All hail Melahat Rafiei, Orange County’s misunderstood savior, that superhuman font of love and caring, that tireless champion of women and people of color, without whom they surely would not have a voice. Taking on all our sins like the Dark Knight or the Christ himself, she single-handedly saved Anaheim from its domination by the dark forces of greed and evil, risking her life, liberty and reputation in this selfless quest. And for this, some want to PUNISH her? Shame! At long last, sir, how can you look yourself in the mirror?
I’ve known this woman for decades, in Democrat circles, and mostly we haven’t got along. Not the kind of person I like, and it seems to be mutual. Still I haven’t been rooting for her to go to prison a long time, partly cuz I feel sorry for her son who seems like a nice kid.
BUT I just can’t sit here while she and her tool Dan (and whatever other foolish tools she has) try to whitewash and rehabilitate her reputation, with the obvious goal of freeing her up for future rampages. This revisionist propaganda consists of two myths (aside from just how goddamn wonderful she is personally) –
She really never did ANYTHING wrong; and
She was nearly single-handedly responsible for bringing down the “Anaheim Cabal,” whatever that is.
Let’s get comfortable and, one at a time, take a riding mower to those two myths.
1. Pure as the driven snow?
Dan concludes his benediction on his good friend thusly: “As for the charge’s (sic) Melehat (sic) has admitted to, it was a mistake in judgment to mix her political work and her cannabis consulting work. I’m hoping the public benefit of her efforts to expose the Cabal outweighs all other factors.”
Hello? That’s the problem? She exercised poor “judgment” mixing her perfectly legit political work and her perfectly legit cannabis consulting work? Wore two hats at the same time, neglecting to change them? *Ahem.* Melahat attempted to BRIBE two Irvine politicians (Melissa Fox and Jeff Lalloway) and confessed to that – was that her political work? She ripped off hundreds of thousands from her cannabis clients, saying she needed the money for bribes but then pocketing most of it – was that her cannabis work?
And this was the mere iceberg-tip of Melahat’s fascinating “work” – from fixing the Santa Ana potshop lottery with her late pal Frank Barbaro to making a corrupt mess of the OCPA with her buddies Probolsky and Farrah. Yeah, she wasn’t charged or convicted for those things, but as FBI Agent Adkins wrote in footnotes to his Criminal Complaint against Todd Ament (bottom of p. 6-7):
“The FBI has been investigating Rafiei since approximately 2018 for violations of federal criminal law to include 18 U.S.C. § 666 (theft or bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds), among others. In July 2019, I sought court authorization to intercept electronic and wire communications over Rafiei’s phone … She subsequently agreed to cooperate with the FBI in this investigation…
“Based on my interactions with Rafiei, and the interactions of other agents with her, particularly FBI SA Joseph Nieblas, I believe she has lacked candor at times during her assistance in this investigation. For example, I believe she lied to FBI Special Agents during her interview on October 28, 2019. I also believe she has omitted material facts to investigators throughout her cooperation with the FBI, including additional instances where she has offered to pay bribes to elected public officials.
“However, the FBI has relied on information provided by Rafiei in instances where such information has been deemed credible by way of corroboration… Based on the government’s interaction with Rafiei and her counsel, I believe her motive for cooperating in this investigation was to receive leniency for the federal criminal violation she was originally arrested for, as well as other possible criminal conduct...”
But what does Adkins know? He’s just a G-Man. The goody two-shoes has probably been let go by now, what with Kash Patel running the FBI, Pam Bondi leading the DOJ, and their new focus on deportations, crushing dissent and taking political revenge. (I heard secondhand from one of these agents that they’d never be able to do this “Melahat/Cabal” investigation in the new climate.) And apparently the new sheriffs are taking a kinder view of Melahat for whatever reason (which my colleague Greg speculates on here.)
But that doesn’t mean that you and I, who will be swimming in the same water as her, should FORGET WHAT SHE DID, AND CONFESSED TO.
2. The Cabal Crusher?
Over and over, Chmielewski proclaims that Melahat “brought down the ANAHEIM CABAL,” and makes it sound like she did it all by herself, and because she wanted to, not under duress. And somehow at “great risk” to herself, LOL. We’ll dispense with all that shortly. But mostly, I’d like to some day hear what Dan thinks the Anaheim “cabal” was (or is), and what was (or is) objectionable about it. Dude, DAN WAS PART OF IT! Or at least one of their most loyal spokesmen for a decade.
Let me try to make plain how WEIRD it is to hear Dan celebrate Melahat “bringing down the Anaheim Cabal.”
1. The most concrete result of the Melahat/Cabal investigations was putting a stop to the corrupt Angel Stadium Heist.
2. This Stadium Heist was something the Cabal had been trying to achieve for at least a decade – for reasons still unexplained! – to unload the Stadium, Anaheim’s biggest public property, as cheaply as possible to team owner Arte Moreno. It was just about the Cabal’s top priority!
3. The blogosphere’s biggest cheerleader for this Heist (besides the mercenary Cunningham) was Dan Chmielewski. And now he hops up and down bragging that his friend Melahat (also a Cabal member) helped destroy this dream project of theirs.
