It’s like Jordan Brandman all over again. How many times did MANY of us complain tirelessly about that guy’s destructive, sociopathic, anti-Democratic behavior and lies, while year after year the Democratic Party of OC stood solidly behind him just because… I really have no idea why. And today comes a letter, forwarded by Farrah from the Party apparently, entitled, “DPOC’s Unwavering Support for Farrah.” Jordan redux. [Gee, what else do Farrah and Jordan have in common?]

This blog (meaning Greg and I) is enthusiastically supporting Branda Lin for Irvine Mayor, along with (enthusiastically) Dr. Kathleen Treseder and (Vern at least) Larry Agran for Council. But then, who cares what we say? We’re just “a joke,” according to Mayor Farrah, as well as “disgruntled.” (Huh? How are we “disgruntled?” Is that just a word she likes to throw around?)

It’s nothing. The OJ Blog is a joke. I like that Jeremy guy: “Is it nothing? Do you really believe that? And OJ Blog is a joke? Irvine Watchdog is a joke? Voice of OC is a joke? LA Times is a joke? The OC Grand Jury is a joke? The vast amount of public commenters at your City Council meetings are a joke? Have you always shrugged off ALL criticism of your behavior as a ‘joke?'”

Well, joke or not, we have really treated Farrah Khan with kid gloves up till now, and it’s high time for that to end. She is a nonstop throbbing menace to the County and the Democratic Party, with all the honesty and self-awareness of Donald Trump.

Where to even start? There are three new dirty Farrah stories just this past week, like a sewer main broke. Well, since we were already discussing the question of whether there’s an FBI investigation of the OC Power Authority, let’s start with the news Dr. Treseder made Wednesday night, confirming that in public:

Most of what Treseder says here, the “OJ Blog” already reported back in June, but this is the first time she confirms it in public, and this is the first time she confirms the existence of an FBI investigation. By the way, the FBI was first alerted to the OCPA problems and contacted Dr. Treseder BECAUSE of that “OJ Blog” story. Kind of like how the FBI caught a few insurrectionists last year because of OJ Blog stories, AND how useful the FBI found our work on Anaheim. Pretty good for a joke blog, eh? OK, I’ll stop…

The thing is, Irvine voters are fixing to elect a Mayor who’s a likely subject of an FBI investigation (along with Melahat and Probolsky.) We know that the FBI backs off in the months before an election, so as not to affect it inappropriately. But is Irvine on the verge of re-electing the Next Harry Sidhu?

The Perfidy, the Perfidy…

So many of Farrah’s scandals come down to stabbing other Democrats and the Party itself in the back, that it is really flabbergasting that the Party repays her with such loyalty – it almost makes the DPOC look like an abused spouse. You can go all the way back to when she first got onto Council and chose corrupt Republican mediocrity Mike Carroll over fine Democrat Lauren Johnson-Norris to fill Don Wagner’s vacancy. Greg wrote about that at the time, as always she lied about it, and then justified herself with bogus excuses.

Most of the awful inexplicable things Farrah does can be explained by her following the orders of her handler Melahat Rafiei, who in turn profits off the powerful folks who pay her for results, like developer Patrick Strader of FivePoint. What Strader gets is a pro-developer Republican majority, what Melahat gets is money and more power, what Farrah gets is Republican allies on the Council, and apparently a guarantee of no serious Republicans running against her. And what WE get is Carroll naming and keeping his EVEN MORE CORRUPT AND MEDIOCRE crony Brian Probolsky as CEO of what-coulda-been-a-great OC Power Authority.

“As usual she lies about it afterwards?” Yes, just like when she hung out with actual Armenian Genocide Deniers and joked and laughed – on video! – about “disappearing Armenians.” When this video came out she claimed it was “doctored” somehow by her “petty political enemies.” Muslim friends of mine (who always want to believe the best of her) took her at her word! Later she had to admit the video was real, and had to apologize – another pattern!

And last year the Democratic Party of Orange County, flaunting what I can only assume is some kind of very perverse sense of humor, honored Farrah with the “Truth Award” – infuriating many Irvine Democrats, and leading celebrity Congressman Adam Schiff, the hero of the Trump impeachment who happens to have a lot of Armenians in his district, to cancel his appearance. All because of Farrah! The DPOC actually chose Farrah over Adam Schiff, such was Melahat’s power.

But on to some of Farrah’s more recent anti-Democratic transgressions….

Screwing Over Katie Porter

You may have noticed that our nation is hovering on a knife’s edge between democracy and progress on one hand, and fascist authoritarianism on the other, and that if Democrats don’t keep both houses of Congress this month, we’ll be tipping over onto the bad side. You may have also noticed that Congresswoman Katie Porter has been one of the best, brilliantly communicating a progressive vision against the overwhelming corporate power dominating this nation.

Also you should know that Farrah and Katie haven’t got along since the 4-5 years they’ve both been in politics; and that Katie is facing a very rough re-election challenge from heavily funded Republican lobbyist Scott Baugh.

But to Farrah and (probably) Melahat, the Congressional elections and the fate of democracy are less important than Farrah’s petty vendetta against Katie. Right now the Republicans’ major attack against Katie is to paint her as anti-police, using a few texts she’d sent to Farrah in July of last year, texts which criticized the performance of the Irvine PD at one of her rallies – texts which Farrah vengefully sent off to FOX News of all things!

Of course Farrah now denies the texts came from her, but all evidence points to her lying. Farrah and Melahat lie like the day is long when they’re caught doing something bad, and right now the main swallower and amplifier of their lies is the Liberal OC’s Dan Chmielewski. But all those three, together, can come up with as an argument against the overwhelming evidence is, “Doesn’t make sense! What would her motivation be? Why would she attack a popular Congresswoman who endorsed her?”

