It seems like a long time ago, what with the storm and Harry Sidhu’s Plea Deal coming out since then, but it was just last week, at the last, August 15 meeting – the first meeting since the JL Report was released – that Mayor Aitken’s cluster of modest reforms were all rejected by Council.
And these were only “baby steps,” what she referred to as “Low-Hanging Fruit!” But each of them was still too much, for one good or bad reason or other, for the (mostly Disney-funded) Council to get behind. Let’s look at each of those, and also suggest some reforms of our own! (But good luck getting anything through this self-satisfied Council … unless that Plea Deal, with its new accusations of “Mock Council Meetings” and more, rattled their cage more than the JL Report did.)
1
Going out of order on the agenda, the Mayor decided to make this the FIRST reform to discuss, and it was most important to me too: “Conduct an audit of the $6.5 million awarded to Visit Anaheim during the pandemic to determine if any funds were improperly used (and work with state and federal partners in any external audits.)”
The JL guys harped on that particular case tirelessly, as it was the most glaring and undeniable crime that they had uncovered. We citizens had already felt that the original $6.5 million COVID money giveaway was or shoulda been criminal in itself, but it was approved by Sidhu’s whole lockstep majority – that much money, presented as an “emergency,” to promote and advertise a resort industry that was closed down for the pandemic, and wasn’t gonna re-open for another year as it turned out – and that money could have gone to so many more pressing needs during that time. It reminded us of LOOTERS taking advantage of a natural disaster. (right)
Jose Moreno told us a year later that “We don’t even know what HAPPENED to some of that money.” Well now, thanks to JL, we know that $1.5 million of that 6.5 was secretly diverted to the Chamber’s shadowy catch-all “nonprofit” the “Anaheim Economic Development Corporation,” also nicknamed “THE FOUNDATION.” And we know that THAT has been around for 15 years and has been used for such laudable purposes as laundering money for Todd Ament’s Big Bear Mansion purchase. OUR Federal COVID money.
But hold the phones – if we’re going to do an audit, related to the Chamber (and its creature Visit Anaheim), this $6.5 million Covid Heist is certainly just ONE PORTION of what needs to be examined. We all know – and JL documented it further – that the Chamber has been swindling Anaheim out of huge amounts for a decade or two, as long as Todd Ament was in charge there. During Sidhu’s disgraceful Mayorship, Todd would come back regularly for yet another half million JUST FOR DOING THINGS THAT ALL CHAMBERS ALREADY DO – and he’d GET it from Faessel, Brandman, Kring, O’Neil, Sidhu, no questions asked. The Chamber swindled us further through schemes like “AnaheI’m First” and scams like the Temporary Homeless Shelter.
Hence, JL urged us to conduct “FULL FORENSIC AUDITS” of ALL of this, and to furthermore try to “disgorge or claw back any ill-gotten public funds.” And they were right. And I said as much to the Council in my comments Tuesday night, not that ANY of them listen to me.
In any case, Assemblyman Avelino…
Partial or complete, the proposed Ashleigh audit was deflated and pre-empted by ANOTHER audit announced just hours earlier, one that SOUNDS like the audit we need, backed by state subpoena power:
“The California State Auditor’s office will soon put public money sent by the city to Visit Anaheim and the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce under a microscope for potential misuse of funds, an audit that could force the organizations to turn over financial records… The audit has expanded in scope since Valencia’s original request, he said. The audit will review all contracts between the city and the Chamber of Commerce and Visit Anaheim. Valencia also asked auditors to highlight any corruption they uncover…“
We hope this is serious, not a diversion. This Avelino cat is a confusing mixed bag, and seems to do some good things. People have forgotten that Avelino was the one who first called for the investigation that became the JL Report. (The Voice seems to think it was Dr. Moreno.) Now Avelino is out there calling on Steve Faessel and others to resign over the Mock Meeting scandal.