Way back in 2013, when the Cabal Council wanted to lease the Stadium property to Arte for $1 a year for 65 years to develop and profit off of as he saw fit ( true story!) the entire City Council was on board EXCEPT for sensible Mayor Tom Tait. The fiercest Cabal attack dog on Council was Jordan Brandman (Dan’s best friend AND a Melahat client) and in September Jordan called an “emergency” meeting with the sole purpose of shutting up Tait (stripping his agendizing ability so he couldn’t talk about the Stadium.)
Dan made his blog Cabal Central, then and always, singing the praises of the Stadium Heist, justifying every dirty thing Jordan did back then, endlessly demonizing Tait and even giving column space to Cabal Republican Kris Murray. He would claim us critics of the giveaway just didn’t understand “The Business of Baseball” – it became a running joke. Same thing in the Sidhu years when the Cabal tried AGAIN to give the Stadium away to Arte for pennies on the dollar – Dan, channeling Jordan and Melahat, was the Cabal’s biggest cheerleader. But now he purports to cheer Melahat dashing that dream – color us puzzled!
Anyway, DID Melahat “bring down the Cabal?” Under duress, she helped bust Chamber CEO Todd Ament for things that had nothing to do with Anaheim governance – the illegal shuffling around of big sums of Chamber of Commerce money to help buy Todd a fancy cabin in Big Bear, which he still has. And this in turn allowed the FBI to pressure Todd to help catch Mayor Sidhu pulling crooked shenanigans related to the Stadium deal.
But is the “Cabal” even “brought down?” Anaheim is still a Disney-dominated company town that makes its most important decisions in secret, just a little more carefully. The same complicit city staff are still in place, and the staff that stood up to the Cabal (like Chris Zapata and Cristina Talley) were and remain fired. And the complicit councilmembers prance around now as lobbyists.
The little bit that Melahat did do to “bring down the Cabal” was NOT voluntary, and what is this “RISK” she took? To her reputation? She was faced with a choice of going to prison for bribery and theft, versus wearing a wire for the Feds – it sounds like she did what was BEST for her reputation. Which she’s now spinning as heroism. Physical danger? What, was the tubby Todd or the puny pockmarked Jeff Flint gonna track her down wherever her bugged phone was and strangle her? She would have body-slammed them, just saying.
I’LL tell you who “brought down the Cabal,” as far as it is “brought down,” and defeated the Stadium Heist – it was this blog and friends of ours – especially the People’s Homeless Task Force whose Brown Act Suit got the Feds’ attention, and Mike and Jeanine Robbins who were importuning the FBI regularly for years. At far greater risk than Melahat, and at our own expense.
This blog? A favorite resource for the Feds, both in this case and after the Jan. 6 Insurrection.
“Rafiei received more than 40 letters of support from friends and colleagues in support of a just and light sentence. The sentencing is still up to the judge; I can’t be objective here as I wrote one of those letters. As I told her over the past few years, when you go through something like this, you learn who your friends are. And she has.”
Oh, HAS she! We’ve uploaded those letters here so you can see ’em, there’s not really over 40 – there are over 40 pages, but only 28 letters. (Why does Dan have to lie, like, all the time?) We see Dan’s letter of course, a lot of letters from family, and from a couple of hinky labor leaders like John Hannah. We get a letter from kindred spirit Danny Fierro (left) the Disney-paid dirty trickster and former consultant for Brandman, Zahra, and Mitch Caldwell. We see someone writing on the letterhead of the late Frank Barbaro (Melahat’s Santa Ana lottery co-conspirator), and, tellingly, we see a letter from a guy named Lucifer.
But what’s more interesting is who DID NOT write letters.
1. Hardly any politicians, which is strange for someone who worked with and for so many. Only TWO politicians – the retired Irvine politician and former mayor Beth Krom* and the Anaheim school board guy (& Brandman familiar) D. R. Heywood. No Farrah, no Ashleigh, no Tammy, no Kim Carr. *I hope Beth doesn’t have a fit over me mentioning her like she did with Jeremy Ficarola (see “Epilogue” below.)
2. Unsurprisingly, NONE of the many many people who “worked with her,” much to their regret and chagrin, in the Cannabis Industry.
And 3. NOBODY from the DPOC, current or former. No Florice, no Lauren J-N, no Ada, no Gloria. Even though they were ALL SO CLOSE, like sisters. Showing there is no loyalty among cliquish mean-girls when the chips are down. And who can blame them. Melahat was the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the DPOCTreasurer of the State Party & former executive director of the DPOC when this shit hit the fan, making it very difficult for us Democrats to paint ourselves as much less corrupt than the very corrupt Republicans. “Yeah, what about Melahat??” the Republicans all scoff in their rehearsed talking point way.
Melahat Gets the Last Word.
