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In case you missed it, former Irvine City Councilwoman Tammy Kim (D) suspended her campaign for the City’s open District 5 seat after news broke that she may have falsified her residency on filing paperwork. Now, the Superior Court of California is holding a hearing to determine the eligibility of her candidacy—despite having already been suspended—to determine whether or not campaign violations occurred.
As shocking as that news may be, it’s only the most recent example in a string of questionable and potentially deceptive campaign practices plaguing Orange County politics. The most recent election cycle saw several other notable examples.
The first of which was Scott Markowitz of Fullerton, a so-called “America First Republican” who was, in actuality, a dummy candidate recruited by Democrats to run a phony campaign and siphon votes away from Linda Whitaker, the actual Republican in the race. Upon investigating his candidacy, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office found that Markowitz lied about having been present for all the signatures on his nomination paperwork. In October, Markowitz was arrested for election fraud and charged with two felonies.
Markowitz pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and received only one day in jail, one year of probation and 160 hours of community service. The felony charges were dropped.
And Markowitz has, as far as can be told, never been heard from publicly since. As slippery and elusive as he had been during his fraudulent campaign did he slip into the ether—as did the operatives, like former Democratic Party of Orange County Executive Director Ajay Mohan, that helped him do it. Markowitz’s names remained on ballots, which were printed and mailed prior to his arrest, and Linda Whitaker did indeed lose the election as intended.
Effectively, Scott got off scot-free.
For what it’s worth, Fullerton also endured another ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ candidate in the form of Matthew Truxaw. Matthew has presumably not committed any crime but he was without any doubt an unserious candidate who, despite running as a Republican, makes public Facebook posts promoting causes like the Progressive Turnout Project, whose goal is “electing Democrats up and down the ballot, expanding our U.S. Senate majority and building in-state power to cement progressive priorities.”
Mere days after Markowtiz’s arrest, Rancho Santa Margarita City Councilwoman Carol Gamble (R) also pleaded guilty falsifying nomination paperwork and suspended her bid for reelection. Like Markowitz, Gamble admitted to not having personally witnessed her signatories during the nomination process. And so she received the familiar punishment of 160 hours of community service and a single year of probation.
Evidently, that’s not much of a punishment if it’s not deterring campaign violations. California Code 18203 states that “any person who files or submits for filing a nomination paper or declaration of candidacy knowing that it or any part of it has been made falsely is punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code for 16 months or two or three years or by both that fine and imprisonment.”
Why, then, are violators getting such soft slap-on-the-wrist punishments? If we are not holding these individuals accountable, how can we prevent the next round of would-be violators? How can voters be assured that election integrity is taken seriously?
It’s an alarming trend given Orange County’s tough-on-crime reputation. But, frankly, Orange County is not alone in this regard. All across the country, the presence of fraudulent candidates felt more pervasive this last cycle than ever before. Look no further than the Patriots Run Project, an initiative to turn the tide in high-profile contests through a familiar scheme: recruiting nonviable candidates to unknowingly (or, in some cases, knowingly) spoil tight races.
The group, which according to the New York Post was “linked to Democrat-aligned campaign firms,” attempted to Virginia's 2nd Congressional District election by recruiting “widowed retiree” Robert Reid. “These guys want me to run to draw votes away (from Republicans),” Reid told the Post.
The same thing happened in Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate race when the Patriots Run Project recruited “America First” candidate Thomas Leager. In both cases, the gambit failed to deliver the desired outcomes—but they proved the gambit is viable and consequences are minimal.
“Whether it’s congressional or presidential races, this kind of activity is a real problem and it undermines the functioning of democracy,” Edward B. Foley, a law professor who leads Ohio State University’s election law program, told AP News.
The wire service in Virginia said, according to reporting by the Post, that the state considers ”conspiracy against rights of citizens,” a felony. Make no mistake; that is precisely what is happening in Orange County with the campaigns of Tammy Kim, Carol Gamble, and Scott Markowitz. The aforementioned candidates may differ in both the seriousness of their campaigns (Gamble and Kim were, unlike Markowitz, actually elected to public office) and the extent to which they knew they were engaged in wrongdoing, but the fact remains that they each signed their names onto campaign paperwork—some aspect of which was untrue—under penalty of perjury, got caught, and have faced little in the way of punishment.
For his part, District Attorney Todd Spitzer states that “the Orange County District Attorney’s Office remains fiercely committed to investigating and prosecuting election fraud to ensure the voice of every Orange County resident is heard when they cast their ballot.” There’s no reason to disbelieve that, given the arrests and felony charges. It’s the judges who are letting candidates walk when they could be getting anywhere from 16 months to three years in prison plus fines.
So far, between Markowitz, Gamble, and Kim (whose case is yet unresolved)—all of whom either misled voters, signed falsified papers, and/or ran fraudulent campaigns—there has not been one dollar paid in fines despite compromising election integrity.
You, the reader, would almost assuredly pay a much higher price for driving above the speed limit on your way to work.
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