You’d think though that if Avelino cared about honest government in Anaheim he would have run for Council back in 2020 against Faessel in District 5 where he actually grew up, instead of moving to 4 to clobber two reformers. And worst of all was his PULLING OUT ALL THE STOPS last year, on the trail and TV, to help the OCBC’s Natalie Rubalcava (now his EMPLOYEE!) beat reformer Al Jabbar – Natalie who did her best to STOP or STYMIE his JL Report. Confusing shit, eh? Still we hope that this state audit will be as good as it sounds…
Speaking of Anaheim Audits…
One of the dozens of fascinating things we learned from JL is that Anaheim USED to have an “Audit Administrative Analyst,” and her name was Lisa Monteiro. [right] She spoke to JL of her disappointment with the watered-down independent audit into the Chamber’s 2013 Enterprise Zones scam, which turned into a whitewash.
Later she quit after she watched, in dismay, City Manager Chris Zapata get fired for criticizing this very same $6.5 million COVID money giveaway to Visit Anaheim. Ms Monteiro is currently secretary of the Association of Local Government Auditors, and runs the “Audit Compliance Center.”
And she dropped a subtle bombshell when she told JL that Zapata “was the last Anaheim City Manager who believed in audits.” Well that means only one thing: that our current CM James Vanderpool [left] does NOT believe in audits.
I’m still trying to find out if anybody took Lisa’s place in Anaheim. But what would an Audit Administrative Analyst even do, under the supervision of a CM who allegedly doesn’t believe in audits. Ya think?
Back to the Aug. 15 meeting….
I won’t waste time criticizing Jim Vanderpool here, cuz what’s the point. He obviously enjoys FEROCIOUS support from the Council majority, so he won’t be going anywhere soon. Any slight criticism of the City Manager was characterized as “political” and “personal” and “meanness.” If “Circle The Wagons ‘Round the Chameleon” were a children’s game, then that is what they were playing, with GUSTO.
Natalie Rubalcava raised eyebrows when she launched into what seemed like a passionate attack on Visit Anaheim; coming across like an Avenging Reforming Angel, she demanded that VA receive NO MORE CITY MONEY! Who told her to say that? It was theater equal to her concern for allegedly raped maids a few months ago. Did she not know VA does not GET city money, that the COVID Heist was a one-off? I only ask “Who told her to say that?” not to be snotty, but because it became clear that neither she nor at least three of her colleagues knew how VA is actually funded.
Jose Diaz was the most relentless bulldog in opposition to ALL the Mayor’s reforms. I’ve come to think of him as the most honest of the Council majority, because I don’t think anyone tells him what to do or say. He had been very supportive of the report (although that night he complained a lot about their little mistakes and misspellings.) But if you remember, the Cabal trusted him and didn’t think it necessary to invite him to any Retreats, because his predictable and simplistic philosophy leads him to side with them at least 90% of the time. He is like The Hedgehog who knows ONE THING but knows it very hard: ANYTHING that inconveniences the Big Businesses in town, even a little bit, will hurt us all. When he heard the threat to withhold city money from Visit Anaheim, and theoretically put the crimp on Resort Promotion, his dander rose and he strenuously objected that this would lead to lost business, lost revenue, dead kittens, the works.
As is his wont, Carlos Leon injected a modicum of sensibleness to the proceedings, asking “How far ahead has Visit Anaheim booked our Convention Center?” [one of their main jobs] and the answer came back “Into the 2030’s.” QED: It wouldn’t hurt anything to put VA out of commission for six months or a year or whatever, if that’s what it comes to to get to the bottom of the corruption.
PERO. As I intimated above, at least four members of the Council had no idea how Visit Anaheim is funded, and confused TOT with TID. (I assume Meeks, Faessel and Aitken probably know.) Among other things, that means that none of them actually read the JL Report (or maybe skimmed it quickly looking for mentions of their own names.) This had the meager benefit of making ME feel smart as I sat in the front row next to Donna correcting them – cold comfort, that. Eventually staff patiently explained, and now I will explain it to YOU, because you may not know either, but in your defense, gentle reader, YOU are not purporting to run our city, or propose reforms:
- The TOT (transient occupancy tax) is 15% extra that our hotel guests pay, which goes into our general fund.