As I am nothing if not the soul of fairness, I will let Melahat have the last word here. Because one thing you can’t say is that she’s not an entertaining ball of energy, a real “piece of work.” This is her, talking to Jeff Flint, taped by the FBI, transcribed by Agent Adkins. Even though she KNEW that she was being recorded and helping to bust Ament and maybe Flint, it just filled her with rage that these two creeps (so similar to her) would DARE to rip her off:
“…That’s why when I heard these rumors, PTSD for me, Melahat! Here it is again. Jeff Flint working with my competitor behind my back. And now I don’t know. Like it, it was MY MONEY! It was my client’s money! I, I have a right to know who got it. Cause I’ll tell you, not only did I get dropped and I didn’t get shit, I’m still fucking working with them, but I lost a shit-ton of money on that project. At least a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. That’s a lot of money in my life! It may not mean much to the Big Bear-owning, yacht-owning, riverhouse-owning person like Todd, or to you and you gorgeous life, I love seeing you with your beautiful family, but that was a lot of money for me. So there’s two hundred and twenty fucking thousand dollars of my client’s money not even including my friend’s money. I want to know, did Todd get any of it? …
“Cause I, I was going over all the invoices, and I seeing who’s getting paid, that’s why I’m all worked up over [Consultant 3] and and [Attorney 1] and those cocksuckers, um, and I’m like I didn’t see Todd’s name anywhere. So now I’m asking, HAS HE FUCKIN EVER GOTTEN PAID???“
Lowlife grifters.
Sentencing Friday. Whatever.
THE END
************
EPILOGUE – Ficarola and Krom
Funny. Yesterday our Irvine friend Jeremy Ficarola wrote a real factual (much less opinionated and snarky than this) piece on Irvine Watchdog, “Melahat Rafiei Poised to Avoid Prison for Bribery Scheme.” It explains the legal convolutions better than I, and includes this mild passage on the support letters from Beth Krom and Dan C:
“… the court received a letter from Krom describing Rafiei’s good nature and emotional support during a tragedy befalling Krom’s family. Moreover, Krom stated that, “between 2019 and 2022, [she] worked with Malahat and her firm to coach and advise some of their candidates.” This would suggest they worked together in a business capacity as recently as 2022. The court also received a positive character letter from political blogger and public relations principal, Dan Chmielewski. He described his relationship with Rafiei as that of a dear friend whom he relies on to “listen and offer advice on a variety of issues…”
Somehow this little passage caused Beth to flip out and attack Jeremy on Facebook, which he couldn’t see cuz she has him blocked. I guess politicians who write support letters for Melahat have a real chip on their shoulder about it… no wonder there are so few.
Greatest pianist/composer in Orange County, and official political troubadour of Anaheim and most other OC towns. Regularly makes solo performances, sometimes with his savage-jazz band The Vern Nelson Problem. Reach at vernpnelson@gmail.com, or 714-235-VERN.
For Those of You That Are Keeping Score, At Home.
Frank Barbaro and Jordan Brandman,are Dead!… Harry Sidhu is Going to the Joint (okay for a few weeks) Todd Ament,is about to get his ‘Ticket’Punched…Melahat is “Waiting on Deck”!…. And since she cooperated with the Fed I think she’ll get mostly a pass.
“A Big Fine & Not Much Time”!
I think the FBI is still looking and begs the question… ‘Jeff Flint’?…
The Narcissist’s Prayer seems appropriate for these people:
That didn’t happen.
And if it did, it wasn’t that bad.
And if it was, that’s not a big deal.
And if it is, that’s not my fault.
And if it was, I didn’t mean it.
And if I did, you deserved it.
I was friends with Adam E from the Voice when he was there and I told him I wished I was getting paid. He said, “Well I wish I could give my opinion, and make jokes, and cuss.”
Julio was very defensive as of the last time I saw someone bring this up, but I hope he no longer is (and I don’t see why he would be.)
After the OCLF stabbed Julio in the back over his sexual harassment charges (which I recall thinking was trumped up at the time), Melahat hired his sister (who in my experience is a nice and honest seeming person) for something or other. He clearly felt betrayed by most and appreciative of the help for his sister. This is echt Melahat: spend or arrange someone else’s spending a relatively small amount of money (for her) that will seem large to the recipient to make an ally who will do her much good.
Krom is right that she’s very smart. But among the willing dupes she’s besmirched with her “friendship” is … Beth Krom. Now that’s game!
On that note, Melahat got Loretta Sanchez to have me play piano at her wedding and reception. I do remember that. And also that she gave me a good tip once, that I should look into COFIROUTE’s lobbying for 405 Toll Lanes.
Appreciate both those little things, but it’s not enough to make me a Melahat apologist / loyalist.
Y’all know she is still on facebook, masquerading as Kevin Konkrete Davis.
Odd that the letter shown from “Lucifer” shows him as a former firefighter from Oceanside Local 3636. 3636 is the Orange County Local. Oceanside, down in SD county, is 3736. You would think a former vice president would know the correct local number. Makes me wonder if the rest of the support letters are bogus.
Beth Krom must be pretty fucking stupid. Her story is that Rafiei has taken responsibility by pleading guilty. That’s nonsense. You plead guilty because you are negotiating your future, not atoning for your past.
No. Melahat wasn’t the Executive Director of the DPOC when this went down. She was a DNC member and California Democratic Party Secretary. She hasn’t been the Executive Director for the DPOC in at least 12 years.
What most people have forgotten is that at the time this all happened Melahat was a sitting director on the OCFair Board- another corrupt board. She was definitely buddy buddy with 2 other directors- Ashleigh Aitken and Natalie Rubalcava. 3 peas in a pod!
Which goes to show you that Democrat politicians are just as venal and corrupt as Republicans.
I’ve seen it close up. For years all the corrupt pols in OC were Republicans. That’s only because all the politicians were Republicans. The Dems just wanted their place at the trough.
