Former Irvine City Councilmember Tammy Kim has been charged with multiple felonies, including perjury, for lying about her residency in 2024 while she was serving on the City Council and campaigning as a candidate for mayor. If convicted of felony perjury, the former councilmember would be banned for life from holding public office.
Kim has been charged with three felony counts of perjury by declaration, three felony counts of filing a false document, one felony count of a public official aiding the illegal casting of votes, one felony count of filing false nomination papers, one felony count of knowing registration of someone not entitled to vote, one felony count of voter registration fraud, and one misdemeanor count of making a false statement.
She faces a maximum sentence of 10 years and eight months in state prison and six months in county jail if convicted on all counts.
Kim is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday, May 23, 2025 at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach in Department H1.
Kim served on the Irvine City Council from 2020 to 2024. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office was alerted to Kim’s potential residency issues from an Irvine resident.
In May 2024, Kim is accused of changing both her California driver’s license and voter registration to the address of a home on Alaris Aisle, an address at which she had never lived. She is accused of certifying this information under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California.
Councilmember Kim, who was running for Irvine mayor, voted in the November 5, 2024, election in Irvine’s City Council District 5. She was a seated councilmember at the time and did not live in District 5 despite casting her vote in that District’s election. Voters must live in the district in which elections they vote.
Councilmember Kim lost her bid for Irvine mayor in the November 4, 2024 election.
In December 2024, Kim filed nomination papers to run for a City Council seat in District 5 using the Alaris Aisle address despite her actual residence being located in District 3. The occupants of the Alaris address included a man she met through a Korean teaching class, his wife, and their two children. Kim is accused of using the Alaris address on official documents without the family’s knowledge.
On January 10, 2024, Kim is accused of putting a $400 deposit on a room for rent at a home on Willowrun, which is located in District 5, after answering a Craigslist ad. She is accused of changing her California driver’s registration to that address that same day. A week later Kim is accused of filing new nomination paperwork reflecting the Willowrun address in District 5.
In January 2025, the Orange County Registrar of Voters received a Petition for Writ of Mandate and Injunctive Relief that was filed on behalf of an Irvine resident seeking a court order directing the Registrar of Voters to void and cancel Kim’s registration to vote in the City of Irvine Council District 5, to issue a writ compelling the Registrar to remove Kim as a candidate from the ballot for the City of Irvine Council District 5 position for the April 15, 2025, Special Election, and award costs and attorney’s fees associated with the court action.
On February 7, 2025, an Orange County Superior Court judge granted the petition, and ordered the Registrar of Voters to remove Kim’s name from the ballot prior to the April 15, 2025, Special Election.
Betty Martinez Franco won the special election, beating out former councilmember Anthony Kuo and HOA Board Member Dana Cornelius, to represent Irvine’s City Council District 5.
