An Orange County Democrat’s campaign is pushing back amid accusations from former staffers that the candidate used an inappropriate conversation about her breast implants as a topic for a team meeting.
Janet Keo Conklin, a real estate agent and La Palma council member, is running for the position of Orange County assessor. She firmly denies allegations that she forced her staff to touch her breasts while claiming to lack sensation in her nipples.
According to a report by LAist on Friday, Conklin allegedly told two staff members that she “has no feeling in her nipples” and invited them to “give it a squeeze.” The former staffers claimed they were so shocked that they immediately withdrew their hands.
In an interview with LAist, Conklin refuted all allegations of misconduct. Her political consultant, Michael Trujillo, characterized the claims as baseless and an attempt to discredit her campaign.
Trujillo told The Post that disgruntled former staffers orchestrated a smear campaign following their dismissal for substandard performance, specifically pointing to ex-campaign treasurer Cine Ivery as a key figure in the alleged plot.
He told The Post that jilted ex-staffers have coordinated a smear campaign after being let go for poor performance, and he singled out ex-campaign treasurer Cine Ivery.
Ivery was named in an enforcement decision by the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission in 2024 after the state’s political watchdog found that former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s 2018 campaign had laundered contributions.
“Shortly after being brought on by Janet,” Trujillo told The Post, “I recommended she fire this treasurer who has a troubling history getting it wrong, not knowing the rules and, quite honestly, just being plain dumb.”
Ivery did not respond to a request for comment.
Conklin’s former staffers accused the candidate of repeatedly spending campaign funds on personal use, including restaurants.
She also allegedly pestered staff about trying to write off the costs of her living arrangements as a campaign expense. Trujillo chalked that up to an inexperienced candidate simply asking questions, as her home was used as a campaing headquarters.
As of mid-April, Conklin’s campaign had spent almost all of the $61,000 it had raised since last year.
Former campaign staffers also alleged that after they left the operation, campaign cash was paid out to Conklin’s daughter, Natalie Khay, and a friend, Shauna Harris — two people aides claimed never worked on the campaign.
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Trujillo told The Post that the entire situation has been overblown after Conklin had dinner at Sizzler and couldn’t provide documentation for the meal.
“This entire episode that the LAist story missed — all of these receipts — is primarily about a dinner at Sizzler. F—ing Sizzler! I swear to god, what is wrong with the media? It’s about Sizzler. This is crazy,” Truillo said.
After learning of the allegations earlier this year, the Democratic Party of Orange County yanked its endorsement of Conklin, who is running against Republican incumbent Claude Parrish to oversee the county office that manages property tax assessments.
Florice Hoffman, an attorney who serves as chair of the local Democratic Party, told LAist she first learned of the issues in February and moved quickly to rescind the endorsement.
She reportedly told Conklin at the time: “Our advice is you need to get a lawyer, a criminal lawyer.”
Conklin seemed unconcerned about the loss of the party’s blessing.
“Endorsements come and go,” she told LAist. “If it doesn’t come with money, so what?”
Trujillo said the party’s chair acted inappropriately and he intends to put more energy into finding new leaders to run as Democratic Party delegates in Orange County.
“I now know what my assignment is in 2028 — it’s to run a slate of Orange County delegates to fire the executive director of the Democratic Party,” he said.
“She should have never been on the record. What she said was outrageous and unbecoming of any party chair of the 58 counties in California. And she will be reprimanded.”