True of too many Demorats. But at the County level it’s still de facto Republican control for the most part, thanks to FakeDem Doug Chaffee, and certainly for most executive offices.
When Dem Supervisors vote to get rid of the insidious personal discretionary funds used for whatever they want, I might give that credence.
Greg Diamond
Posted August 21, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Isn’t the Board of Supervisors two Democrats, two Republicans, and one transpartisan Klepto? If one counts Wagner’s fuck-the-public-buddy Chaffee as a Republican, as I do, that’s a de facto Republican majority.
Even if you disagree, does Sarmiento fall within your critique? I think that all of the 2.7 Republicans do.
David+Zenger
Posted August 21, 2025 at 5:20 PM
I see the discretionary funds as a signal issue. They were ended 15 years ago but made a comeback. Sarmiento and Foley both get that loot to spend in their districts to make themselves look good.
This is the point where, like a photon, Melahat turns into two realities at once. To Democrats, she points out that despite wearing a wire, she never recorded any Democratic politicians and therefore has been loyal to the party. In the other reality, she’ll say that of course she would have been willing to do anything that they asked, and to hell with party loyalty. Can’t have both particle and wave unless you’re a photon!
Heck Jeanine, Ashleigh continued endorsing Farrah khan (Melahat’s project) including for supervisor when almost everyone else turned their back on her except the likes of Connor Traut, Pearlman favorite Tiffany Ackley, Letitia Clark and a select few others.
One note samba is a standard. And the one note can be connected to others in this instance. If there was never a melahat, there would never be a Farrah khan.
Sometimes I get tired of Eric always bringing it back to Farrah. But then I think what if I was Armenian. And I remember how Farrah not only went to a celebration with a bunch of Turks and not just any Turks but ones that are famous for denying the Armenian Genocide. And that she ate some of their desserts, and talked about how good they were, and the Turk saying “good thing the Armenians aren’t here, they’d say they DISAPPEARED” or something like that, and laughed. And Farrah laughed too, like it was some really good joke, about Armenians disappearing. And it was all on video. And when it came out, instead of apologizing or saying she didn’t understand what the Turk was saying (true or not) she denied the whole thing happened, claimed the video was doctored, that everyone who mentioned it was ISLAMOPHOBIC because she happens to be Muslim. And almost all powerful people backed her up and kept supporting her. I too might feel like singing the One-Note Samba.
My name is Jeanine Robbins and I am an original member of the People’s Homeless Task Force OC. We also had a business at the OC Fairgrounds and attended every OC Fair Board meeting for decades.
Melahat Rafiei was a director on the Fair Board and we watched month after month when she voted for issues that did not benefit the residents of Orange County, many of which were marijuana related.
I have read many of the letters submitted on her behalf but what needs to be remembered is that she did not come forward to help the FBI voluntarily- she came forward after she was caught in illegal schemes and arrested. People are making her out to be a saint for helping but please remember that she was able to help with the Anaheim scandal because she, herself, was a participant in the illegal doings. She was an inner circle member of the illicit CABAL. There you have the ideals embraced by Melahat- help yourself and everyone else be damned.
Please remember that she is guilty and has not been sentenced for many years. It is time to send a message to the political criminals who have schemed their way into positions of power. They need to be punished while being held accountable for their illegal actions- not rewarded for acting as a pressured informant.
Having learned their lesson with Melahat, Dpoc and local dem electeds and others find flint minion in Irvine and throw party for her at Armenian owned coffee shop. Not a very charismatic looking bunch of folks. Low energy, Betty Franco accepted a donation from known lying racist Farrah Khan. Farrah doesn’t look like she was invited to the party. You can’t make this ish up? If you recall Melahat’s employee Cory Allen was Farrah khan’s chief of staff in Irvine from September 2021 to June 2022 while Melahat was going full rata. Things that make you go hmm. EN said all of it. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1160980256063012&id=100064531460664
She used Islamophobia as a campaign platform leading up to her election as mayor to garner sympathy and attention and then accused me of it as mayor when I linked her to one of the most vile racists in the county before the video was even discovered by other Armenian American activists who were trying to expose her and one up me.
Then when I peppered DPOC members like Ada and Lauren Johnson Norris and Florice over their failure to condemn Farrah they recruited Jessica cha to contact my wife and enlist her in silencing me and also went on a campaign led by Dave Min, Lauren Johnson Norris and Kev Abazajian (cowards that they are) to accuse me of anti-semitism without actually identifying me via their social media.
For example, here, in April 2021, Farrah is kvetching about how she faced islamophobia in every election she participated in Irvine via a turkish state media outlet.
Here is a transcript of an 2017 NPR audio file with her original complaints about islamophobia in Irvine elections involving her.
“CHOW: Last fall, Khan ran as a Democrat for city council. Throughout her campaign, she says she heard all kinds of Islamophobic attacks – mailers from a local housing PAC that called her an extreme Muslim, a candidate in her own party made lawn signs accusing her of being anti-Israel.
KHAN: It was kind of like a self-check for me to see that – you know what? – sometimes, what’s happening at the national level can be used against you by your own party members.
CHOW: Khan lost that race but not her sense of humor. She is planning on running again for a city council seat next year.