- The TID (Tourism Improvement District, previously ATID) is an ADDITIONAL 2% our hotel guests pay which goes to Visit Anaheim for their advertisement/promotion. And then half of THAT (due to a corrupt Todd Ament contract) goes directly from VA to the Chamber (on the same floor of the same building) for unspecified reasons. In the years before COVID that had been about $450k a year the Chamber got, thru VA, from the TID. THIS YEAR IT IS $700,000. To the Chamber, now run by Laura Cunningham. For God knows what.
The $6.5 million “Emergency” COVID Heist makes better sense now, when you realize that it WASN’T for the emergency promotion of our resort district, as much as an emergency to keep Ament, VA CEO Jay Burress, and their friends floating in their accustomed wealth while their usual revenue stream temporarily dwindled, and the rest of us struggled. I mean it makes better sense if you squint really hard and pretend you’re Ament or Burress.
All of this segues smoothly into MY Modest fucking Proposal:
****TAKE OVER VISIT ANAHEIM!****
ONE. Redirect the TID or ATID to the CITY. Question for City Attorney Fabela: CAN we do that, and HOW? And LET’S!
TWO. With this additional (at least) $1.5 million a year we can fund our OWN tourism bureau, with City staff, accountable to us. Jay Burress makes over $400k and lives in the rich part of San Clemente. I’m sure we can find and hire creative competent folks who’d be GLAD to do that work, and do it AT LEAST as well, for less than half that much.
Madcap national security guy John Bolton used to look at the UN building and fantasize about it losing its top 10 stories (where humanitarian stuff is done.) More of a local chap, I look at 2099 South State College, and dream of it losing its SIXTH FLOOR.
Disclosure thingy: Jay Burress (right) approached me at a meeting a few weeks before the JL Report came out, and wanted to take me (and whoever else I wanted to bring) out to lunch to explain to me “What Visit Anaheim really does.” After a few days I thought, why not? I’ll hear him out, and we’ll get a steak dinner at The Ranch which I know is Jay’s favorite. But by then I’d lost his cell number, and then the report came out. And now when I call over to the office, his handlers insist he’s “not available” any more.
JAY!
CALL ME!
I promise to make quicker work of Ashleigh’s remaining defeated reforms:
2. Vanderpool’s Signing Authority
The FINAL JL recommendation, probably because it was the least urgent, was to reduce the City Manager’s “signing authority” down from $250k – right there, embarrassing to us JL fans, as it is NOT that high, it is $200k. At various times over these two decades it’s roller-coasted between $250k and $50k – NOT, as cynics say, based on “personalities and politics,” but on whether we have a conservative Mayor (Tait) or a profligate one (Sidhu, Pringle.) And Ashleigh chose, as one of her “low-hanging fruit,” lowering that from the current $200k to $100k.
This is about the City Manager being able to independently sign contracts up to that high without having a Council vote first. The potential for abuse with a high authority seems obvious, but we can’t point to it ever happening under Vanderpool at least. The argument FOR a high authority is “Just in case there’s some kind of EMERGENCY, and no time for Council to convene!”
Tait had his CM’s authority down to $50k, and when Sidhu became Mayor he wanted to raise CM Zapata’s limit to $200k… and Zapata said NO! Knowing Sidhu, he feared that he’d get pressured by him to sign off on something quick and sleazy. Then when Sidhu replaced Zapata with Vanderpool, he DID raise Jim’s signing authority to $200k… although Vanderpool told JL that he didn’t really want that.
So all of the whining on the dais about how mean people were being to poor Vanderpool, and how he’d never abused his authority and never would, was a little bit silly when they were defending his honor by preserving something for him that he says he didn’t want anyway. But there went THAT mini-reform…
3. Staff Whistleblower Protection
The Voice of OC wrote about this one yesterday (and boys, stealing a Hunter Thompson title does not make you Hunter Thompson!) JL complained months ago that a lot of city employees were afraid to speak to them for fear of retaliation – indeed, this was one of the two justifications for redactions, although it looks like most worried employees just ended up not talking to JL. The Voice quotes Dr. Moreno at length on the “culture of fear” he saw around City Hall in the Sidhu and Kris Murray years. And Cynthia Ward agreed.
