For more than a decade now, it’s been clear that Anaheim City officials were essentially representing both sides of the bargains with both the Angels and with Disney. They were ostensibly there to represent the interests of the public — that you know, being the whole point of serving as an “elected official.” But in practice, they were also representing the persons on the other side of the agreement — those asking for money, favors, and abject solicitude from the City Council. They could justify this (at least to themselves) by saying that “what’s good for {Disney, the Angels, big hotel interests, the owner of the Gardenwalk, and all the way down to the developers wanting to raze Sunkist Plaza} is good for Anaheim!” But it wasn’t. The people of Anaheim essentially lacked anyone at the bargaining table in such matters — except for the short time when Mayor Tom Tait had a narrow City Council majority — because the interests of the people representing the city has been to give away as much as possible to the interests who would later recycle some of that wealth into campaign contributions and (more often) independent expenditures to keep their de facto agents in office. Where regulation is concerned, this is known as “regulatory capture,” but this goes well beyond that. This has been called legalized bribery — except when it is illegal bribery — but that again fails to capture the perversity of the situation.
“Bribery” happens when — as Harry Sidhu was caught doing — a city official says “if you want to get X action, you will have to give me Y benefits.” But what if no demand has to be made? What if the politicians put in place by massive attacks of glossy flyers into voters’ mailboxes simply will automatically take the side of the interest in question without even being asked for a specific favor? That’s what seemed to happen in the mid-2010s when the City Council started acting in such aggressively pro-donor ways that I suspect that even the donors may have been listening with rictus grins while thinking “PLEASE, be a little more subtle about it!” Thus, over Mayor Tait’s increasingly frantic objections, the Council decided to give Angels Stadium to Arte Moreno’s ersatz company for $1 per year (probably paid in pennies) and demanded that an appraisal of the property NOT be performed, or if performed, and least not reported publicly. Did Arte Moreno’s lawyers (who, I know from going up against them at the time, are smart cookies) want this to happen, as when an owner keeps a cat so that it will bring back rats that it has killed? Or was this a situation where the cat, ignorant of worldly ways, comes back with the shredded remains the neighbors prize cockateel in its teeth? It’s hard to say — but the lunatic fervor with which the Disney-funded Council majority sought to please its benefactors during last decade was at times comic.
Our back pages document some of the more spectacular acts of Kris Murray, Jordan Brandman, Lucille Kring, Gail Eastman, and others over time. They sounded crazy because what they were saying was not intended to impress the public or the (mostly somnolent) media; it was all meant for the eyes and ears (mostly ears) of the Emperor, “Mickey the Great.”
It’s telling to me that so far, the relationship with the Angels has played a large role in the indictment and affidavit, but the Angels — whom I expect will have a new owner soon, by order of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, and to the secret or open relief of most other owners who resent the, um “business of baseball” being laid bare like this — are nothing compared to the actual political engine running Anaheim: the Disney Corporation. I don’t know if the FBI will really have the guts (or be given enough slack on its leash) to take on the owner of one of the three main broadcast television networks, owner of the rights to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars, which lives inside the heads of any child under 13 whose parents have Disney+ or buy toys — but if this investigation doesn’t go on to address City Officials’ relationships with Disney then it will be little more than a pleasant diversion. Disney will continue to choose its Council, and — after all of the public gnashing of teeth and ritual sacrifice of Harry Sidhu on the same altar used for the snuffing and disappearance of Jordan Brandman — nothing fundamental will change.
Here’s the reality of Anaheim politics. The Chamber of Commerce is essentially there to please Disney (and to a lesser extent the Angels.) The path of the streetcar down Harbor Blvd.? Offered to please Disney. The multi-billion-dollar bond for expansion of the Convention Center — contrary to City Charter, even if successfully offered to be authorized by a weird California Supreme Court decision that allows the City Council, in partnership with its own members wearing a different set of hats — without a popular vote? Done at Disney’s behest. (Note: I was the losing Counsel in that case, and I was told at one point that the city spent a half million dollars to beat me as a solo practitioner.) And on and on.