KHAN: I’m just as good as the people that are in office right now. I want people to see that there is another side to this whole Muslim narrative that’s being, you know, kind of spun out of control right now.”
“Despite Irvine’s racially diverse demographics, Khan said she saw the Islamophobic rhetoric from the presidential election reflected in her own race.
Farrah Khan said that during her city council campaign in Irvine, Calif., an opponent made a sign falsely accusing her of being ‘anti-Israel.’
‘You might not run on your immigration status, or that you’re an American Muslim, but you can’t run from it,’ Bhojwani said. According to a local liberal-leaning blog, a political action committee (PAC) sent out fliers that attacked her religious faith. Khan said that an opponent even made lawn signs that falsely accused her of being anti-Israel. She said party members, religious leaders and friends, reached out to her to express their shock at that sort of politicking.
‘It was kind of like a self check for me, to see … [that] what’s happening at the national level can be used against you by your own party members because they think people will buy into it,’ Khan said. She eventually lost the election, coming in fourth place out of 16, with over 11 percent of the votes (more than 16,487). An Orange County Register reporter noted that Irvine’s city council is now completely white in an increasingly diverse city. A New York Times article used the word ‘venom’ to describe the conditions in Irvine’s 2016 city council race, outlining a particularly contentious rivalry and slew of politicking between Khan and another Democratic city council frontrunner, Anila Ali, who is also a Pakistani-American and Muslim.”
Apparently, when muslims are running against each other in a local race and get dirty, its not islamophobial.
The first time I ever spoke at an Irvine city council meeting was September 14, 2021.
And, if you recall, before September 14, 2021, and before Farrah became mayor, she used BLM to throw Christina Shea under a bus and build a mayor campaign platform based on inclusiveness.
Well Brandman played the victim card, Kim played the victim card and so did she. She was much more successful doing so. Any other Melahat clients that did this???
I always noticed the politicians closest to Melahat (and of course there were many that paid her to help them win elections, but only a few really seemed like her creatures) were ALWAYS playing identity politics, with their races, religions, femaleness, and/or gayness. I always felt that there was some connection between Melahat and Fullerton’s Ahmad Zahra, who does the same.
I need to bring out this thing, this Facebook essay SUPPOSEDLY written by Jordan Brandman, but everyone who looked at it said “Oh, that is Melahat writing.” It was an outraged critique of my 2020 campaign song against Avelino Valencia, “Avelino Vendido.” Melahat found so many types of racism in my short song, including that I used a Spanish song (De Colores) to sing about a Mexican-American candidate.
But she really took offense at my phrase “Dirty Sidhu.” The context was “No… positions, but a glance at his funders can tell you what this cat would do – he’s the favorite of Rent Gouger Saunders, the STR Merchants and Dirty Sidhu!” She detected anti-Indian racism in my phrase “Dirty Sidhu” because I guess there’s a history of people considering Indians dirty. That was 2020. Maybe it is okay NOW to call Sidhu dirty. Maybe I was ahead of my time.
Maybe it’s time to make a post of that song of mine along with Melahat’s critique of it.
Eric Neshanian
Posted August 24, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Heck, on the way out, Melahat played the victim card too. If she has ptsd because of her immigrating from Iran to the U.S., then it begs the question what would she have suffered if she remained?? In the end, among other things, she is a failure to progressivism and of the party.
Anonymous
Posted August 24, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Indians call Pakistanis dirty as in “dirty paki”. Pakistan means land of the clean and pure. So she was wrong. Unless Sidhu is really a closet Pakistani.
And there was a history of calling Armenians “filthy” and “starving”.
It was so anti-Semitic that the OC human relations commission (of which ada and ljn were members at the time) didn’t say squat like they did when they came to supervisor do’s defense during Covid. Wahwahwahwah!!
Progressives and Zionists really know the difference between political speech and hate speech or how to conflate one into the other. EN said that too.
Now circling back to oc human relations commission meetings. I spoke at last Thursday’s meeting. This deliberative body is an echo chamber of no measurable activity. The do. Nothing board. No one defends Rabbi Dicky (not even himself) or big bad Ada. What she gonna do sicc a hotel worker on you? Oooohhh. There were no other public speakers which is par for the course since Steinberg went sideways and threatened to shut it all down after Gaza uproar.
I was buying cigars from Mike before 9/11. Just saying.
Beth Krom can kismir toochas!!
The OC press club called. They said they didn’t know you. But they should. Lol!!
Melahat rat, she’s a fat cat.
Melahat rat; she a fat cat, fat cat, fat cat.
For Those of You That Are Keeping Score, At Home.
Frank Barbaro and Jordan Brandman,are Dead!… Harry Sidhu is Going to the Joint (okay for a few weeks) Todd Ament,is about to get his ‘Ticket’Punched…Melahat is “Waiting on Deck”!…. And since she cooperated with the Fed I think she’ll get mostly a pass.
“A Big Fine & Not Much Time”!
I think the FBI is still looking and begs the question… ‘Jeff Flint’?…
Good job, Vern.
The Narcissist’s Prayer seems appropriate for these people:
That didn’t happen.
And if it did, it wasn’t that bad.
And if it was, that’s not a big deal.
And if it is, that’s not my fault.