The Voice also refers to Grace Stepter (left), our great director of Housing and Community Development, who gave the JL guys the most straight talk from a current employee (That excludes folks like Monteiro and John Woodhead who had quit in disgust, or Talley and Zapata who were fired.) When Grace, among other things, accused her boss Vanderpool of being a “chameleon” controlled by Mayor Sidhu, JL asked her if she wasn’t afraid of retaliation. And Grace responded, “I’ve sought legal counsel … applied to do different jobs and was ready to leave because of [various issues in Anaheim] … If you have any ounce of integrity, this stuff makes your blood boil.”
It’s good that Grace has OPTIONS, making her feel free to speak out, but most City workers don’t. So Ashleigh proposed a Whistleblower Ordinance, and a hotline for employees to report retaliation and other misconduct. But our Council majority really didn’t take this very seriously. State law already protects our workers, they shrugged, and why would a nice guy like Jim Vanderpool, or anyone who works under such a nice guy, take revenge on anybody just for speaking out? Natalie Meeks figured the hotline they ALREADY have for FRAUD is good enough – a hotline that goes up to Vanderpool duh.
Funny, Meeks is the one who justified the redactions in the Report partly by her concern about workers fearing retaliation. Attempting to wring some laughs out of the whole thing, she proposed, “You can just rename it the NATALIE MEEKS HOTLINE!” Reactions to that strange quip ranged from glum to puzzled.
4. Strengthen Lobbyist Ordinance
By now, at Tuesday’s meeting, it was getting to be like midnight, “all the crowds had gone home,” and Ashleigh, probably frustrated at her progress so far, started talking about making – aside from her new Advisory Council which meets in private – an “Ad Hoc Committee” of SOME Councilmembers that would meet in PUBLIC to discuss these things. That sounds okay, but there’s not a whole lot of enthusiasm on this Council for ANY big changes, (If this happens can we please have public comments BEFORE AND AFTER?)
But back to the Lobbying Ordinance, which is something JL recommended. We already have a Lobbying Ordinance (2017, from Jose Moreno), and it was strengthened last year (by Avelino, with penalties up to 6 months or $1000), but there’s never any enforcement of it, and the city’s biggest lobbyists generally ignored it. Flint, Ament, Pringle, Nocella. The first two flouted every law as a matter of principle, but they’re gone now. Curt Pringle famously doesn’t like to think of himself as a lobbyist, cuz he thinks that is a lower life-form, but he is FOREVER LOBBYING, and only complies with the ordinance when the mood strikes him. Carrie Nocella, are you kidding, she is Disney’s “Government Relations” and she ain’t gonna fill out any damn forms – she’s royalty and legit Cabal! Natalie said it herself – how about we just enforce the ordinance we have?
A lot of them were all, “Let’s study what other cities are doing.” Well there are no other cities like Anaheim. Partly because there are no corporations like Disney. Okay, I admit I’m live-blogging the video now. Natalie, admitting to being “long-winded and tired,” proposed having staff come back with an “ENHANCED” lobbying ordinance that includes Council AND staff having to report meetings. Ashleigh became concerned with how “lobbyist” is even defined, and wants to look at how other cities do it. Meeks & Kurtz are totally unenthused with strengthening what they already consider a strong ordinance, and Diaz is hostile to it. Council voted unanimously to come back with a shitload of “options.”
But it took Carlos to ask the elephant-in-the-room question, HOW IS THIS ORDINANCE ENFORCED? City Attorney Fabela says his office “looked into” prosecuting some things based on the FBI reports. Yes, looked into. His office does not have “investigative capacity,” they just prosecute what the APD brings to them. So “enhanced” or not, the ordinance will remain toothless. Nobody is going to fine Curt or Carrie $1000 or put them in jail for six months.
But Freddie can take a break this time.
5. Publicizing Council Work Calendars
I thought this was a cheeky one for the Mayor to bring forth when Duane Roberts has detailed her at length, most definitely not publicizing her calendar. But by now it was after midnight and they tabled this one for another time.
OMBUDSMAN??
Assuming this is not Faessel himself,
he may be eligible for the ombudsman position.