To get elected pretty much anywhere except District 3 (once districting came to be, over Disney’s objection), there was only one route to power, and that was through the support of these Resort District interests — Disney’s in particular. Those interests could and did put up enough money to determine almost perfectly (a large exception being when Dr. Jose Moreno edged out Jordan Brandman in the first post-districting election) who would be voting on their agenda. The brute force of the Angels-Disney Axis was almost entirely overwhelming — although it has been helped by Democratic auto-immune disorder Lorri Galloway keeping a rational and unbought Tait-style reformer out of the Mayoral seat.
The people hardly matter in city elections. Their actual interests notwithstanding, their votes will be controlled by the carpet bombing of public relations and independent expenditures. The ACTUAL ELECTION in Anaheim occurs when Disney decides who best — meaning most cravenly — will be willing to serve its interests.
Where this ends — and where it still may end even if reformers sweep Anaheim elections for the next decade, given how much of Anaheim’s rightful wealth has been foregone or given away — is in municipal bankruptcy. The actual jewel in the crown to be sold off, potentially to these same wealthy interests or their agents, is NOT Angels Stadium –which is simply the city’s biggest real estate asset — but the city’s biggest asset of ANY kind: its Water and Power Authorities. And when that happens, ratepayers are going to suffer in ways that may dwarf even Poseidon.
(Do you want to know why — as I’ve heard complained — cities like my tiny hometown of Brea can win competition for top employees with a giant city like Anaheim? It’s because Brea is not on a track to go bankrupt and take its municipal pensions with it, while Anaheim is, barring a massive turnaround on the looting-of-the-treasury front.)
The name of the corrupt Anaheim Chamber of Commerce’s tourism agency — “Anaheim First,” with “I’m First” graphically embedded within it — has been a cruel joke. (In fact, I can imagine the Cabal snorting with glee over its brazenness when it was first proposed.) The interests of ANAHEIM — the City and its current and future residents — has not been “first” in its negotiations with its major properties. (And if you’re not first in a two party negotiation, you’re last.) It has been the people in the Cabal, profiting by the diversion of public wealth for their own gain, which it’s more than fair to call a long and intermittent “heist” — that have been able to proclaim loudly and proudly, at least among themselves, “I’M first!” And so they have been.
You don’t even have to read between the lines of the graphic above: it’s right there in front of your eyes. Whether the “Anaheist” will continue will depend on whether the largest root of corruption in Anaheim — not just the second-largest — will be severed by the actions of the FBI, California AG, perhaps OCDA, and a press that should now be more aggressive then ever. Parts of the Anaheist have been exposed, but far too much remains to be uprooted.
*Thought we already discussed this issue in detail. Angels and Disney….are major players and without them Anaheim would be a desert community next to Fresno. As the Astronauts said in the Right Stuff: “No …….and NO…”..
“And that’s the view from Newport Coast!”
The problem is not Disney and the Angels per se — I appreciate my proximity to both! — but Disney and the Angels being such insatiable greedheads that they have manipulated the political system to the point of ruin to serve their own selfish purposes. They didn’t have to do that; they would have done well even with (respectively) a gate tax and paying for their own stadium repairs.
So your thought experiment is silly, but: Anaheim would have been doing quite well even without Disney and the Angels. For one thing, it wouldn’t be slipping so quickly into bankruptcy that it’s having trouble hiring top staff. At worst, it might have ended up being another (larger) Fullerton — which is a fine place to live unless you’re driving southbound on Euclid — but there’s no reason to think that it would not have come up with some great amenities and reasons for existence even without Disney and Autry. But this is really Cynthia Ward’s domain to discuss, not mine.
