What’s that now, wafting over from TammyKim.com? Smells like… SCHADENFREUDE! Just over our transom:
Irvine Rejects Dirty Politics:
My Statement Regarding Outcome of Irvine City Council Special Election
For immediate release
April 16, 2025
Tammy Kim
I have deliberately refrained from commenting on the Irvine City Council District 5 special election, allowing the process to unfold without interference from me or those who have supported our candidacy. Unfortunately, the result was marked by record low voter turnout. It is deeply troubling that a council seat in one of California’s most influential cities, with a prominent global profile, could be decided by fewer than 4,000 votes, electing a candidate who emerged from obscurity and demonstrated minimal knowledge or substance on key issues. Clearly, voters in District 5 were motivated not by enthusiasm for their chosen candidate but by a decisive rejection of what they did not want.
Anthony Kuo’s humiliating defeat in Irvine’s District 5 special election isn’t merely a political loss—it represents a complete and spectacular implosion, a profound rejection of the disgraceful tactics he and his allies employed to manipulate the election outcome by forcing my withdrawal from the race. Despite District 5 being shamelessly engineered specifically for Kuo through Larry Agran’s blatant gerrymandering, Kuo’s severely flawed candidacy failed spectacularly against a virtually unknown opponent. This embarrassing defeat marks a new low, underscoring voters’ definitive repudiation of Anthony Kuo and Larry Agran’s unethical and manipulative brand of politics.
Their loss is especially humiliating given the unprecedented level of dirty political maneuvering and massive special-interest spending—over $400,000 dumped into a desperate attempt to prop up his floundering candidacy. Kuo’s defeat epitomizes the absolute rejection of dirty politics by Irvine voters.
This result isn’t simply an electoral setback; it’s the final nail in the coffin of a career built on entitlement, political arrogance, and a reliance on playing dirty politics rather than genuine leadership or meaningful community connection.
Anthony Kuo’s political career is finished—not because of circumstances or chance—but because voters finally saw through the charade. His inability to win even when the deck was stacked entirely in his favor underscores just how fundamentally flawed he is as a candidate.
This isn’t merely a defeat; it’s a well-deserved public humiliation for a candidate who believed dirty tricks could compensate for a lack of character, authenticity, and integrity.
Karma’s a bitch!
Agran wrote Kuo’s candidate statement!
[REDACTED] Tammy has other more pressing things to worry about like her own liberty which may be in jeopardy due to her own fraudulent conduct arising out of the district 5 special election.
Well it’s only a year-and-a-half until voting starts in the full-term election for District 5, so it’s nice to see that Tammy already has her campaign themes and arguments in place.
Betty, you “emerged from obscurity and demonstrated minimal knowledge or substance on key issues,” so don’t get too comfortable in that seat — and if you’re nice maybe I’ll make you a Commissioner.
Running against Agran’s high-handedness. (Hard to blame her for that.)
Wishing away any future political presence for Agran and Kuo.
The play here for Agran is obvious: win over Betty by convincing her that those university types don’t respect her while he and his frat-mates do. [Narrator voice: No, they actually don’t.] Watch for that.
Presuming that Betty does want to run for re-election in autumn 2026, his biggest argument will be that DPOC will nominate Tammy over Kuo — leaving her politically homeless. That could put her in the position that Agran himself had hoped to occupy: the Swing Vote to which everyone must cater. Kuo may be in the race again then, despite what Tammy says, and if Tammy and Betty are splitting the vote, he will likely win.
DPOC could try to win over Betty in several ways: soft-pedal any endorsement of Tammy; try to get one of them to run for a different position (Tammy could beat Agran for Mayor after this — isn’t that now a two year term? — and then she and Betty would reinforce one another); and having Tammy become her best friend who drives home her preferred policy choices.
By the way: when I first wrote about this race some months ago and sized up the Democratic candidates, it didn’t even seem to be on the DPOC radar. But they did endorse and they did win. Are we obliged to give Florice some credit this time? I’m not a definite “no” on that, but I’d need more details. (This looks more like a Labor victory. And, of course, a Trump backlash victory against Republicans.) Agreeing with what Vern has written, I’d give DPOC a lot more credit for endorsing him if it didn’t seem likely to have been in substantial part a rejection to his failure to march to Netanyahu’s tune on Gaza. It’s sad — but that’s what the local party may have come to.
Currently, there is a 574 vote difference between the “selected” and Kuo. This is not a landslide, more of an ant hill. The City of beige was never meant to achieve world status. It was designed as a bedroom community.
My advice to Disyrict fivers:
1. Vote NO on the proposed park assessment.
2. As a consolation, get a support pet, plenty of Tillamook ice cream and wait for Vern to drop his next tune.
3. Declutter your posessions. The Irvine Master disaster plan is to squoosh us all into roach infested five story human filing cabinets. If you are old or sick, special electronic locks will be on your door. Just preprint your rent checks out to The Irvine Company.
4. The council doesn’t think you need a car. Get an E Bike or Trike.
5. The area 4 and 5 redistricting 30,000 more apartment units will be approved faster than disappearing free chocolates! This will not be on the same agenda as our scoldings of using too much water, gas and eggs. Just WHO do you think you are pursuing life and liberty? You resource hogs! Prepare for shame.
6. Notify Disney they have been replaced by Irvine as the Happiest Place on Earth.
Hey! Number two sounds good. This must be Wykoff.
“Karma karma karma karma Kuo minion — she comes and goes, she comes and go-o-o-oes”!
Irvine Reddit feed re same story.
https://www.reddit.com/r/irvine/comments/1k1i1vu/irvine_rejects_dirty_politics/
Which nom-de-net are you?
None. Don’t participate on Reddit or elsewhere for that matter.
Not only is Betty Franco an unmitigated disaster when she opens her mouth, she is a phony who accepted a political donation from a known racist and I can prove it. I got the receipts. It has to do with DEIxis group, Inc which was founded by some of the same people at FSB public affairs shortly before Sidhu and Ament and Flint began to flame out. Cheri Spriggs is behind DEIxis. There is more. EN said it.
Here is an immigrant council member who was born in a foreign country in 1983 and immigrated to the U.S. at about the same time as Betty Franco. Like Betty she is a Democrat. She comes across a whole lot different than goofy “pr consultant” Franco. You be the judge.
https://youtu.be/04qegEFu-6Y
Irvine did NOT reject dirty politics. It just different dirty to represent the 5th.
If all public servants were as ineffective as these two were as former chair and vice chair of Irvine DEI, absolutely nothing would get done.
https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=122120479340721255&vanity=61571637668811
And my firm provides pro bono services to an organization that helped Betty Franco find public housing in Irvine and helps other similarly situated persons.
Gabriel writes a bubblegum, cream puff article about Charo without the guitar er Betty Boop. Doesn’t address her skeletons in the closet.
https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/entertainment/story/2025-04-24/betty-martinez-franco-irvine-city-council
I don’t think that you’ve established even one skeleton in her closet. I only count one allegation of one, above, which seems to be tied into accepting your view that anyone with views favoring anti-Armenian countries is ipso facto a racist.
There’s the rumor she was connected somehow to Melahat. And she did work for the same firm as Jeff Flint (Or, Jeff Flint’s firm?) Doesn’t mean she’s as crooked as Jeff, or Melahat. She’s a pinche PR person.
When you are an elected official and you admit to illegally entering the country, you just may get a self deport letter or worse. How is she going to support herself and do her job as a councilmember??