Throughout the meeting, Steve Faessel was all, “WHY are we doing low-hanging fruit, when we can start with the HIGHEST-hanging fruit?” He is enamored of JL’s FIRST recommendation, an OMBUDSMAN, except he doesn’t like that term, and I kind of agree, it is a magical Swedish word that could mean almost anything. He prefers JL’s alternative title “Public Affairs ETHICS Officer.” It’d be part of the City Clerk’s office, and be “a regular employee position, nonpartisan and based on merit and that cannot be removed but for proven misconduct, incompetence, and/or malfeasance.” JL goes on to enumerate that officer’s duties on page 300.
Steve plans to officially propose this soon (“based upon a possible ad hoc committee the mayor suggested”). But who would we find, that everyone would trust, unless Mr. Clean turns out to be real? Is Judge Clay Smith looking for some more work?
***************
Non-Postcript: Natalie R’s Tirade
Oh yeah. Natalie used her “Council Communications” time to fiercely defend herself from a couple of accusations of misbehavior that the JL Report made against HER. Her script sounded curiously pre-written, given that it referenced public comments (possibly that she had EXPECTED to receive.) Somebody really ought to make a video of this riveting performance. I’m not gonna say much here (she already hates me anyway!) except that it’s not her word versus JL, but her word versus Anaheim-Firster Keith Oleson and Economic Development director Sergio Ramirez.
That is all. For now. Vern out.
This is how politicians act when they think that “no one goes to jail.”
The problem is that once people start going to jail, lots of people go to jail.
I’m going to repeat again: most of the culpability here belongs to Disney. I would like to love Disney, as my family does. But I can’t love an entity that mangles local politics with their donations, just so they can get away with shit.
Politicians have some protection for what they say or do from the dais. Disney doesn’t. And with DeSantis screwing them over in Florida more than a 2% gate tax here ever would, the argument that they might just stop investing here if anyone tried to hold their feet to the fire means less now than it ever did.
Disney should not be raising and giving money to local candidates, period. We’ve already seen how much is on their tab.
Football Brandman isn’t serious.
Got an e-mail from one of my anonymous insider tipsters:
“I just read your article. Couple of thoughts. The mayor has been struggling since she took office. While she is the figurehead, she has been unable to build a coalition to move her agenda forward. As you noted in your piece, she moved an agenda item that she had wanted to do first – adjusting city manager’s signing authority. She was forced to move it to #2 publicly because it sent the message that the city manager’s signing authority was the biggest issue, since she HAD put it first on the agenda. I believe that was a big mistake for her.
“City hall insiders are still trying to determine who the mayor listens to regarding strategy. If it’s her Chief of Staff, who has no experience and is not liked here at city hall, it’s very telling why she has not yet to successfully lead on any public policy issue. The next battle will be the pay increase for her CoS. [Mishal I mean Berenice.] It will overshadow any reform issues. These are challenges the mayor has brought upon herself.”
Yeah, the Disney-funded Majority is solidifying against Ashleigh, and klepto voices are already calling her “mean and divisive” for her reform attempts, no matter how hard she tries to be a “Mayor for everybody.”
People go by the playbooks they know, and the kleptocracy knows the Tait playbook. Next title? “And Carlos is her Vanderbilt.”
I don’t think this analysis is correct. I think she wants to be seen doing something but not really having to do it. Why else sit at a table with the Cunninghams?
She’s probably getting advice from pops and people like Tom Daly and Lo Sanchez. The canoe can be be seen to rock a little but don’t spoil the picnic.
On occasion your bleak world view is borne out.
On occasion? My BA is pretty good when it comes to the political class.
Same tipster told me Friday that recall papers had been filed on Rubalcava. I tried to confirm that, clerk wouldn’t call me back, forgot all about it.
But my pajarita was right – https://voiceofoc.org/2023/08/efforts-to-start-a-recall-of-anaheim-city-councilwoman-natalie-rubalcava-are-underway/
Why aren’t they going after Useful Idiot Faessel?
Because Rubalcava represents Central Anaheim. She’s the only Klepto really out of step with her district.
I had no knowledge of this until now, but it does make some sort of sense. Getting enough signatures is plausible. I doubt if she’ll be removed — though it’s conceivable — but the real issue is who will try to spend how much money for her and against her opponents — and how they will try to hide it when it’s the sole race in the spotlight. It’s a little more dangerous for them now.
