What's at stake?
Fresno City Hall's chaos heats up in the wake of the bad arrest of a city council candidate.
A city councilmember and the city attorney wagged fingers at each other Thursday in the wake of the high-profile arrest and swift exoneration of a council candidate in one of the most contentious races on the local ballot.
At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Councilmember Miguel Arias called for an independent investigation into the arrest of now-exonerated council candidate Naindeep Singh over the weekend and its prompt leak to the media, saying the “integrity of our elections are at stake.”
“The council should authorize an independent investigation into the Oct. 24 incident,” Arias said, “including any relevant involvement by city officials, contractors, members of the law enforcement union personnel and political campaigns.”
Arias specifically raised several questions about the Fresno City Attorney’s Office’s contract with political consultant Alex Tavlian, who is involved with multiple PACs that have spent thousands on mailers attacking Fresno City Council candidates in both the 2026 contests and prior elections.
The councilmember also called on Janz to terminate his contract with Tavlian, as well as any others related to political consulting, “because the city attorney does not have any business, in my view, hiring political consultants that do campaign work in the same election cycle in which councilmembers are elected,” he said.
Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz was the official who first confirmed the arrest over the weekend to an independent blogger.
Janz’s office quickly fired back at Arias an hour after Thursday’s news conference, pointing the finger back at the councilmember and vowing to initiate a counter-investigation into Arias.
“Next week, I am calling on the City of Fresno to open an investigation into Councilmember Arias for interference in the City Attorney’s legal obligation to disclose public records and potential violations of the Brown Act,” he said.
“My office follows the City Charter and the law,” he added, “and we will continue doing our job without getting dragged into Councilmember Arias’ political theater.”
Janz’s office doesn’t handle DUI cases but has specific oversight roles in local elections, such as Singh’s. Marcelino Valdez, a spokesperson for the city attorney’s office, told Fresnoland in a statement on Wednesday that the “City Attorney and his office are tasked with responding to matters of public record” in response to questions about his office’s role regarding the arrest.
Fresnoland reached out to Tavlian and the Fresno Police Officers Association for comment on Arias’ claims Thursday.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
