Khanna’s campaign manager resigns; Khanna served lawsuit at town hall

CONGRESS | 17TH DISTRICT | 

ELECTION 2016 | 

Ro Khanna’s campaign manager Brian Parvizshahi has resigned following a lawsuit filed Thursday alleging he illegally accessed donor lists from Rep. Mike Honda’s campaign.

Khanna made the announcement prior to a previosly scheduled campaign event in Fremont Thursday evening. Parvizshahi made the decision to resign, said Khanna, “because he didn’t want to be a distraction to the campaign.”

Honda’s campaign alleges Parvizshahi violated the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act since early 2013. Parvizshahi gain access to “thousands” of  donor records when he interned with the fundraising consultanting firm used then by the Honda campaign. 

Parvizshahi’s access to the records, however, were never revoked by the company, allowing him to access sensitive campaign information while employed by the Khanna campaign starting in 2014, the lawsuit alleges.

“None of that information came from Brian or the Honda campaign,” said Khanna. His campaign also plans to seek sanctions on the Honda campaign over the lawsuit, along with its attorneys, he said.

Meanwhile, Khanna questioned the timing of the lawsuit–just six weeks from Election Day and two weeks before the arrival of vote-by-mail ballots in voter’s hands. “It’s shameless. It’s why voters want change in this district,” said Khanna. 

At the beginning of the town hall event Thursday evening in Fremont, Khanna was served with the lawsuit. The scene did not occur inside the small meeting room, but just outside, likely thwarting what may have been intended to be an attempt by the Honda campaign to publicly embarrass Khanna in front of his supporters.