And if it was, I didn’t mean it.
And if I did, you deserved it.
In typical local/regional “journalist” fashion, Noah piles on late and without much detail.
https://voiceofoc.org/2025/08/oc-democratic-consultant-who-admitted-to-attempted-bribery-could-avoid-jail-time/
I was friends with Adam E from the Voice when he was there and I told him I wished I was getting paid. He said, “Well I wish I could give my opinion, and make jokes, and cuss.”
The Cabal isn’t dead by a long shot. Just more cautious and a little cleaned up.
Chimichurrski is an idiot.
Melahat started liking my Insta posts after her humbling fall. Never understood why. I guess I’m in the hasbeen algorithm.
I noticed that the scandals drew her close to Julio Perez too, which is really weird.
Julio was very defensive as of the last time I saw someone bring this up, but I hope he no longer is (and I don’t see why he would be.)
After the OCLF stabbed Julio in the back over his sexual harassment charges (which I recall thinking was trumped up at the time), Melahat hired his sister (who in my experience is a nice and honest seeming person) for something or other. He clearly felt betrayed by most and appreciative of the help for his sister. This is echt Melahat: spend or arrange someone else’s spending a relatively small amount of money (for her) that will seem large to the recipient to make an ally who will do her much good.
Krom is right that she’s very smart. But among the willing dupes she’s besmirched with her “friendship” is … Beth Krom. Now that’s game!
On that note, Melahat got Loretta Sanchez to have me play piano at her wedding and reception. I do remember that. And also that she gave me a good tip once, that I should look into COFIROUTE’s lobbying for 405 Toll Lanes.
Appreciate both those little things, but it’s not enough to make me a Melahat apologist / loyalist.
Y’all know she is still on facebook, masquerading as Kevin Konkrete Davis.
Odd that the letter shown from “Lucifer” shows him as a former firefighter from Oceanside Local 3636. 3636 is the Orange County Local. Oceanside, down in SD county, is 3736. You would think a former vice president would know the correct local number. Makes me wonder if the rest of the support letters are bogus.
Jesus Christ. My three favorite people all mentioned in this very truthful article. It was icky just reading it.
Slap on the wrist coming in three, two, one….
I’ve never tried to arrange the sort of campaign that Chumley has, but I suppose that people who are so inclined can send this article to the court.
I’ll write tonight about an angle absent from this story, which will be ready by morning.
Beth Krom must be pretty fucking stupid. Her story is that Rafiei has taken responsibility by pleading guilty. That’s nonsense. You plead guilty because you are negotiating your future, not atoning for your past.
No. Melahat wasn’t the Executive Director of the DPOC when this went down. She was a DNC member and California Democratic Party Secretary. She hasn’t been the Executive Director for the DPOC in at least 12 years.
But it’s OK. Let’s just pile on.
“Let’s just pile on.”
Okay. The crook tried to bribe Irvine councilmembers. She admitted it. She may appear bulky but her long tentacles reached all over the place.
But Pretty Boy Floyd had his admirers, too.
Yeah I was going to fix that ED thing, it was the only substantive correction Dan offered in his little riposte.
https://theliberaloc.com/2025/08/11/anaheim-cabal-case-ament-cuts-a-deal-rafiei-sentencing-set-for-august-22/comment-page-1/#comment-287860
But “let’s just pile on?” Au contraire, Eugene. I had to write this piece because all her admirers were piling on, erasing history.
Oh and David, Dan just wrote, “Glad you think I’m a joke. That issued is already beeen decided that you are.” Got that, chump?
“…the puny pockmarked Jeff Flint”
Aw, that’s just mean.
What most people have forgotten is that at the time this all happened Melahat was a sitting director on the OCFair Board- another corrupt board. She was definitely buddy buddy with 2 other directors- Ashleigh Aitken and Natalie Rubalcava. 3 peas in a pod!
Which goes to show you that Democrat politicians are just as venal and corrupt as Republicans.
I’ve seen it close up. For years all the corrupt pols in OC were Republicans. That’s only because all the politicians were Republicans. The Dems just wanted their place at the trough.
True of too many Demorats. But at the County level it’s still de facto Republican control for the most part, thanks to FakeDem Doug Chaffee, and certainly for most executive offices.
When Dem Supervisors vote to get rid of the insidious personal discretionary funds used for whatever they want, I might give that credence.
Isn’t the Board of Supervisors two Democrats, two Republicans, and one transpartisan Klepto? If one counts Wagner’s fuck-the-public-buddy Chaffee as a Republican, as I do, that’s a de facto Republican majority.
Even if you disagree, does Sarmiento fall within your critique? I think that all of the 2.7 Republicans do.
I see the discretionary funds as a signal issue. They were ended 15 years ago but made a comeback. Sarmiento and Foley both get that loot to spend in their districts to make themselves look good.
She was embedded as an officer of fhr CDP too. She was wearing a wire while an officer of the CDP. Hello?!?
This is the point where, like a photon, Melahat turns into two realities at once. To Democrats, she points out that despite wearing a wire, she never recorded any Democratic politicians and therefore has been loyal to the party. In the other reality, she’ll say that of course she would have been willing to do anything that they asked, and to hell with party loyalty. Can’t have both particle and wave unless you’re a photon!
