Questions are swirling as to whether Tammy Kim, a Democrat and former councilmember, actually lives in the council district where she is running in the April 15 special election for the vacant District 5 seat. The Irvine family who live at the address where Kim claims as her residence say they are the only ones who live there.
An Irvine resident named Ron Scolesdang is petitioning the Irvine City Council to block Kim from the special election ballot, alleging she is faking her residency, backing up his contention with a damning report by a private investigator that undermines Kim’s claims that she lives in District 5.
“The evidence collected in this investigation supports the conclusion that Tammy Kim does not reside at 19 Alaris Aisle, Irvine, CA 92614. Further, the evidence collected strongly suggests Tammy Kim resides at 136 Cartier Aisle, Irvine, CA, a property which she owns,” states the report by Matthews Dokter & Associates.
Scolesdang asserts that Kim actually lives on 136 Cartier Aisle in District 3, in the condo she has owned since 2006. Today, he filed a lawsuit in OC Superior Court asking the court to bar Kim from the special election ballot. Scolesdang ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Irvine in 2024.
The Irvine City Council is taking up the matter tomorrow in a special meeting, although it will be discussed in closed session, out of earshot of the public.
The allegations come on the heels of OC District Attorney’s office charging former Stanton City Councilwoman Alyce Van, a Democrat, with four felony counts stemming from her running for re-election in a council district in which she did not live.
The lawsuit and P.I. report vividly illustrate Kim’s suspect maneuvering to portray herself as a District 5 resident.
In May of 2024, Kim re-registered at 19 Alaris Aisle, a condominium in District 5, and that was the address from which she voted in November 2024.
Kim, a Democrat activist, claimed the Alaris Aisle address as her residence when she pulled nomination papers on December 23 to run in the District 5 special election.
Around this time, Matthews Dokter & Associates was hired to investigate where Kim actually lives. The firm surveilled both her condo at 136 Cartier Aisle in District 3 and the residence at 19 Alaris Aisle in District 5 where she was claiming to live.
The investigators found no sign Kim lived where she claimed – and considerable evidence to the contrary.
During an evening visit to Kim’s Cartier Aisle condo on January 6, investigators found a large cardboard package at the doorstep, addressed to Tammy Kim. They also noted that newspapers that had been on the doorstep that morning were gone.
Th next day, the man who lived next door to 19 Alaris Aisle – Kim’s claimed residence – said that condo was occupied by a “nice Asian family, a husband/wife in their mid-40s, an older daughter and
younger son.” Tammy Kim is single and has a son.
On January 9, investigators spoke with Ju Sun Park – the wife/mother who lived at 19 Alaris Aisle – and her teenage daughter as they left their condo.
“Ju Sun Park and daughter advised they have lived in #19 Alaris Aisle for 8 years, along with her husband, Do
Hyuk Kwon, and her son. No one else lives with them and they have not and do not rent rooms to anyone; it is only their family in 19 Alaris Aisle,” the report states.
According to the lawsuit, Kim soon got wind that an investigator was looking into the validity of her residence claims; Ju Sun Park’s husband is apparently on the board of directors of the Korean American Center – of which Kim is the managing director. She rented a room that was being advertised on Craigslist at 44 Willowrun.
On January 13 – four days after investigators established she did not live at 19 Alaris Aisle – Kim asked the Irvine City Clerk for new nomination papers, according to the lawsuit:
“KIM thereafter hurriedly asked the Irvine City Clerk to re-issue nomination papers at the 44 Willowrun address and re-registered to vote from that address, but as recently as Saturday January 25 was still returning to the 136 Cartier Aisle address, evidence that this continues to be her domicile as defined by the code and caselaw.”
Meanwhile, all available evidence supports the conclusion that Kim has never stopped residing at her condo in District 3. A January 22 letter to the city from the prominent election law firm Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk includes a photo posted by Kim on her social media, showing her celebrating Thanksgiving at her District 3 condo.
On December 28, investigators observed Kim parking in her garage at her District 3 condo, and entering her condo carrying a box of groceries:
For her part, Kim is doubling down and deflecting, claiming to the Irvine Watchdog the “unfounded” complaint is a “politically motivated” plot by “Republican interests.
That may be true. But it is also entirely beside the point: which is whether or not she lives at 44 Willowrun or at 19 Alaris Aisle before that.
Furthermore, the complaint is hardly “unfounded.” Indeed, the only aspects of this scandal that are unfounded are Tammy Kim’s claims to live in District 5. What possible, let alone plausible or believable, explanation could Kim give for suddenly re-registering at a rented room? Other than she was caught red-handed faking her District 5 residence at 19 Alaris Aisle.
It is not enough to merely rent a room.
The state Elections Code Section 201 states candidates must be a “registered voter and otherwise qualified to vote for that office at the time nomination papers are issued.” The state requires residency within the district in which the vote is cast.
State law defines residency as an individual’s domicile – “the place in which his or her habitation is fixed, wherein the person has the intention of remaining, and to which, whenever he or she is absent, the person has the intention of returning.” Mere intention is not enough. As the court ruled in Aldabe v. Aldabe in 1962: “A
man’s home is where he makes it, not where he would like to have it.”
Kim May Be In Serious Legal Jeopardy
Kim’s sloppiness and heedlessness in service of her over-sized political ambitions may place her in legal jeopardy. If the complaint and lawsuit are correct, Kim is guilty of perjuring herself when she re-registered at 19 Alaris Aisle in May of 2024; when she pulled nomination papers in December 2024 claiming to live at 19 Alaris Aisle; when she re-registered at 44 Willowrun, and when she pulled new nomination papers in which she claimed to live at 44 Willowrun.
Furthermore, Kim could be guilty of fraudulently voting in the November 2024 election.
OC District Attorney Todd Spitzer has demonstrated he doesn’t fool around with these incidents: he charged former Stanton City Councilwoman Alyce with four felonies for analogous actions while seeking re-election last year.
In 2019, Spitzer charged Santa Ana Councilman Roman Reyna with not living in his district. Reyna, a Democrat, was convicted and removed from office. His sentence included re-imbursing the city for the half-a-million it spent on the special election to fill the council vacancy created by Reyna’s conviction.
Even Kim’s removal from the April 15 special election ballot may not forestall prosecution. Spitzer charged Alyce Van with four felonies even though she was defeated for re-election.
