Current member of the Orange County, CA, Board of Supervisors Katrina Foley skirted city laws while mayor of Costa Mesa, allowing her son and other students to travel to China at taxpayer’s expense. The trip was approved as part of a “sister-city” travel program but raises questions as no such program existed between the city and any city in China at the time.
The group from Costa Mesa High School, which included seven students and one chaperone, traveled to Shanghai, China, during the 2016 spring break. The families of the students, as well as the chaperone, were reimbursed $1,250 each for the trip and the total cost to city taxpayers was $11,250.
Board Member Kristina Foley’s son Benjamin was one of the students who traveled at the time.
“The City of Costa Mesa does not have a Sister City Program with China. Council member Foley pressured City manager Tom Hatch to make this trip to China happen so her son and her son’s group could benefit,” a source familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity told ITN.
“The proper procedure would have been to bring the matter to the entire City Council and have a vote on it. Because this did not happen this is an unlawful expenditure, gift of public funds. As an attorney, former School Board Member and as a council person involved in the Sister City Committee formation in 2008, Council member Foley is well aware of the proper rules and procedures. Furthermore, Foley did not report this $1,250 that was of benefit to her.”
Documents obtained through a Fair Political Practices Commission request show Costa Mesa did have a sister city program with Wyndham, Australia, at the time, and that program had existed since 2007. No such sister city program has ever existed with Shanghai, China, however.
“For many years, Estancia High School has been participating in a student-teacher exchange program which at some point, transitioned into the Sister-City exchange program with Wyndham, Australia,” Costa Mesa City Manager Tom Hatch wrote in an email to City Council members in 2018.
“Sometime in early 2015, I received a call from Council Member Foley about a new program at Costa Mesa High School regarding Chinese language emersion. After discussion, I approved the use of Sister-City funding towards a program at Costa Mesa High School for a student trip to China.”
“Later in 2015, the City received a request from Ms. Lu Wang, Mandarin Chinese teacher at Costa Mesa High School. Ms. Wang was interested in providing a cultural experience for the students in her Mandarin Chinese class and was enquiring about available funding for a trip to China via the Sister-City program,” he added.
Emails obtained by ITN reveal that at least one City Council Member, Jim Righeimer, was displeased with the revelation.
“Tom, This is very disturbing,” Righeimer wrote in response to Hatch. “The council never authorized spending on any sister city program in China. The council was never notified of this…I want a copy of the front and back of all the checks that were written to anyone for this program Monday…I mean it Tom. I want this Monday.”
Foley has garnered attention in recent months as a vocal critic of Orange County residents protesting the implementation of a Covid19 vaccine passport system. That system, which Foley and the other Board members have so far allocated $5 million in public funds for, would prohibit access to public buildings and businesses for residents who could not provide proof of vaccination on a smartphone application.
The BoS was forced to relent on the surveillance system after a fierce public backlash. Residents however, point to actions by the Board over the last several months as proof it is not being responsive to their concerns and that the overarching plans for implementing such a system haven’t changed at all.
Orange County, CA, has become somewhat of a ground-zero in the fight against the implementation of digital vaccine passports in the U.S. Its residents, many of whom distinguish between being anti-vaccine and anti-vaccine passport, see the latter as a massive invasion of privacy.
Foley, who has been especially brutal in her attacks has even gone so far as to conflate anti-passport protesters with “insurrectionists” who were present at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. “I notice a few people there who took part in the insurrection,” she wrote of protesters on Twitter on May 11th. “These are the same people who deny Covid, oppose masks, and stormed the United States Capitol.”
One month later, nearly to the day, Alan Hostetter, a law enforcement official of over 30 years, along with five other individuals were indicted on charges stemming from the events of January 6th. Hostetter had been questioned by police on January 27th but no further action was taken on his case in the intervening months. Until June.
I notice a few people there who took part in the insurrection. These are the same people who deny Covid, oppose masks, and stormed the United States Capitol.
— Katrina Foley (@KatrinaFoley) May 11, 2021
While all current members of the OC BoS draw complaints from residents, the harshest criticisms seem to be reserved for Foley.
“Katrina Foley is the worst kind of bully. Her knee-jerk reaction to being legitimately questioned by her tax paying constituents was to call them racist, insurrectionists! Since when is questioning how our government is spending our hard earned tax dollars racist!?” an Orange County resident told ITN recently.
“On numerous occasions now the OC Supervisors have deliberately hidden what they have already done and are planning on doing with massive amounts of our tax dollars! The real question that Katrina needs to answer is what’s in it for you? Why are you so vehemently pushing vaccine passports on the public?”
A request for comment from Supervisor Foley was not immediately returned.