Heck Jeanine, Ashleigh continued endorsing Farrah khan (Melahat’s project) including for supervisor when almost everyone else turned their back on her except the likes of Connor Traut, Pearlman favorite Tiffany Ackley, Letitia Clark and a select few others.
https://www.farrahnkhan.com/supporters (Dems who have no problem endorsing a known lying racist)
You are at your best when you are playing more than just one repetitive note.
One note samba is a standard. And the one note can be connected to others in this instance. If there was never a melahat, there would never be a Farrah khan.
Sometimes I get tired of Eric always bringing it back to Farrah. But then I think what if I was Armenian. And I remember how Farrah not only went to a celebration with a bunch of Turks and not just any Turks but ones that are famous for denying the Armenian Genocide. And that she ate some of their desserts, and talked about how good they were, and the Turk saying “good thing the Armenians aren’t here, they’d say they DISAPPEARED” or something like that, and laughed. And Farrah laughed too, like it was some really good joke, about Armenians disappearing. And it was all on video. And when it came out, instead of apologizing or saying she didn’t understand what the Turk was saying (true or not) she denied the whole thing happened, claimed the video was doctored, that everyone who mentioned it was ISLAMOPHOBIC because she happens to be Muslim. And almost all powerful people backed her up and kept supporting her. I too might feel like singing the One-Note Samba.
Good job Vern
8/21/25
Honorable Fernando Aenlle-Rocha
First Street Court House
350 W 1st St
Courtroom 6-b, 6th floor
Los Angeles 90012
Honorable Fernando Aenlle-Rocha:
My name is Jeanine Robbins and I am an original member of the People’s Homeless Task Force OC. We also had a business at the OC Fairgrounds and attended every OC Fair Board meeting for decades.
Melahat Rafiei was a director on the Fair Board and we watched month after month when she voted for issues that did not benefit the residents of Orange County, many of which were marijuana related.
I have read many of the letters submitted on her behalf but what needs to be remembered is that she did not come forward to help the FBI voluntarily- she came forward after she was caught in illegal schemes and arrested. People are making her out to be a saint for helping but please remember that she was able to help with the Anaheim scandal because she, herself, was a participant in the illegal doings. She was an inner circle member of the illicit CABAL. There you have the ideals embraced by Melahat- help yourself and everyone else be damned.
Please remember that she is guilty and has not been sentenced for many years. It is time to send a message to the political criminals who have schemed their way into positions of power. They need to be punished while being held accountable for their illegal actions- not rewarded for acting as a pressured informant.
Sincerely,
Jeanine Robbins
Anaheim, CA
Thank you for the clarity. She didn’t stop the Anaheim Cabal. She was an enthusiastic part of it.
Having learned their lesson with Melahat, Dpoc and local dem electeds and others find flint minion in Irvine and throw party for her at Armenian owned coffee shop. Not a very charismatic looking bunch of folks. Low energy, Betty Franco accepted a donation from known lying racist Farrah Khan. Farrah doesn’t look like she was invited to the party. You can’t make this ish up? If you recall Melahat’s employee Cory Allen was Farrah khan’s chief of staff in Irvine from September 2021 to June 2022 while Melahat was going full rata. Things that make you go hmm. EN said all of it.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1160980256063012&id=100064531460664
Vern,
She used Islamophobia as a campaign platform leading up to her election as mayor to garner sympathy and attention and then accused me of it as mayor when I linked her to one of the most vile racists in the county before the video was even discovered by other Armenian American activists who were trying to expose her and one up me.
Then when I peppered DPOC members like Ada and Lauren Johnson Norris and Florice over their failure to condemn Farrah they recruited Jessica cha to contact my wife and enlist her in silencing me and also went on a campaign led by Dave Min, Lauren Johnson Norris and Kev Abazajian (cowards that they are) to accuse me of anti-semitism without actually identifying me via their social media.
https://x.com/SenDaveMin/status/1599894606946394112
For example, here, in April 2021, Farrah is kvetching about how she faced islamophobia in every election she participated in Irvine via a turkish state media outlet.
https://www.dailysabah.com/world/americas/us-citys-first-muslim-mayor-struggles-against-anti-islam-sentiment
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/us-city-s-first-muslim-mayor-faced-ballot-islamophobia/2210865 (same article, different Turkish owned media outlet)
Here is a transcript of an 2017 NPR audio file with her original complaints about islamophobia in Irvine elections involving her.
“CHOW: Last fall, Khan ran as a Democrat for city council. Throughout her campaign, she says she heard all kinds of Islamophobic attacks – mailers from a local housing PAC that called her an extreme Muslim, a candidate in her own party made lawn signs accusing her of being anti-Israel.
KHAN: It was kind of like a self-check for me to see that – you know what? – sometimes, what’s happening at the national level can be used against you by your own party members.
CHOW: Khan lost that race but not her sense of humor. She is planning on running again for a city council seat next year.
KHAN: I’m just as good as the people that are in office right now. I want people to see that there is another side to this whole Muslim narrative that’s being, you know, kind of spun out of control right now.”
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/02/27/517392392/in-response-to-rising-biased-rhetoric-muslims-run-for-office
“Despite Irvine’s racially diverse demographics, Khan said she saw the Islamophobic rhetoric from the presidential election reflected in her own race.
