An Irvine Community News & Views investigation shows that a huge influx of “dark money” — funding an unprecedented deluge of political “hit piece” mailers against Irvine City Councilmember Larry Agran — originated from the two largest developers in Irvine: The Irvine Company and FivePoint.

So far, $355,000 from the developers has been funneled to the Building Industry Association of Southern California PAC (BIA), which then transferred the money to the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. The Party then sent a large portion of the money —  $270,000 — to a PAC (Working Families United), which has close ties to disgraced Democratic campaign consultant Melahat Rafiei and Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan. (Rafiei and Khan are the subjects of an ongoing FBI investigation into corruption in Irvine.)

Hit pieces, paid for by hard-to-trace “dark money” Political Action Committees (PACs), have begun fouling Irvine voters’ mailboxes, taking aim at Councilmember Larry Agran. The mailers falsely claim Agran supported the establishment of the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA).

Crummit was also the treasurer of Khan’s 2020 mayoral campaign and is handling her re-election campaign finances this year.

During a contentious marathon meeting on September 27th, the Irvine City Council approved two controversial long-term contracts for facilities to be built in the Great Park.

The actions came despite objections from residents that the agreements and supporting information totaling more than 600 pages were made public just a week before the Council meeting and were being pushed through without public review or input by the City’s Finance Commission, Planning Commission or Transportation Commission.

When the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe of corruption in Anaheim burst into the news in May, the term “Anaheim Cabal” — a secretive, backroom group of business and government leaders — entered the political lexicon.

A timeline outlines what has been uncovered by Irvine Community News & Views and other news organizations. The timeline includes gaps and raises more questions than it answers, but an array of facts show that something has been going on in Irvine for years that requires further investigation.

After promising to do better to keep residents informed regarding its operations, the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) waited until late Friday afternoon — just before the start of the Labor Day weekend — to release its 145-page board meeting agenda for Tuesday (September 6th).

During the September 6th meeting, the OCPA board grappled with yet another audit of the agency — this one by the County of Orange. The board also had to address questions regarding who can be a board member and how board members are selected.

A contract rushed to a vote — in a surprise move by a 3-2 majority of the Irvine City Council back in December — has now come under scrutiny for irregularities in the bidding process and promises by the contractor that have failed to pan out.

“Out of the blue, a couple of Councilmembers said they were interested in another bidder that was farther down the list,” Councilmember Larry Agran recalled of the December meeting. That bidder was Casco and, said Agran, “on the spot they voted to give the deal — a big deal — to Casco.” (Councilmember Agran and Mayor Khan voted against the deal.

With the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) preparing to begin residential electricity service on October 1st, required notices are being sent out to Irvine residents.

All Irvine ratepayers are going to be automatically switched to OCPA’s highest-paying rate plan in October, unless they exercise their right to opt for cheaper plans or “out-out” of OCPA altogether and remain with SCE.

Residents of Travata — a beautiful senior housing community located at the northwest corner of the Great Park —have mobilized in recent months to fight a train maintenance yard. The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) is proposing to build a railroad maintenance yard less than 500 feet from their homes.

For eight hours on July 26th, the Irvine City Council sparred over several critical issues that likely will dominate the November City elections. The battle lines were clearly drawn.

Agran is running for re-election in November, as is Councilmember Anthony Kuo, who sided with others at the dais to vote against each of Agran’s proposals.

North Irvine residents turned out in force on July 12th, pleading with the City Council through nearly three hours of public comments to take action against the All American Asphalt plant that for years has been blanketing their neighborhoods with foul odors and insidious airborne carcinogens. They were rewarded with a four-pronged measure introduced by Councilmember Larry Agran and passed 5-0 after much discussion.

“It’s an urgent situation,” said Agran, who has repeatedly over the past 18 months tried to get the Council to take up the issue in public but to no avail because none of the other four Councilmembers would support his requests until now. “I regard AAA as a bad actor … behaving in a way that endangers our community. This plant is emitting huge quantities of benzene, formaldehyde, VOCs (volatile organic compounds), you name it.”