A massive report released this week on corruption and influence-peddling in Anaheim city government details a wide range of wrongdoing, including possible theft of taxpayer money.
The 353-page independent report is the result of a nearly year-long investigation carried out by an outside legal firm, JL Group, run by a former police investigator. It was commissioned last summer by city officials in an effort to demonstrate transparency and restore public confidence after the FBI revealed it was investigating former Mayor Harry Sidhu and other key Anaheim figures for corruption.
Investigators said their findings "tended to reinforce" observations laid out by the FBI that a small group of powerful individuals wield heavy influence over city government.
The report’s key findings include:
Also of note:
LAist also requested comment from Sidhu, Nocella, Pringle, Ament, Flint, Murray and current Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO Laura Cunningham. None returned calls and messages Tuesday.
Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken told LAist Tuesday the report "confirms the wrongdoing that was rampant in the city."
Am I shocked about the information contained in the report? No. But am I livid? Absolutely.
Aitken ran for mayor in 2022, and won, on a platform of reform following the FBI revelations.
"Am I shocked about the information contained in the report? No," she said. "But am I livid? Absolutely."
Aitken said she planned to form an advisory committee of city leaders from different sectors to review the report and make recommendations for changes to campaign finance and other city laws.
"I don't want this to just get put on a shelf and a year from now people can say nothing has changed. I'm not going to let that happen," she said.
Last week, Ely Flores, executive director of the nonprofit Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development, told LAist despite campaign promises from Aitken, he hasn't seen any related action from the mayor or current city council so far.
"No one is championing any campaign finance reform ideas or proposals at all," he said, referring to Anaheim’s operations as "business as usual."
Aitken told LAist it would've been "premature" to take action before the report was completed.
"But now that the report has been concluded and we have an outside source that has looked at us and has documented all of these wrongdoings, I think it is time to look at our election system because the biggest losers in all of this are the people," she said. "We're diluting our own residents' vote and our own residents' voices by allowing these actions and lobbyists and these PACs and [independent expenditures] to just go unfettered."
Read the full report yourself: You can find it here.
How to stay updated: The next city council meeting is Aug. 15. Check the council calendar here.
Where to submit feedback: You can contact the mayor or your city councilmember directly. You can also request a meeting with the mayor.
Send us a tip: We welcome your insights. Submit a tip at the bottom of this story or send an email to our Orange County correspondent: jreplogle@scpr.org.
Former City Councilmember Jose Moreno was a vocal critic of the Anaheim stadium deal during his time in office and regularly called out the influence of the Chamber of Commerce and Disney in city governance. He told LAist Tuesday the report reflects his experiences in office.
"Sometimes you wish you were wrong but on this one, unfortunately, we were not," he said.
Moreno said he hoped the results of the independent investigation would help people understand that the corruption and influence peddling at Anaheim city hall extends well beyond Sidhu, the former mayor.
"How were they able to get five councilmembers regularly to vote consistently with little discussion on major public projects, land sales, ordinances?" he asked.
Moreno said the fact that Disney and the Angels declined to participate in the investigation was telling.
"The Disney Corporation … they're the purse string to all of this," Moreno said.
In a statement to LAist, a Disney representative said the report "erroneously states that there were repeated requests for Disney to participate. While Carrie Nocella was asked to be interviewed and her attorney declined, no other Disney staff were ever asked to participate.”
Moreno said the core problem is the lack of strong campaign finance and lobbying rules in the city. As a councilmember, Moreno proposed enhanced campaign finance rules several times in recent years, including limiting the amount of time that candidates can fundraise. But he failed to get them passed.
"It's very difficult to ask a working class city of its residents to keep monitoring their elected officials," he said. "You gotta mitigate as much as possible the influence of money in the elections."
In the report, investigators renewed calls for the city council to approve campaign finance reforms put forward last year by Moreno.
Jodi Balma, a Fullerton College political science professor who closely follows Anaheim politics, says the report shows a “blatant disregard for the law” and feels “like mob behavior.”
“It felt like the worst of Tammany Hall, which resulted in those Boss Tweed political machines,” Balma said, referring to infamous corruption in New York City in the mid-1800s.
That corruption, she noted, “resulted in the progressive movement that really reformed government.”
That means Anaheim has an opportunity, Balma said, to develop reforms “that will not just stop the next scandal from happening, but give themselves a city that is transparent, that is responsive, and that truly serves the people of Anaheim.”
“That's what my hope is.”
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