Former Irvine Councilwoman Tammy Kim has settled a lawsuit alleging she is faking her residency by agreeing to have her name removed from the ballot in the upcoming special election for the District 5 council seat.
The lawsuit was brought by Irvine resident Ron Scolesdang (who unsuccessfully ran for mayor last year) alleging Kim still lived in the District 3 she has owned for years. The lawsuit, supported by a private investigator’s report, accused Kim of engaging in serial electoral fraud in her quest to run in the District 5 special election and asked the court to remove her from the ballot.
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In May of 2024, Kim switched her voter registration from 136 Cartier Aisle in District 3 to a condo at 19 Alaris Aisle in District 5. When the District 5 council seat became vacant in December and a special election scheduled, Kim used the Alaris Aisle address when she pulled nomination papers to run.
On January 9, the private investigator interviewed Ju Sun Park, who lived at 19 Alaris Aisle with he husband and two children. Park said only her family had lived there for the past eight years, and had never rented out a room.
Kim got wind of this and quickly rented a room in an apartment at 44 Willowrun in District 5. She switched her voter registration to that address and pulled new nomination papers using that address.
After the lawsuit was filed, Kim denied wrongdoing, said she “legally lives in District 5” and painted herself as the victim of political opponents. On Wednesday night, at a meeting of the Democrats of Greater Irvine club, Kim stated she was staying in the race and claimed a “publicly-traded company” was funding the lawsuit, but neither named the company nor offered any evidence to substantiate her claim.
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On Thursday afternoon, OC Superior Court Judge Craig Griffin heard arguments from attorneys Brian Hildreth and Lee Fink, representing Scolesdang and Kim, respectively.
Hildreth zeroed on what he characterized as Kim’s failure to take simple steps to substantiate that she actually lived at apartment on Willowrun. He noted the law on a domicile requires more than simply intent to live in a place; there must also be action – the act of living there most be proven.
“Keep in mind domicile has two components. Domicile has an intention component, but also an act component. It has to, the candidate has to show the act of being a resident of that new domicile,” Hildreth told the judge. “They can’t just allege it, and they can’t just sign a lease. They can’t just change their driver’s license, because that doesn’t show the act of literal residency.”
“The evidence weighs substantially, almost entirely, in favor of her being domiciled at Cartier Aisle,” said Hildreth.
Kim’s legal team’s argument was, basically, that the court should take Kim’s word for it that she lives at 4 Willowrun.
“I don’t know what more she could have done if she’s got a voter registration affidavit saying this is her residence,” attorney Lee Fink argued repeatedly while holding up Kim’s voter registration.
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Hildreth later countered Kim, since the lawsuit was filed, has avoided submitting sworn attestations she lives in the room she subleases in an apartment at 44 Willowrun.
“When given the opportunity to tell the court, ‘Oh, I spend every night at Willow Run. Here’s a declaration from my roommate, where I rent a room, attesting that I spend every night there, that I have a cupboard in the kitchen where I store my food, that I have a spot in the refrigerator where I store my food. My car is parked there. I have a parking spot'” Hildreth pointed out.
“She offers the court nothing. In fact, she offers the court only that she’s visited there one time, and that was to stop by late on a Friday evening, and otherwise, doesn’t offer the court any evidence that she’s domiciled at Willowrun,” Hildreth told the court.
Regarding Kim’s use of the 19 Alaris Aisle address to vote and initially pull papers for the District 5 special election, Fink was dismissive, claiming it was irrelevant to the case.
“[44 Willowrun] is where she lives. And unless they produce some evidence to suggest otherwise, we shouldn’t even continue on,” Fink argued. “And they have all they have done, they’ve given a whole lot about some other address where she is not registered to vote, right? 19 Alaris Lane. It really doesn’t matter.”
“Well, I mean, it does matter,” interjected Judge Griffin, in the only time he commented on either side’s arguments. “If she falsely registered there, it’s relevant.”
“It’s not relevant to this proceeding, your Honor,” countered Fink.
“Well, it shows intent. If she registered somewhere she didn’t live and had no intention of living, that shows she had an intent remain where she is,” responded Judge Griffin, presumably referring to her District 3 condo.
Fink asserted she did not live than and averred that “that’s a different issue.”
After both sides finished, Judge Griffin said he would a verdict by the end of Friday, Feb. 7.
Between then and this morning, Kim bowed to reality and agreed to have her name removed from the ballot. Kim also agreed to withdraw the anti-SLAPP sui she’d apparently filed, and both sides will pay their own legal costs.
Scolesdang expressed satisfaction with the outcome.
“Now that she’ll be exiting from the District 5 election, we have a fair election for people that actually live there,” Scolesdang told the OC Register.
Striking her name from the ballot leaves the contest to former Councilman Anthony Kuo, public relations consultant Betty Martinez Franco and Dana Cornelius, an HOA board member. The race is widely considered Kuo’s to lose.
“I’m confident this would have ended in our favor, but the constant harassment — the private investigation — was not going to end even if we had won,” Kim told the OC Register – which is what people in Kim’s position often say in such circumstances. However, people who are convinced they’re going to win in court don’t generally capitulate.
More likely, Kim is hoping for leniency in the face of an OC District Attorney’s office investigation, and mindful of the example of former Santa Ana Councilman Roman Reyna’s example. According to sources, DA investigators were at Irvine City Hall earlier this week.
If Kim had somehow won her court battle and the special election and was then convicted of election fraud – she could be forced to make restitution by repaying Irvine for the cost of a special election to replace her on the council. That is what happened Reyna, who is still paying off more than half-a-million in restitution to the City of Santa Ana.
