Krom's Lobbyist Connections
By Stephen C. Smith
Irvine Tattler Publisher
Posted February 25, 2008
Mayor Beth Krom wants to spend $200,000 of Irvine taxpayer money on a June special election that seems to serve no purpose.
She wants residents to vote on an anti-lobbying ordinance that's already been on the books for more than two years.
An ordinance with no penalties.
An ordinance that doesn't address her own lobbyist connections, or those of her allies, council members Larry Agran and Sukhee Kang.
Krom was elected Mayor in November 2004 after individuals connected to Agran created
a slush fund called Common Sense Voter Guide to finance a stealth candidate in
the election. The candidate, Earl Zucht, ran as a Republican alternate to Krom's opponent, former mayor Mike Ward, theoretically
to siphon away votes from Ward.
An April 12, 2005 article in the
Orange County Register reported, "The Common Sense mailers were paid for with $5,000 from lobbyist
Frank Michelena, the only contributions reported by the slate-mail organization. Michelena, a lobbyist and longtime
Agran supporter, also gave money to Krom and Agran."
Michelena, a Costa Mesa resident who has lobbied Irvine, said he did not know who
Zucht was and that he contributed the money to the mailer as a favor.
"Somebody asked me if I would help," he said. "I said, 'What is it for?' They said, 'These propositions.' I asked how
much they needed, and they said $5,000. Irvine's been good to me, so I said 'OK.' I help people who help me."
Who asked for the favor?
"I don't remember who it was," said Michelena, a lobbyist since 1965.
A January 25, 2006 article in the
OC Weekly reported that Zucht was a "neighbor, pal and poker partner" of Ed Dornan, a longtime Agran associate
who ran a slate mailer operation called Hometown Voter Guide. The Guide was used during
the November 2006 election to promote Krom's re-election as well as falsely accuse councilwoman Christina Shea of being a lobbyist,
perhaps to divert attention from scandals involving Agran, Krom, and Kang.
Agran's Lobbyist Friend
Michelena, who passed away in 2005, isn't Agran's only lobbyist connection.
Agran is a self-proclaimed friend of Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle,
a registered lobbyist. A June 26, 2004 article by reporter Jeff Rowe in the Orange County Register detailed
the intimate personal and professional relationship between Agran, Pringle and Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido.
The article was titled, "Mayors Finding Leverage in Rule of Three: Anaheim's Pringle, Irvine's Agran and Santa Ana's Pulido
wield influence as 'tres caballeros.'"
"Collectively, the three persuaded the Orange County League of Cities to bend a term-limit bylaw that would have required Pulido
to leave the Orange County Transportation Authority board, which, Agran said, would have robbed the board of continuity and 'damaged
our interests.'"
Sounds like they did some lobbying, doesn't it?
According to Rowe, Agran sought out Pringle after the latter was elected Mayor of Anaheim in 2002, then connected him with Pulido.
"Each of the three describe the other two as friends and all three have built their political careers on a strong belief in personal
relationships." Rowe wrote. "They've all gotten together socially at Pulido's house and hope to coordinate schedules or another
get-together."
Agran told a different story during a controversial Irvine City Council meeting in December 2005.
After a series of scandals involving Agran, Krom and Kang were reported in local papers, Krom
in September 2005 introduced a cynically named "ethics ordinance" that was intended to muzzle their critics. I wrote an
article about the proposed ordinance, which was
published in the September 22, 2005 OC Weekly. The ordinance would have banned critical remarks by
council members, and Mayor Krom herself would be judge, jury and executioner.
Orange County Register editorial writer Steve Greenhut commented in their October 2 edition:
I suddenly feel sorry for Irvine Councilman Larry Agran, the Boss Hogg of Irvine’s political establishment. Despite his power,
he has become Nixonian in his paranoia, even going so far as to promote what amounts to a speech code against fellow council members
to stop them from criticizing him, his allies, his policies and his favored consultants.
Agran's False Lobbyist Accusations
Agran and Krom retreated, then returned with a new version in December 2005. Just before the council was set to debate that
ordinance at the city’s December 13 council meeting, Agran inserted into the document a section called "Incompatible Employment
or Service." The amendment prohibited "Members of the City Council, and by extension their Executive Assistants" from working as
compensated lobbyists "before any government agency."
During deliberations, Agran falsely accused councilwoman Christina Shea of being a lobbyist. He produced a printout of Shea's
personal website, posted on the Internet in 2001 when she was out of office and began a modest government relations business.
"If you’re an elected official, you have access that other people do not have," Agran claimed, although he offered no proof that
Shea had ever "lobbied" while in office or that Shea had ever made a dime as a lobbyist. "This is government for sale," he railed.
"This is government by eBay."
Shea brought up Agran's relationship with Pringle, and asked how he could falsely accuse her of being a lobbyist when by his own
admission he included lobbyist Pringle in his circle of friends.
"Although I have great respect for Mayor Pringle, I am very, very uncomfortable with local elected officials who are talking to
me," Agran claimed. "Are they talking to me as a local elected official, or as a lobbyist? Curt Pringle is a very successful
mayor. He's also a very successful lobbyist. But I think the confusion of whether he is speaking to me and serving the public
interest, or addressing me on behalf of his private interests, that's a matter of real concern."