Well, it DOES make sense if you’re as petty and vengeful and selfish as Farrah. In the same July ’21 text exchange, Katie subjected Farrah to some harsh truth:

A close Irvine observer points out there could be other motivations, about which we can only speculate: “Maybe someone paid Melahat for Farrah to do that. Maybe there was a guarantee Farrah would have no endorsed Republican opposition in her re-election campaign (which she doesn’t.) Maybe it got her hundreds of thousands of dollars in dark money from FivePoint, the Irvine Company, and other nefarious sources (which she has got.) Maybe she wants Katie’s job for herself. Maybe all of the above. These are the things we don’t find out till much later, if ever.”

But WHATEVER Farrah’s motivation was, if Katie loses in November, and especially if that happens and we lose the House by a seat or two, Farrah and Melahat will deserve a lot of the credit! Maybe the DPOC will give her a “Justice Award” or something…

The Sneak Attacks on Fellow Endorsed Democrat Larry Agran

In Irvine this cycle, the DPOC has endorsed Farrah for re-election as Mayor, and Treseder and Larry Agran for Council. Agran and Farrah are both Democrats but on Council they have disagreed and fought over many issues, from the Veterans Cemetery, the OCPA, the Great Park, and a controversial asphalt plant. (We’ve had plenty of criticisms of Larry over the past decades, but in the current Council, with an autocratic, Republican-and-developer-allied Mayor like Farrah, and given the dearth of viable candidates and Farrah’s likelihood of re-election, Larry is a necessary counterweight.)

ANYWAY. Endorsed OC Democratic candidates are not supposed to attack each other, but Farrah and Melahat and/or their developer allies have found a way around that: laundering the money thru the LOS ANGELES Democratic Party (which has no idea who’s good or bad in Irvine) and a new phony PAC called Working Families United PAC [obviously named to create confusion and having nothing to do with the fine Working Families Party.] THAT PAC, having gotten its laundered dough from developers and the Building Industry Association, has in turn been churning out POSITIVE ads for Farrah, and NEGATIVE ads – with a lot of lies! – against Agran. [The Parties are now “looking into this” controversy, and supposedly figuring out how to stop it.]

But it’s good to remember, the Developers – who are the great power behind the throne in Irvine – want Mayor Farrah and a Republican majority, and want to GET RID OF Larry Agran. This is how we can be sure that our endorsements of Lin, Treseder, and Agran are correct.

I reached Larry early Sunday morning, wanting to see if he was going to be at the AOC/Treseder rally at UCI; I think I woke him up. He groggily agreed with everything I said, he is supporting Branda for Mayor and Dr. Treseder. He agrees that Melahat probably helped set up the convoluted system that’s been attacking him thru LA, and he sounded pessimistic that anything good can be salvaged of the OCPA at this point. (Maybe he was just tired.)

And he says he hasn’t looked at the Liberal OC, or talked to Dan Chmielewski, for “months, maybe a year – what is he writing now?” That blog used to be Agran Apologist Central, all the time – now it is purely Whatever Melahat Wants Said. When the Lincoln Club sent out mailers attacking Anaheim Mayoral candidate Ashleigh Aitken for having hired Melahat as a campaign consultant late last year, most of us Ashleigh supporters were all, “she let her go way back in February, as soon as she found out about Melahat’s lawbreaking!” Dan’s take, though, was “Melahat is completely innocent, the FBI made a mistake, and Ashleigh should have more loyalty to her friends!” – exactly what Melahat’s been saying. Aw, who are you gonna believe?

Farrah was the LAST politician to (at least pretend to) cut ties with Melahat when the FBI scandal exploded in May – reluctantly like a baby letting go of a pacifier. Her first statement was a full-throated defense of her crooked mentor:

“…I also want to be unequivocal in my support for my friend and advisor, Melahat Rafiei. I have seen her integrity and ethics up close and personal. She is a leader who deserves credit for rooting out this corruption. I stand with her, and believe our justice system will do its job and clear her name.” 

Less than a week later, she backed off, suddenly permitted to admit what the rest of us all knew: 

“I am horrified by what I have learned in the last week about the depth of manipulation of the public, our institutions, and our communities. The press has reported that a former consultant for my campaign, Melahat Rafiei, is a cooperating witness in the investigation, unrelated to her work on my campaign. Ms. Rafiei is no longer involved in any way with my campaign.” 

Whatever Melahat tells her it’s okay to say, apparently. The Voice notes with characteristic wry understatement, “This isn’t the first time this year that Khan has issued seemingly competing statements on a controversial issue.”

And how much power is Melahat still, discreetly, wielding over the DPOC, with their cries of “Unwavering Support For Farrah” no matter what she does?

Dr. Treseder’s Summation

Kathleen summed up Farrah on Twitter like a scientist, better than I could:

“…In each of these cases, [Carroll-gate, OCPA-gate, Porter-Gate, Armenians-Gate, Agran-Gate] Mayor Khan follows the same MO:

1. Deny, while presenting an alternate story in which she is innocent.
2. Attack those who brought the story forward, by saying they are “power hungry”, “disgruntled”, etc. To me, these insults seem like projections.
3. When evidence is revealed that contradicts her story, make more elaborate explanations.
4. Ultimately, retreat and call for others to move past the incident and support her.” [And always call for “UNITY,” which to Farrah means, no criticism of Farrah. -V.]

“How many more times do we need to do this? It’s bad for our city, our party, and our community. Enough is enough.”