Farrah Khan said that during her city council campaign in Irvine, Calif., an opponent made a sign falsely accusing her of being ‘anti-Israel.’
‘You might not run on your immigration status, or that you’re an American Muslim, but you can’t run from it,’ Bhojwani said. According to a local liberal-leaning blog, a political action committee (PAC) sent out fliers that attacked her religious faith. Khan said that an opponent even made lawn signs that falsely accused her of being anti-Israel. She said party members, religious leaders and friends, reached out to her to express their shock at that sort of politicking.
‘It was kind of like a self check for me, to see … [that] what’s happening at the national level can be used against you by your own party members because they think people will buy into it,’ Khan said. She eventually lost the election, coming in fourth place out of 16, with over 11 percent of the votes (more than 16,487). An Orange County Register reporter noted that Irvine’s city council is now completely white in an increasingly diverse city. A New York Times article used the word ‘venom’ to describe the conditions in Irvine’s 2016 city council race, outlining a particularly contentious rivalry and slew of politicking between Khan and another Democratic city council frontrunner, Anila Ali, who is also a Pakistani-American and Muslim.”
Apparently, when muslims are running against each other in a local race and get dirty, its not islamophobial.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/world/americas/venom-of-us-election-seeps-down-to-city-council-race-in-california.html (spying alleged between Farrah and Ms. Ali in Irvine city council race)
The first time I ever spoke at an Irvine city council meeting was September 14, 2021.
And, if you recall, before September 14, 2021, and before Farrah became mayor, she used BLM to throw Christina Shea under a bus and build a mayor campaign platform based on inclusiveness.
https://voiceofoc.org/2020/06/irvine-city-council-expresses-confidence-in-police-tactics/
https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/entertainment/story/2020-06-10/irvine-councilwoman-who-took-part-in-anti-police-brutality-protest-is-reprimanded
https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/entertainment/story/2020-06-16/irvine-councilwoman-farrah-khan-announces-run-to-unseat-mayor-christina-shea
Where was the OC Human Relations Commission addressing the alleged islamophobia in Irvine elections from 2016 to 2020 or so???
Okay, enough Farrah for this thread.
Well Brandman played the victim card, Kim played the victim card and so did she. She was much more successful doing so. Any other Melahat clients that did this???
I always noticed the politicians closest to Melahat (and of course there were many that paid her to help them win elections, but only a few really seemed like her creatures) were ALWAYS playing identity politics, with their races, religions, femaleness, and/or gayness. I always felt that there was some connection between Melahat and Fullerton’s Ahmad Zahra, who does the same.
I need to bring out this thing, this Facebook essay SUPPOSEDLY written by Jordan Brandman, but everyone who looked at it said “Oh, that is Melahat writing.” It was an outraged critique of my 2020 campaign song against Avelino Valencia, “Avelino Vendido.” Melahat found so many types of racism in my short song, including that I used a Spanish song (De Colores) to sing about a Mexican-American candidate.
But she really took offense at my phrase “Dirty Sidhu.” The context was “No… positions, but a glance at his funders can tell you what this cat would do – he’s the favorite of Rent Gouger Saunders, the STR Merchants and Dirty Sidhu!” She detected anti-Indian racism in my phrase “Dirty Sidhu” because I guess there’s a history of people considering Indians dirty. That was 2020. Maybe it is okay NOW to call Sidhu dirty. Maybe I was ahead of my time.
Maybe it’s time to make a post of that song of mine along with Melahat’s critique of it.
Heck, on the way out, Melahat played the victim card too. If she has ptsd because of her immigrating from Iran to the U.S., then it begs the question what would she have suffered if she remained?? In the end, among other things, she is a failure to progressivism and of the party.
Indians call Pakistanis dirty as in “dirty paki”. Pakistan means land of the clean and pure. So she was wrong. Unless Sidhu is really a closet Pakistani.
And there was a history of calling Armenians “filthy” and “starving”.
Dgi’s cowardly statement about me republished by Democrats for Israel. They use it to claim there is increased antisemitism in Orange County.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=117001234584258&id=100088231463452
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=117001911250857&id=100088231463452 (Democrats for Israel republishes min’s half-throated statement)
It was so anti-Semitic that the OC human relations commission (of which ada and ljn were members at the time) didn’t say squat like they did when they came to supervisor do’s defense during Covid. Wahwahwahwah!!
Progressives and Zionists really know the difference between political speech and hate speech or how to conflate one into the other. EN said that too.
Now circling back to oc human relations commission meetings. I spoke at last Thursday’s meeting. This deliberative body is an echo chamber of no measurable activity. The do. Nothing board. No one defends Rabbi Dicky (not even himself) or big bad Ada. What she gonna do sicc a hotel worker on you? Oooohhh. There were no other public speakers which is par for the course since Steinberg went sideways and threatened to shut it all down after Gaza uproar.
https://ceo.oc.gov/sites/ceo/files/2025-08/8-14-25.mp3 (Queue to 2:34 but you should listen to rabbi dicky’s reflection which immediately precedes me for a good laugh)
Not sure how minutes got posted without first being approved by the commissioners. https://ceo.oc.gov/sites/ceo/files/2025-08/8-14-25%20HRC%20Minute%20Order%20Packet.pdf