Strange. It turns out, Fullerton Councilman Ahmad Zahra, who immigrated from Syria “in the late 90’s” and “always knew he was gay” according to all his inspiring bio’s, was married, in Arkansas, from 1996 to 2001, to a woman named Michelle Salmon. All of his public accounts of his life skip over this interesting episode. But why?
I’ve been sitting on this story for months, not really wanting to write about it. But I’ve been alerted that the Friends For Fullerton’s Future Blog, which is totally hostile to Zahra, was about to post these documents, and I thought I should get Ahmad’s side of things before that comes out.
I was reluctant because, despite all my problems with Zahra (starting with his support for Poseidon on the OCWD), he’s been very supportive over the years to my friends at the Rancho La Paz Senior Mobile Home Park. And many Fullerton Democrats consider him to be a sort of liberal standard-bearer against the Fullerton Council’s moderately conservative bipartisan majority of Jung, Dunlap and Whitaker.
But it’s better I write this story than the guys at FFFF. What does Ahmad have to say about this 1996-2001 marriage, and why has he never mentioned it?
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“Yeah, that happened,” confirmed Ahmad after a moment. “Why would anyone care about that?”
“Well, it’s just that there are all these inspiring profiles written about you, in publications all over the world, and they all make it sound like you went right from Damascus to Ellis Island to Hollywood to study filmmaking. ‘In the late 90’s,’ they all say. And some of them mention that you always knew you were gay. Out of curiosity, why did you decide to go to Arkansas of all places?”
“I got to this country and I didn’t know anybody, but my father had a friend in Little Rock, so that’s where I went first. I met Michelle, and we liked each other and thought we could work things out, but it didn’t work out. She was even going to go to LA with me but she decided to stay with her family.”
Okay, well, the suspicion arises that this was a marriage to get citizenship, which is illegal under the Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments Act of 1986. But Ahmad tells us he didn’t become a citizen until long after their 2001 divorce, in 2008. “Coming out as gay is not easy or simple. If these FFFF people want to make fun of my coming out story, well, good luck to them.”
He claims the FFFF blog is “Islamophobic,” “homophobic,” and racist against Latinos as well. I can’t vouch for that. “Why do people need to know every detail of my life? Do you know the whole life story of Oscar Valades?” (Who? That’s the guy who ran against him two years ago.)
“What about [his council nemesis] Fred Jung? Do you know how he makes a living? How has he gotten three upgraded Porsches while on Council? You should really be looking into the relationship he’s having with [Irvine Councilwoman] Tammy Kim – and they’re both on the OC Power Authority!” (And another board or two he named off.) “Now THAT is a real conflict, that affects people!”
I’d always suspected it was Ahmad who sent me an anonymous e-mail last year, back when I was writing about the OCPA’s growing problems. From the proton address “714949911” (get it? emergency regarding north county and Irvine!) it claimed “Everyone knows” that Fred and Tammy are an item, and that therefore all their votes on OCPA are somehow compromised. I wasn’t sure if that was true and didn’t care to find out, as I didn’t see how it would create any conflict. Plus I knew that Tammy didn’t even want to be on the OCPA Board, she wanted Larry Agran there but he refused, so she just stepped into the void, and she has done a fine job turning the Board around and so has Fred. The person who sent me the e-mail refused to identify themselves, but everyone I showed it to said “That’s Ahmad Zahra.”
I won’t go on with the feud between Ahmad and Fred’s majority, but I gotta tell my liberal friends it has NOTHING to do with Ahmad being Muslim or gay, and everything to do with things Ahmad has done and said in closed session that could not be overlooked. Meanwhile… we do appreciate some of the good things Ahmad Zahra has done, and now his public story is a little more complete.
Does he have any aliases?
Jesus H. He knew he was gay and yet for some reason married an American, non-Muslim in Arkansas?
Can anybody say jump to the front of the Green Card line?
Entitlement
Sounds like Zahra.
Did Ahmad acknowledge sending you an anonymous email?
No, but the things he said to me sounded just like the e-mail. It could have been sent by him, or at his behest.
Ahmad also (baselessly, I think) said post about him on Fullerton Rag was homophobic. I called him out for avoiding criticism of the police while speaking at a Black Lives Matter protest in Fullerton. You be the judge: https://fullertonrag.com/2020/06/29/ahmad-zahra-meets-black-lives-matter-and-nothing-much-happens/
This guy is a born victim. That’s his go-to distraction. Jordan Brandman was exactly the same.
I had maybe a half dozen interactions with Ahmad while I was living in Fullerton. All of them were positive, with the exception of his rolling back on appointing Flory to council. He immediately screwed over Bruce Whitaker after that vote, then followed that with the infamous vote to accuse FFFF bloggers of being criminals. You may want to amend this piece to include that vote. If FFFF is anti anything, and I haven’t read it for years, Ahmad started it.
What else is missing from this discussion?
How about FPD’s arrest of Zahra?
How about Zahra ‘s complaint to the FPD about Jung?
Trading votes for appointments, suing bloggers, getting arrested, making false police reports . . . Whatever the hell this article is about Arkansas . . . Sure doesn’t look like a standard bearer I’d want to be associated with, but what the hell do I know?
This is by no means intended to be a thorough Ahmad Zahra piece. Just the Arkansas story. I wouldn’t have brought up Fred at all, except that he did.
And also, because recently a liberal friend of mine asked Fred “Do you hate Ahmad because he’s Muslim or because he’s gay?” Which pissed off both Fred and me. It reminded me of what would happen when any of us would criticize Jordan Brandman.
“Do you hate Ahmad because he’s Muslim or because he’s gay?”
The old “are you still beating your wife” ploy.
Now that you’ve allowed Ahmad to accuse Fred Jung of improprieties on OJB, I assume you will contact Fred for a response?
I ran it past Fred, he agrees that it’s beneath response, irrelevant to the OCPA, and nobody’s business.
That’s the smart call. Seriously, this was Zahra’s line of defense for his owen peculiar behavior?
And what about Oscar Valades? A taxpaying guy with a real job and a family, and real ties to Fullerton’s 5th District.
Shameless.
Ahmad has always been self serving…. From the very first time he brought an issue forward. Watch his first council meeting and see what he presents. smh
Unsurprisingly, Mr. Green Card endorsed the lying, racist with a proclivity for stabbing those closest to her in the back for 3rd District Supervisor.
https://www.farrahnkhan.com/supporters