Councilwoman Park served with petition to recall

By Brooklynn Wong and Joseph L Campos Jr.

City Councilwoman Sunny Park was served with a petition to recall at the May 14 City Council Meeting.

She narrowly defeated incumbent—and Mayor at the time—Virginia Vaughn for the District 1 seat last November.

She has been under scrutiny by some, for a well-documented incident during the campaign, in which she removed campaign signs that called her a “carpetbagger.”

The facts surrounding the event are still unclear, and some say, suspicious, including who she hired to remove the signs, and whether the removal of the signs was a California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) violation.

Park’s tenure on the City Council since being sworn in has been largely business-as-usual, however, a recall effort has been ramping up behind the scenes, and at the May 14 City Council Meeting, things came to a head.

Resident Marvin Aceves, who is a District 1 resident, and has been active in the city in many capacities, including at schools, on the Cultural and Fine Arts Commission, and in youth sports, spoke during the Oral Communication portion of the meeting, saying he “implores” Park to “step down.”

He said, “You need to vacate the position; your presence there diminishes the integrity of the position.” 

He continued, “This is a perfect example of how one bad apple can spoil a whole bunch. People from all over Buena Park, from Orangethorpe to Rosecrans, from La Mirada to the Country Club, the people of Buena Park are tired of you, and the drama that you have brought them. Many of the Buena Park residents have angrily asked, ‘how can a woman who has committed such a crime still serve as a City Council Woman? How could she even have gotten elected?’ You are an embarrassment, and we implore you to have some sort of integrity, and step down from your position.”

Resident Michael Mahony, who has assisted in the recall effort, walked up on stage and handed Park the petition to recall when Aceves had finished speaking.

But Park was prepared to defend herself, as were others.

She stepped down to the dais after being served with the petition, and spoke during oral communication in her capacity as a Buena Park resident, saying she feels the recall efforts are “racially motivated” and an act of “harassment” and ultimately said “the campaign is over and we have a city to run.” She described those behind her recall as a small group loyal to former Mayor Vaughn, and not representative of the majority of her constituents.

She said Vaughn was catering to the rich and harassing her and her family, and said of those behind the recall effort, “They only care about themselves.”

She said former Mayor Virginia Vaughn is targeting her, and that the FPPC had cleared her of the sign-stealing incident, but that Vaughn had filed another complaint recently.

Councilmember Connor Traut also spoke in defense of Park, echoing much of what she had said.

The racism allegations have been heavily pushed back on, as Park’s predecessor, Vaughn, was involved with and supported by Buena Park’s Korean community during her tenure. Assemblywoman Young Kim endorsed Vaughn, the owners of The Source—two Korean-American brothers—donated to her campaign, and several local South Korean faith leaders spoke at her events.

Resident Val Sadowinski, who also ran in the City Council election last fall and was defeated by Park, also spoke and defended her, saying she had been determined the winner, and that it was time to move past the election results and get on with city business, and accept Park as the winner.

Mahony, who is also the publisher of community news website “The Buena Park News,” elaborated  on the recall effort in an article published the next day, saying Park has displayed a “series of unethical behavior.” There are three central points behind the petition: the theft of campaign signs, publishing false information and misappropriation of campaign donations.

Theft of campaign signs

Ms. Park has maintained that in removing the “carpetbagger” signs, she was collecting evidence, because she thought a wrong had been done to her by the signs being displayed in people’s yards without an FPPC number on them. 

But according to those initiating the recall, requiring an FPPC number on campaign signs is a suggestion, not a strict requirement.

When Park was spotted removing the campaign signs, the Buena Park Police Department was notified, and she was subsequently arrested, before being cited and released. She still faces charges and may be prosecuted, but Park says the FPPC has dismissed any complaints stemming from this initial incident.

Publishing false information

According to those behind the recall effort, Park published an address where she rented an office. But when the building manager was contacted, they confirmed that Ms. Park had never rented an office there.

Misappropriation of campaign donations

According to those who have seen Ms. Park’s campaign finance disclosure, which is a public document available at City Hall, she spent large amounts of campaign donations on “Uber rides, golf clubs, bar meetings and travel agencies,” among others.

And these allegations against Park have prompted some to think bigger-picture, bringing voter fraud into the discussion.

Aceves said after the meeting, “Ballot harvesting is the magic word. It was the key to win for Sunny Park in Buena Park. On the very last day with only less than an hour to go, Park won the election by just 16 votes. She picked up blank absentee votes, and had people write them in. Whistleblowers within her own camp have come to me and given me this information.”

The Independent reached out to former Mayor Vaughn, who said, “I was not part of the recall efforts…from what I have heard, it was the local residents of Buena Park, the people themselves that did the recall filings. One other thing that I will say is that I was in fact contacted in April by [those behind the recall], and they wound up asking me if I would consider being the candidate again if Sunny Park winds up being officially recalled. I took some time to think about it and responded that yes, I probably would give it another try.”

Councilwoman Park said earlier this week in an email to the Independent, “Although anyone may exercise their rights to recall an elected official, such an effort must be supported by a justifiable cause. Recall for a pre-election event is an unjustifiable cause, and not accepting the voters’ choice is disrespectful to our democratic process. Unjustifiable recalls cost tens of thousands of taxpayers’ money and hinders the stability of the city administration. This small group of recall proponents should stop inciting people both online and offline with unproven allegations, and should stop dividing up our community only to satisfy their self-serving interest.”

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office had not responded to requests for an update on any remaining charges against Park by press time.

According to the California Secretary of State, to initiate a recall, one must serve and file the notice of intention, publish the notice of intention in a newspaper, then prepare the recall petition, and circulate the petition.