*We might bring to your attention the Brooklyn Dodgers for example or perhaps the Green Bay Packers, or the Cinncinati Reds or Bengals. Those are actually or were small town USA….and still rely heavily on Professional Sports teams to bring in the bacon. Also, do not forget the Ducks too! Lots of concessions are made every season and how much were the bottom line profits. Not doubt that a direct bribe is a different story….however, it just goes to show how endemic these problems become over time.
Sports teams don’t “bring in the bacon.” Everybody knows that by now. Well, almost everybody.
*DZ., as usual you fail to grasp basic economics. Ah, but then Econ 101 isn’t for everyone that is for sure. Tell your story to all the local restaurants, gas stations and many assundry other entertainment locations that benefit from our local sports teams. Even high school football games affect the local economy for goodness sakes. But as they always said: “You can lead a horse to water…..but you can’t lead a….” Many local businesses buy blocks of tickets and give them to associates and customers. Ah well, the list is too long to mention.
Why was Sidhu allowed by the Anaheim City Council to be the sole negotiator on a deal worth hundreds of millions dollars? Were other Council members expecting a campaign cash bonus as well?
Someday, maybe you can sit down and show me the evidence that ties Disney in specifically as the Rat King. Major corporations have ways to extract beneficial bonds, subsidies, infrastructure, and more – they don’t need to engage in deliberate bribery. Indeed, just letting someone know something specific a few weeks before it is announced (and months/years after announcement to shareholders) is enough for a developer or private equity group to pour ever penny into getting a plot available for sale then buying it…sometimes people resist (a certain strawberry farmer comes to mind); more often, people take the money. In those circles, information is more important than a ten thousand campaign contribution – knowing exactly when Disney will build Marvel Campus or Star Wars Land, whether they’ll build a third park or just tear down old infrastructure, etc. – all of that is useful.
Disney might have even bought the stadium land itself and booted Moreno, built a new park, and linked it through separate transit systems…they have the clout to get whatever they want, but not if another local billionaire wants to interfere.
I imagine the “Mighty Ducks” era Disney making movies to support a sports franchise to support Honda Center/Angels/ARTIC etc as part of a master plan. Then someone did the math and realized overseas Disneyland’s mights be far more lucrative, esp near Hong Kong, if the Chinese seek cooperative…
That’s not entirely contradicting you: influence of that sort is ridiculously powerful. But it would be a network of churches, politicians, local billionaires (Moreno and Samuelli in particular), and private equity players building hotels who would control things – Disney would make hints and nudges, and pitch in enough money overtly so it looked like they were involved, but mostly act behind the scenes.
When a big corporation dabbles in a big corruption matter, it makes itself exceptionally vulnerable to extortion from within its own ranks; just how many nonworking VPs can you promote after all before shareholders notice? More often, I believe private equity does the dirty work without the “corporation’s” knowledge (but with several insiders quietly involved).
Anaheim would probably look a lot more like Garden Grove, Irvine, or Orange and a lot less like Anaheim. Indeed, without Disney, it’s quite likely there’d be a UC Anaheim instead of Irvine, for a host of reasons.
Population would certainly be lower. There are so many neighborhoods with 8-9 people living in a 3 bedroom house…
Also, Anaheim would be geographically smaller, as there’d be almost no reason for outlying, distant pieces of Anaheim to remain with the city so they can vote to protect their hotel, franchise, and other commercial interests. Those folks weren’t ready for district elections, but they’ve evolved quickly.
Cincinnati, Green Bay, Milwaukee, etc. – whenever a sports team comes to town, money changes hands. But that does not mean that those teams bring in the bacon. Way I see it, pig farmers and truck drivers bring in most of the bacon. Professional sports can actually drain a cities coffers, hurt other priorities (esp. education), and reinforce urban blight elsewhere. The question is never ‘how much money did this bring in,’ but always ‘did it bring in more used this way than it would have if used another way?”
Of course, pro teams do not like it when anyone asks that question…
You are once again making me sad that you don’t post stories for us regularly, but I understand and will be satisfied with the occasional excellent comment.
