Parrish was found to have downplayed the employee\u2019s chronic illness, shared her private medical information with coworkers, regularly commented on her diet and told her to stop taking her medicine and to \u201cdrink baking soda mixed with tap water to \u2018fix\u2019 her medical condition.\u201d Citing the 2023 investigation\u2019s findings, the county\u2019s HR director sent a letter to Parrish late that year telling him to stop violating harassment policies<\/a>.<\/p>\n Parrish told LAist<\/a> he was not at fault.<\/p>\n The primary job of the assessor, an officially nonpartisan office, is to supervise appraisals of all taxable property in the county.<\/p>\n Florice Hoffman, the chair of the Orange County Democratic Party, said in an interview that party activists first told her about Conklin\u2019s alleged improper campaign spending requests in February.<\/p>\n She said she and Lauren Johnson-Norris, the party\u2019s vice chair, quickly met with Conklin and urged her to drop out of the race. Instead, she said, Conklin agreed to give up the endorsement, which the party had made weeks earlier.<\/p>\n Hoffman, who is a lawyer, recalled telling Conklin, \u201cOur advice is you need to get a lawyer, a criminal lawyer.\u201d <\/p>\n Janet Keo Conklin pictured in a headshot. <\/p>\n (<\/p>\n Courtesy Democratic Club of Orange County<\/p>\n )<\/p>\n Johnson-Norris did not respond to LAist\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n When asked about Hoffman\u2019s advice in an interview with LAist, Conklin said, \u201c\u200aLawyers, they sometimes get a little too dramatic.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u200a\u201dLawyers, they get spooked easily over any allegation, seriously, so I’m not concerned. I have not done anything wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n Endorsements removed from campaign website<\/p>\n When LAist began reporting this article, Conklin was endorsed by key figures in the Democratic establishment<\/a>, including O.C. Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento and U.S. Rep. Derek Tran, according to her campaign website as of April 24.<\/p>\n Tran\u2019s endorsement was removed from Conklin\u2019s campaign website before the entire list of endorsements was eventually removed as well.<\/p>\n Sarmiento told LAist he reached out to Conklin\u2019s campaign to rescind his endorsement on Saturday pending further investigation.<\/p>\n \u201cI certainly don\u2019t want to support anyone involved in any misconduct, especially after my experience with a former colleague who is serving five years in federal prison,\u201d he said, alluding to former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do serving time in federal prison<\/a> for his role in a corruption scheme uncovered by LAist.<\/p>\n Tran did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n LAist asked Conklin about losing Tran and the Democratic Party of O.C.\u2019s endorsements.<\/p>\n “\u200aEndorsements come and go. If it doesn’t come with money, so what?\u201d Conklin said.<\/p>\n Details of the allegations\u00a0<\/p>\n LAist interviewed eight of Conklin’s current or former campaign staff, including her former campaign treasurer.<\/p>\n Cine Ivery, the former treasurer, said Conklin fired her after she requested receipts for a campaign credit card and rebuffed the candidate\u2019s repeated requests to use campaign money to pay personal expenses, including rent for Conklin\u2019s two-bedroom apartment in La Palma.<\/p>\n Ivery told LAist Conklin was \u201cconstantly trying\u201d to use campaign funds for personal use. \u200a<\/p>\n \u201cShe was always trying to find a way: ‘Can I pay my rent? Can I pay the house bill? Can I do this?’\u201d Ivery recounted from meetings with the candidate.<\/p>\n Ivery recalled explaining federal campaign finance laws to Conklin in detail.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can’t skate around. You can’t pretend. You can’t hide,\u201d she said, recounting their back and forth.<\/p>\n Ivery showed LAist email exchanges with Conklin in which she asked Conklin, unsuccessfully, to produce receipts for about $1,100 in charges on a maxed-out $2,500 campaign credit card. She said Conklin fired her after these email exchanges.<\/p>\n Michael Trujillo, Conklin\u2019s new campaign consultant, told LAist in an interview that allegations of misuse of campaign funds are \u201c100% not true.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf they believe it to be true, they can file an FPPC complaint. They haven’t, and they won’t because it’s not true,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Fair Political Practices Commission oversees campaign finance laws.<\/p>\n Over email, Trujillo told LAist Conklin terminated Ivery in January and scheduled her last day for Feb. 9.<\/p>\n Conklin told LAist in an interview it was staffers who lost the receipts for expenses they incurred. She added she has since brought in a new treasurer.<\/p>\n LAist reviewed the credit card statement, and the expenses without receipts were mainly incurred at restaurants. Former staffers, who asked to speak anonymously with LAist to protect their job prospects, told LAist those expenses were all incurred by Conklin personally.<\/p>\n In a written statement to LAist, Conklin\u2019s campaign said Ivery \u201cmade the transition process unnecessarily difficult and combative.\u201d<\/p>\n Ivery restricted the campaign\u2019s access to fundraising and compliance platforms, according to the statement, and refused to transfer needed information to the campaign\u2019s new treasurer.<\/p>\n The statement goes on to say that the campaign sought legal counsel and has considered filing a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission.<\/p>\n Ivery, the former treasurer, refused to transfer campaign funds until the receipts were provided for the outstanding credit card charges, according to the statement.<\/p>\n Conklin asked Ivery to retain $2,500 in campaign funds to pay off the credit card and transfer the rest of the money, according to the statement.<\/p>\n Ivery told LAist she could not use campaign funds to pay off the credit card charges without the receipts. Ultimately, Ivery said, she used her own personal funds to pay off the credit card charges as the credit card was issued through Ivery\u2019s company. And, Ivery said, she transferred over the campaign materials to the new treasurer after making sure she followed federal campaign finance guidelines.<\/p>\n Trujillo, Conklin\u2019s campaign consultant, told LAist, when candidates lose receipts on a campaign, they eat the charges. And, Trujillo said, campaign treasurers can pay off credit card charges with campaign funds without receipts.<\/p>\n Per FPPC guidelines, all expenditures above $25 require receipts<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aIt is literally the craziest thing in the world to try to figure out our credit card charges when the campaign’s not even over,\u201d Trujillo said. He said at the end of the campaign when they close out the books, they\u2019ll chase every receipt. If a receipt is not found, the candidate will eat the charge with an in-kind donation to the campaign.<\/p>\n LAist checked the FPPC database Friday. No complaints appear for Ivery or Conklin.<\/p>\n Some of the former campaign staffers also allege that after they left the campaign, campaign payments were made to Conklin\u2019s daughter, Natalie Khay, and to Shauna Harris, a friend of Conklin\u2019s, who they said, did not work on the campaign. Both were reported as consultants on Form 460<\/a>, a state filing required by people running for office on donations they receive and payments they make with campaign funds.<\/p>\n When asked about these transactions, Conklin told LAist her daughter did some work on the campaign last year and she finally paid her back when she raised money.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aI took her for granted and I said, look, I don’t have any money at this time if you can be patient, please just be patient, and allow me to raise enough money because we’re grassroots,\u201d she recalled telling her daughter.<\/p>\n When asked about the payments to Harris, her friend, Conklin first said she rented office space from her friend. Former staffers told LAist they were unaware of any campaign office space. They said they would work out of Conklin\u2019s home office, cafes or over Zoom.<\/p>\n Trujillo, Conklin\u2019s current campaign consultant, told LAist, it is normal for campaign staffers to work from home post-COVID.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778283308_445_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n