XPost: alt.politics.democrats, oc.general, sac.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: unqualified.black.cunt@splcenter.org   
      
   On 07 May 2023, RKBA JOHN  posted some   
   news:u39b2m$3ik80$4@dont-email.me:   
      
   > Lee is a fag.   
      
   Farrah Khan overwhelmingly lost when she ran for Irvine City Council for   
   the first time in 2016, falling 7,500 votes short of victory and landing   
   in a distant fourth place.   
      
   Four years later, she was elected mayor of Orange County’s second largest   
   city by a 13,500-vote margin, beating an incumbent with nearly 20 years   
   experience on the city council.   
      
   One of Khan’s biggest shifts in that time was hiring a new campaign   
   manager: Melahat Rafiei.   
      
   Rafiei was a rare combination: secretary of the California Democratic   
   Party and a representative to the Democratic National Committee, she also   
   had a strong campaign operation in Southern California that helped elect   
   many Orange County Democrats.   
      
   While she’s been a major player behind the scenes of Orange County   
   politics for over a decade, Rafiei was only drawn into the spotlight last   
   year after it came out the FBI arrested her for attempted bribery in 2019.   
      
   Orange County Corruption Scandal   
   Last month, she pleaded guilty to attempted wire fraud against one of her   
   clients in Anaheim and admitted she attempted to bribe two Irvine City   
   Council members in 2018 for favorable cannabis legislation.   
      
   [Read: OC Democratic Power Broker Admits To Attempted Bribery of Irvine   
   Councilmembers and Attempted Wire Fraud]   
      
   And most recently, there have been concerns raised in Irvine that Rafiei   
   remained a presence at city hall trying to influence policy making after   
   news of her arrest became public.   
      
   While the focus of the FBI investigation has been on Rafiei’s work in   
   Irvine and Anaheim, her influence didn’t stop at the city or even county   
   borders, with an extensive list of clients throughout Southern California.   
      
   No former clients have yet been charged with any crimes in connection to   
   the FBI probe, but Rafiei’s arrest has directed a spotlight on her   
   business relations with those in public office.   
      
   Who Were Rafiei’s Political Clients?   
   A full list of Rafiei’s past clients isn’t publicly available, and   
   Rafiei’s attorney declined to provide Voice of OC with the list or speak   
   to the specifics of her political work with clients.   
      
   And only one of Rafiei’s previous or current clients wanted to speak on   
   the record about her experiences with Rafiei.   
      
   Multiple people who worked alongside Rafiei said she was very involved in   
   policy making, advising her candidate clients on legislation and   
   purporting to speak on their behalf behind closed doors – an unusual   
   position for a consultant.   
      
   A Voice of OC review of over a decade of campaign finance disclosures   
   throughout OC found she ran one of the most widespread consulting firms in   
   the county.   
      
   Rafiei’s consulting work started in 2009 with then-Irvine Councilwoman   
   Beth Krom’s failed congressional run.   
      
   >From there, Rafiei’s business expanded throughout Orange County with city   
   council members like Anaheim Councilman Jordan Brandman, Irvine Councilman   
   Larry Agran and Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido winning elections with her   
   help according to the candidates’ disclosure records.   
      
   By 2015, her reach expanded beyond OC, working on multiple races for Long   
   Beach City Council, with six current city council members and the mayor on   
   her list of clients the records show.   
      
   She also worked on campaigns for mayors of all three of Orange County’s   
   largest cities.   
      
   Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken paid Rafiei from Dec. 2021 to Feb. 2022,   
   according to city campaign records, ending the relationship, she said,   
   when Rafiei told her of her arrest by the FBI, which prompted her to   
   immediately cut ties.   
      
   Aitken’s father, Wylie, is chairman of the Voice of OC board of directors.   
      
   Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua hired Rafiei from 2018 to 2019 to consult   
   on her run for school board, and Rafiei donated $1,000 to her mayoral run   
   two days before the election but Rafiei did not work on that mayoral   
   campaign according to county and city campaign finance disclosures.   
      
   Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan was one of Rafiei’s biggest clients, paying out   
   over $110,000 total from 2018 to 2022 according to city campaign   
   disclosures, paying for assistance on her 2018 run for city council and   
   two subsequent runs for mayor.   
      
   In 2018, Rafiei stepped into her first US Senate race, advising now   
   disgraced Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin De Leon’s on his failed senate   
   race against Dianne Feinstein.   
      
   She also worked on multiple failed campaigns for county supervisor,   
   backing candidates like Garden Grove Councilwoman Kim Nguyen in her 2020   
   bid and Joe Kerr’s 2022 run, according to county campaign finance   
   disclosures.   
      
   She also had clients all over Orange County, including Huntington Beach   
   Councilman Dan Kalmick, Aliso Viejo Councilwoman Tiffany Ackley and more,   
   the disclosure records show.   
      
   Many of those former clients put out statements distancing themselves from   
   Rafiei at the time of her arrest but have been mute on the issue since.   
      
   Role in Clients Work   
   The precise role Rafiei played in each of her clients’ work fluctuated   
   from client to client, according to their public statements and public   
   records.   
      
   All but one of her former clients declined to comment when contacted by   
   Voice of OC about what work she did for their campaigns or while in   
   office, but most list her work as “consulting,” in campaign disclosures.   
      
   The best look residents got of Rafiei’s work comes in Irvine, where   
   multiple council members are calling out her work and questioning how she   
   interfaced with city staff on behalf of Mayor Khan, who says those   
   interactions ended when her involvement in the FBI probe came out last   
   year.   
      
   [Read: Consultant’s Controversial Plea Deal Spurs Calls for Irvine City   
   Hall Probe, Puts Spotlight on Mayor]   
      
   Irvine Councilwoman Tammy Kim, who also paid Rafiei as a consultant,   
   claims Rafiei regularly tried to insert herself into city hall on Kim’s   
   behalf.   
      
   “She called me her worst client because I did not allow the interfacing   
   between city staff,” Kim said in an interview.   
      
   Kim also claimed that Rafiei regularly worked with city staff on Khan’s   
   behalf.   
      
   “Her talking points were being written by Melahat and she was in the room   
   for all her meetings,” Kim said. “I believe she was on a lot of things, or   
   that Melahat had access to city staff on the mayor’s behalf.”   
      
   Irvine Councilwoman Kathleen Treseder began publicly raising complaints   
   about Rafiei’s work while on the campaign trail, claiming in a letter sent   
   to Voice of OC that Rafiei admitted to arranging a deal to put Khan on the   
   state Coastal Commission in exchange for helping OC Power Authority’s CEO   
   Brian Probolsky keep his job.   
      
   Khan has denied that any such deal took place.   
      
   [Read: Is the FBI Still Investigating in Irvine?]   
      
   It remains unclear when Rafiei stopped working for Khan, as she was still   
   a regular presence at city hall over the past year according to city   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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