If Agran found Pringle so distasteful, Shea asked, then "why do you continue that relationship?"
Agran didn't answer her question.
In a December 15, 2005 Orange County Register article, columnist Frank Mickadeit wrote that Agran had given "a
live portrayal of Joe McCarthy" and called the Irvine's City Council "as dysfunctional as any governmental body I've ever seen."
I wrote about Agran's scheme in the December 12,
2005 edition of the OC Weekly, and noted that another provision could be interpreted as requiring the
Register to register as a lobbyist for publishing opinions about Irvine politics. The provision was rewritten
after Register lawyers protested.
The City Council finally voted on the lobbyist ordinance on January 24, 2006. The meeting
minutes show that Shea made a motion requiring City Council members to maintain a list of lobbyists who have contacted
them. Agran, Krom and Kang voted against it. The record shows that the final vote to enact the lobbying ordinance was
approved by all five Council members.
And so it became law. More than two years ago.
Hometown Voter Guide Scandals
During the 2006 municipal elections, a slate mailer outfit called Hometown Voter Guide mailed a series of hit pieces to
Irvine voters falsely accusing Shea of being a lobbyist, while urging people to vote for Krom, Kang and Krom's Planning
Commissioner Mary Ann Gaido. Hometown Voter Guide was run by Agran's campaign fundraiser Ed Dornan
until he died in December 2005, but the Guide continued to function, financed by hundreds of
thousands of dollars from businesses with Great Park connections and developers with projects pending at City Hall.
Dornan's own lobbying activities were at the heart of several scandals that were tied to the Agran slate.
In August 2004, City Councilman Chris Mears, a
longtime Agran ally, exposed a secret lobbying deal Dornan had with a utility company seeking a contract with the City of
Irvine. During the August 24 City Council meeting where the contract was to be debated,
the city manager confirmed that Dornan had told her he had a financial interest in the company.
In September 2004, the Weekly reported that
Dornan and other Agran supporters appeared to be lining up for Great Park contracts.
In August 2005, the Weekly reported that lobbyist
Roger Faubel solicited work from Cox Communcations for himself and Dornan. Their job? To negotiate Cox's new cable
contract with Irvine's representatives — Agran and Krom.
Miguel Pulido, the third member of the tres caballeros, also has lobbyist connections.
The Weekly reported in August 2004 that
Pulido urged Shea to meet with Frank Hill, a lobbyist who had served
a 46-month prison term for extortion, conspiracy and money laundering following an FBI political-corruption sting in Sacramento. Shea
said that Hill wanted her to accept a job in Sacramento and resign her City Council seat. She found out that Hill was working
for the same utility company as Dornan.
Krom's Ordinance Has No Penalties
As the 2008 municipal elections approach in November, Krom has recycled the ethics ordinance, this time proposing
it be voted upon by the people of Irvine during a June special election.
The city's staff report says it will cost taxpayers up to $200,000 to place this ordinance on the ballot, even though it's been
city law for over two years.
The ordinance itself contains no penalties. Section 5, Paragraph E, Sub-Paragraph 1 states, "Alleged violations ... should
be reported in writing to the City Attorney. Upon receipt of the report, the City Attorney shall discuss the matter with
the person who is the subject of the allegation, advising such person of the alleged violation and endeavoring
to avoid future violations in the event one has occured."
If the ordinance is toothless, then why is it going on the ballot?
Based on past behavior, it seems likely that Agran, Krom and Kang will follow with more slate mailers falsely accusing
Shea of being a lobbyist. Shea and Kang are declared candidates for Mayor in the November election campaign.
Planning 2020, a slush fund run by Agran associate Frank Lunding, paid Hometown Voter Guide $60,000 in 2007, according to
state documents filed in the first half and
second half of 2007. $40,000 of the money came from a Maryland
developer firm called GIFREHC which is run by John Katkish, the treasurer of the Great Park Conservancy.
A legal document shows that the General Investment Funds Real Estate
Holding Company (GIFREHC) is actually First Management Group of Chevy Chase, Maryland. The document lists Katkish as its contact.
GIFREHC owns a 7.5 acre parcel in the Irvine Business Complex at Jamboree and Dupont,
according to a City of Irvine document.
The FMG web site lists Katkish as its President and CEO. "Mr. Katkish
is an active member of the Urban Land Institute and he serves as a founding board member of the Great Park Conservancy, which is
focused on the redevelopment of the El Toro Marine Base in Orange County, California," according to the site. The Conservancy web site lists Katkish as its treasurer.
Agran was also a founding board member of the Conservancy and is still listed as an "individual member."
Should the already existing ordinance redundantly appear on the June ballot, it seems plausible that Hometown Voter Guide
will once again flood the city with mailers falsely accusing Shea of being a lobbyist. Having already served two terms as
Mayor, Beth Krom is prohibited by city law from a third term as mayor, but she can run for a City Council seat. Sukhee Kang,
allied with Agran and Krom, has already announced his intention to run for mayor.
The June special election may be no more than an attempt to smear Shea with $200,000 of Irvine taxpayer money, setting the
stage for the November mayoral election and more smears.