Yes — my expectation is that if Disneyland ever did somehow decide to pull up stakes and move to some exurb in Arizona, we would indeed see a UC-Anaheim there A county of 3 million can house more than one UC. But even if it had done so a six decades ago, we’d still have had Cal State Irvine — and they’d still be the Anteaters.
The real absurdity with regards to the Angels is that Anaheim pays everything while the entire county benefits from the emotional attachment with it. There should have been an county agency set up deal with them, handling all of the zoning and other regulation, so that Disney could leave Anaheim’s governance alone.
Disney, of course, is the bigger problem. When I learned that Florida just had them run their own independent city, my first reaction was: “Why didn’t WE do that?” We would even let them criticize restrictions on “saying gay!”
Since Donovan mentioned Samueli (Broadcomm?), is anyone following the OCVibe project around the Pond/Arena. Looks like lots of city approcals needed east of the 57 and lots of money to be made. Sounds familiar.
Can’t imagine Disneyland shutting down in Anaheim voluntarily. About the only scenarios that I could see causing a permanent closure would be catastrophes so massive that they would also dictate what could exist in the future (e.g., a massive earthquake shattering dams that cause flooding could wipe out Disneyland…but they also might survive and thrive soon after, and even expand…hard to say).
I imagine Disney demanding full control over its property in Orange County, Florida – and Florida granting it in the 1960s, 30 years after a bunch of abandoned property deeds that helped cause the Great Depression and busted real estate claims had been mostly worked out. (Why is it nobody links Florida, site of the Rosewood Massacre, Oklahoma, site of the Tulsa massacre, and Tennessee, site of the Knoxville massacre – when all three states are also the only ones to ban evolution in their schools, and when all three played such momentous roles in the Great Depression…sorry, tangent)
Agree about the Angels, but it’s hard for Anaheim residents to even realize how much we pay for Disney. Largest taxpayer? Sure. But do they consume more public spending than the taxes they pay? Would some other use of the land turn out better for the residents? I don’t have answers. I just wish the crooks could all be driven out, and a fair debate unfurl on what to do with the land we share.
*We fully endorse all of Donovan’s remarks!
*Except the one’s we disagree with….of course! Without Sports teams in the Midwest……there would simply be another Dust Bowl….. for example!
Shut down the Twins, Vikings, and Timberwolves, and Minnesotans would be forced to depend on what…the Mayo Clinic? 3M? UnitedHealthGroup? Target? Would they be forced to live off of General Mills, to eat Land O’Lakes butter, and rely upon Hormel for entertainment? 😉
Might be trickier in St. Louis and Kansas City for Missourians. if the Cardinals leave the same way most of their brewers have become ‘American subsidiaries of some foreign alcohol maker’ through reverse mergers – although personally, I think the MLB Cardinals ought to join their NFL colleagues and paint Phoenix red. (That said, they still voted for a president who thought that KANSAS ought to be proud of the Chiefs…maybe he was making a joke? So far as I know, the only part of greater Kansas City that is actually located in Kansas is the tiny township servicing Ft. Leavenworth…)
LOL, I’ve posted enough to get attention from the people who are scanning this site – some of whom might become friends, some who will reject everything I have to say, and me for good measure. I do want to understand though…and speculating out loud about possibilities was once actually regarded as a productive way of serving one’s own community.
*Donovan: Probably only coincidence that “Sunshine Superman” was your namesakes biggest hit. Meanwhile, the “Nay Sayers – Hold them back crowd” met in Anaheim last night and demanded that either Arte Moreno give them First Base Box seats or they wanted him to move the Angels to Encino! Who are these people? But then you know what Marx said: “Say the Magic Word and the Duck comes down and gives you $100 dollars”.
The other Marx of course called Professional Sports “The Opiate of the People”! Well,maybe not but if he had seen the record of the Chicago Cubs…he might think that?