I’m kinda pissed that the City Clerk never got back to me when I left a message about this Friday. She used to get back to me quickly all the time. I’m a head there now and get the official petition.
This is a union thing, apparently in retaliation for Natalie messing up their ordinance. I don’t think they could have seen the JL Report yet when they started this, and to be fair the accusations from JL against Natalie are kind of minor.
How did they do this without anyone I know in District 3 hearing about it, and why did they not publicize it after they got their signatures? Why would this need to be kept secret? Were they trying to launch a SECRET RECALL?
I thought they were busy right now trying to get Measure A passed, but I haven’t seen any pro-A advertisements. It’s all ANTI-A everywhere you look (and those ads are full of unnecessary lies, as well as the usual Cabal data-mining postcards.)
If Martin Lopez is the official spokesman, he doesn’t sound very prepared. “The recent allegations against her [what are those?] are very troubling and we want her to RESIGN… We are exploring NEXT STEPS.”
There are a lot of good reasons to recall Natalie, although she won by over 15%, hasn’t been there long, and still seems to be very popular. I am full of questions at this point.
If they’re successful, don’t they realize she’ll get replaced with someone like Mitch Caldwell? Much as we’d like to see Al Jabbar, Cynthia Ward, Carolina Mendez, or Jose back on Council, the remaining four-member majority will never do that.
It IS comical that Natalie’s response is to call the recall “POLITICAL.” Um… I guess next she’ll tell us she’s not a POLITICIAN.
Whatever, the Council would sure be better without her. She is the aggressive leader of the anti-reform, pro-Cabal Council majority, this decade’s Kris Murray, so I can only wish success on this, and would like to help if I can. But I’m still full of questions. I’ll let readers know when I get my hands on the petition.
Correction on the council appointing a replacement. That’s what we’re used to from Gloria and Norma. But I think a recall election will include replacement candidates.
I take back that correction, I was right the first time, the majority WOULD appoint her replacement.
Let’s move comments about this to the Natalie recall story.
One (and only one) reformer would have to run. That’s going to be difficult as Ada is going to want to get her own agent onto the Council. That might be OK, if she can pull this off, but I don’t know that that person would be broadly a reformed.
The big problem here is that serving on the Council would be a rough and distasteful task. If Carlos is Ashleigh’s “Vanderbilt,” then this is a matter of getting Ashleigh her “Barnes” — and we all know how tough that was. (And if they get a Council majority, the heat gets even worse, although the accomplishments get better.) Whatever reformer might take this position is going to have to have rhinoceros hide.
As I recall, Martin Lopez lived in District 4, where he almost ran once.
The ideal candidate would be someone like Norberto Santana — a reasonably progressive anti-Castro Cuban who might have a chance of peeling off Diaz’s vote. Of course, I still have hopes that further legal pressure (from Sacramento?) could give Campos Kurtz some pause. (The Natalies are irredeemable.)
What would Ashleigh do with a majority? Dunno — she’s cautious — but it would be better than she can do in the minority.
The underlying problem is Disney $$$ going into campaigns. Unless Disney can be forced to feel some legal peril — and they’d be the Godzilla-sized defendant in a RICO case — they’ll keep on buying the Council. I’m just going to keep saying that.
Can you explain here who told you that this wouldn’t be the same procedure that we’ve seen in Westminster and elsewhere, and what provision of law they cited?
Is this part of the city charter?
I reckon that it’s because his district would be unlikely to recall him.
No, it’s because we can’t do everything and none of us are God sitting over a chessboard.
Natalie is getting surprise-recalled because she fucked up Ada’s ordinance, right in front of her, while pretending to be a Democrat. I wonder if Ada ever thinks about how much Natalie is a creature of Ada’s own creature Avelino?
One of Norberto’s good points that was NOT in this story of mine that I wrote two days earlier, is how Council managed to put FOUR HOURS of somnabulant shit BEFORE the post-JL discussions that everyone wanted to hear.
https://voiceofoc.org/2023/08/santana-a-year-after-fbi-corruption-allegations-anaheims-politicians-fail-what-could-be-their-final-exam/
Well this coming Tuesday’s agenda is out and it looks like they responded to Norberto’s criticism. The first item after consent calendar is:
“Discussion, consideration, and action regarding setting a priority list of reforms stemming from the recommendations from the JL Group investigative report, including but not limited to scheduling experts with subject matter expertise, and creating a transparent and public path forward.”
