Serious-ass call for investigation of Anaheim’s Giveaway Four. UPDATED with all the good stuff!

UPDATE:  Here is the 101-PDF consisting of the letter plus more supporting docs than you can shake a stick at!  Have at it…

Matt Cunningham has bigger problems to deal with today than whether he did or did not accept dollars fresh from the g-string of some exploited strippers.

His gravy train keeps hitting rough patches, the latest from Cory Briggs and OCCORD, who have called for the District Attorney to investigate conflict of interest charges for the Anaheim City Council majority and their vote on the Gardenwalk hotel subsidy. Their press release reads as follows:

For Immediate Release: Monday, August [12]th, 2013

OCCORD – Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development

DA Urged to Prosecute Anaheim Council Members for Conflict of Interest

Council members received contributions from PAC tied to developer, then voted for $158 million hotel subsidy, says letter by CA attorney.

Contact:
Eric Altman, Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development 714-392-0959 or ealtman@occord.org

Anaheim, CA – A prominent California attorney alleged that members of the Anaheim City Council violated state law when they voted on behalf of a $158 million hotel subsidy, after accepting contributions from a PAC tied to the project’s developer. Attorney Cory Briggs urged California Attorney General Kamala Harris and Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas to prosecute the council members in a letter sent Thursday. Briggs’ request for prosecution was made on the behalf of a community organization, Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development and a private Anaheim resident named in the letter.

The letter alleges that Anaheim City Council members Lucille Kring and Jordan Brandman had an illegal conflict of interest when they voted for the Garden Walk Hotel subsidy in May, within months of accepting donations from the political action committee formed by Support Our Anaheim Resort (SOAR.) Hotelier Bill O’Connell, who benefited from that subsidy, sits on the SOAR Advisory Committee. The letter also names council members Gail Eastman and Kris Murray, who voted in favor of the subsidy and are SOAR Advisory Committee members. Eastman and Murray did not disclose their business relationships with SOAR and O’Connell at the time of the vote, as required by law.

The request for prosecution issued by Briggs is a required legal step before the filing of a private lawsuit. A potential filing would result in another in a recent series of lawsuits faced by the city council on behalf of residents. Last month, a judge ordered a trial in a case brought by the ACLU on behalf of Anaheim voters, alleging that the city’s election system violates the California Equal Voting Rights Act.

The Garden walk subsidy caused controversy, even before the allegations made last week. The subsidy was first passed in January 2012, but that vote was voided after a Superior Court Judge ruled that it violated the Brown Act, California’s open government law, because the public did not receive proper notice.


Eric Altman
Executive Director
Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development (OCCORD)
714-621-0919 – office
714-392-0959 – mobile
ealtman@occord.org

Now if Cory Briggs’ name is familiar, that is because he has been in the news a lot lately, calling for San Diego Mayor Filner to resign, a difficult decision after years of supporting Filner for office.

Prior to that Briggs was involved with the monumental ass-kicking received by Anaheim leaders when their 2012 attempts to subsidize the Gardenwalk Hotel were beaten down by a Judge, following a ruling that the Brown Act was violated in the notice of the meeting,

And you thought it was going to be a dull summer with nothing to do….

gardenwalk

Drip, drip, drip.


About Cynthia Ward

I am a truth-teller. It gets me in trouble. But if you ask me if a dress makes you look fat, I will tell you so, and help select another, before you go on television and realize it for yourself. My real friends are expected to be truthful with me as well. A secret shared will be taken to my grave, but lie to me, and it will end up here…on these pages… especially if you are tasked with the stewardship of public resources. I am a registered Republican who disdains the local GOP power structure, a born-again Christian who supports everyone’s right to spend their lives with the partner of their choosing. I am a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister. I am a loyal friend to those who merit that friendship and when crossed I am a bitch with a capital C. I do not fit into a box, nor do I see others through the stereotypes that politics and public affairs so often tries to shoehorn us into. I think for myself, and so do you. Welcome to our shared space in this world.