 — was a “cooperating witness” in its investigation of corruption in Anaheim, secretly recording meetings she had with Anaheim officials. The FBI noted in an affidavit at the time that Rafiei agreed to cooperate after being arrested in 2019 for allegedly attempting to bribe two Irvine Councilmembers on behalf of a client who wanted to establish a cannabis business in the City.

You probably thought the 2024 election campaign would be in … well, 2024. Wrong!

Irvine’s just re-elected Congressional Representative, Katie Porter, is running for the U.S. Senate. Our State Senator, Dave Min, is running for Porter’s House seat; and two of our City Councilmembers (Larry Agran and Tammy Kim) are running for Mayor.

At her first meeting since joining the OCPA board, Irvine Councilmember Kathleen Treseder wasted no time in telling the board that “In order to reform the OCPA … we need to replace the CEO.”

As a new board member and Vice Chair of OCPA, Treseder is calling for the removal of the Power Authority’s CEO and the agency’s general counsel.

Re-elected Irvine City Councilmember Larry Agran and newly elected Councilmember Kathleen Treseder got to work during an 8-hour marathon meeting of the new Council.

And, at midnight, the Council voted 5-0 in support of Councilmember Treseder’s motion to have City staff draft an ordinance that will require most newly constructed homes and buildings in Irvine to be all-electric, with no new gas hookups.

Just in time for the holidays, the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) got a lump of coal in the form of another highly critical review of the agency’s operations.

The auditors for the County blasted the OCPA for offering rates that are significantly higher than SCE rates, and making rate information difficult for ratepayers to find.

Councilman Larry Agran requested an emergency Council meeting to discuss a proposal for the City of Irvine to give OCPA a notice of withdrawal from the agency, effective July 1, 2023, with the caveat that the withdrawal will be rescinded if OCPA takes concrete steps to address the problems identified by an Orange County Grand Jury report and County of Orange audit.

However, Mayor Farrah Khan, Vice Mayor Tammy Kim and newly elected Councilmember Kathleen Treseder voted to remain in OCPA.

The City of Irvine is hosting a pajama party drive-in movie event on Saturday, December 10th at 5:30pm.

Space is limited so registration is required!

A new voice has come to the Irvine City Council, with UCI Professor and environmental activist Kathleen Treseder having been sworn-in during the December 13th post-election organizational meeting. 

The newest member of the City Council recently sat down with Irvine Community News & Views to preview some of the issues and actions she is preparing to tackle in her new role.

On November 7th, a vote to remove Brian Probolsky as CEO of the troubled Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) failed in a closed session of the agency’s board, according to sources at the OCPA and Irvine City Hall.

If OCPA collapses, Irvine taxpayers and electricity ratepayers could be on the hook for tens of millions of dollars in loans, loan guarantees, and other liabilities that OCPA has incurred. In fact, ratepayers in all of the OCPA member cities could be responsible for the more than half-a-billion dollars in energy purchase agreements that OCPA has signed.

In matters of public policy, Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan and her City Council majority — Anthony Kuo, Tammy Kim and Mike Carroll — have a pattern of ignoring or shutting out public input, staff recommendations, and established procedures.

The OC Power Authority (OCPA) was established by Mayor Khan and Councilmembers Carroll and Kuo in 2019 with little review — even though they were committing millions of Irvine taxpayer dollars. OCPA is now the subject of three audits (City of Irvine, County of Orange, California State Auditor) and there is an ongoing FBI investigation.