That “experts” part sounds like a nod to Carlo’s contribution. After that a re-scheduling of September meetings which should go quick. THEN:
” Receive an update on the Council’s prior direction regarding Visit Anaheim, including (1) exploring Visit Anaheim’s subcontracting relationships with the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce (“Chamber”) without the City’s written authorization, (2) halting the provision of Anaheim Tourism Improvement District funds to the Chamber pending the completion of a state audit, and (3) exploring additional financial back-up information for Visit Anaheim’s budgeting submissions; and provide any related direction to staff.”
YES! If we have any power over the ATID which it sounds like we do, we should push for my idea of TAKING OVER THE ATID and making our own Tourism Bureau inside the city.
After THAT comes the boring employee classification shit, including a raise for Ashleigh’s CoS. We’ll be home by then.
The City doesn’t need to run a tourist bureau staffed with pensioned bureaucrats.
The “Resort” cabal can pay for their own promotion and the cop union can kick in a buck to help a brother out. If they want to hire Cunningham’s old lady (if she isn’t in jail) that’s their business.
I’m generally for including these things within a city government, but: not this city, not this government.
Take over the ATID and use it to pay police; move what is now for police into something more useful. I’ll defer to Cynthia about what that might be.
Can this be correct? “[Ashleigh and Natalie R] are also calling for a discussion on campaign finance reform – another promise made by Aitken on the campaign trail and a change residents have repeatedly pushed for… Their proposal includes limiting independent expenditures and political action committees and disclosure before votes when a donor is involved…”
Up till now, Ashleigh has been adamant that the Supreme Court would shut down any reform that affects IE’s and PAC’s, under Citizens United – even our (Jose Moreno-proposed) recusal law. We have insisted she is wrong, and also that any CFR not affecting IE’s and PAC’s is meaningless. Did the Voice get this wrong, or has Ashleigh changed her mind? That would be great news – we know we’d have Faessel’s and Leon’s votes, and now maybe even (the recall-spooked) Rubalcava???
https://voiceofoc.org/2023/08/anaheim-officials-set-to-discuss-reforms-in-wake-of-corruption-probe/
Sure enough. Today Ashleigh in combination with the recall-spooked NR are planning out different reforms for each meeting coming up between now and Nov 7, and adding a new October 10 meeting. The Campaign Finance discussion will be Oct 25, and includes:
Campaign Finance Reform
Including but not limited to:
o Disclosure before votes when a donor is involved
o Limit amount of candidate donation to self
o Limit debt-recovery timeframe
o Limit timeframe to 18 months
o Limitations on Independent expenditures and Political Action Committees (PACS)
I think “limitations on i.e.’s etc. is a sloppy description, coming from people who haven’t yet thought seriously about making it work. Of course we can’t literally “limit” them, under Citizens United. This discussion needs to be about RECUSAL RULES, disincentivizing IE/PAC expenditures.
Staff report here: https://local.anaheim.net/docs_agend/questys_pub/38493/38523/38525/38746/38802/Staff%20Report38802.pdf
TODAY, the hot topic will be Visit Anaheim, the Chamber, and the ATID. That’s really enough for one night. Staff report:
https://local.anaheim.net/docs_agend/questys_pub/38493/38523/38525/38745/38793/Staff%20Report38793.pdf
Here’s what I’d add to that (and this is definitely a first draft):
There should be a city misdemeanor law enacted requiring each candidate and PAC to certify under oath that they have comported with all applicable state and federal regulations, including those regarding having no conduct with candidates — including through intermediaries — on the content of their actions — and authorizing the City Attorney to prosecute anyone violating the law without bringing it to Council.
Needs work, so pipe up!
The remaining problem with this, as I’ve mentioned before, is that under Anaheim’s system the candidates mostly don’t even come up with their own ads or policies — and just wait for the wealthy interests indicate what the Queen Bee should do, and then follow along with whatever the Queen Bee says and how she (or he) votes.
High drama from the 8/29 meeting