09 May 2023

Strange Bedfellows: UFCW Local 324’s Alliance With The Anaheim Chamber of Commerce to Legalize Cannabis

Ashleigh Aitken speaking at the headquarters of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 324 in November 2018.

By DUANE ROBERTS
Editor & Publisher

In early January, Ashleigh Aitken, the newly-elected mayor of Anaheim, did what many public officials before her had done. She took full advantage of her unfettered access to the city’s vast pool of free tickets to luxury suites at the Honda Center and Angel Stadium and gave a few of them away to supporters who helped put her in office. Several emails show the mayor rattled off names of those she felt deserved them.

Though her abuse of this privilege was modest compared to others who previously served on the council, it was nevertheless significant. According to a Form 802 that Aitken filed on January 8th, she reported giving two tickets worth $350 for a Ducks vs. Bruins game at the Honda Center to Derek Smith, political director of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 324, a union whose headquarters is based in Buena Park.

Derek Smith.

Besides the fact a Form 401 filed with the city clerk’s office reports that Smith was treasurer of an independent expenditure committee which spent $138,155 to help Aitken become mayor in 2022, The Anaheim Investigator has discovered his union has a “secret.” Though not criminal in nature, it’s deeply embarrassing. In fact, some people with intimate knowledge of it are apprehensive to talk about it openly with journalists.

It took The Investigator more than a year to find it, and that was only after painstaking research. However, all the effort put in was well worth it. We have uncovered a story that is not only remarkable, but lends credence to the old adage “politics makes strange bedfellows.” It involves an alliance of people with nothing in common, who were brought together by a shared interest. And it implicates Democrats and Republicans.

Todd Ament, Jeff Flint, and Harry Sidhu.

Reliable sources have told The Investigator that sometime in late 2019 or early 2020, Todd Ament, president and CEO of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, Jeff Flint, president of Core Strategic Group, and Mayor Harry Sidhu approached UFCW Local 324 and cut a deal with them: that in return for a labor peace agreement in any cannabis ordinance they brought forth, the union was to exert pressure on the council to vote “yes.”

Ament, Flint, and Sidhu–sometimes euphemistically referred to as “the cabal”–already had three votes locked up, including Councilman Jordan Brandman’s, who reportedly was one of their point men. But they needed a total of four to get it passed. That’s where UFCW Local 324 came in. They would mobilize members of their union to aggressively lobby any possible holdouts. And indeed, there is evidence this did in fact occur.

In the ordinance that was ultimately drafted–which purportedly was written by Flint–a labor peace agreement was included. And ironically, it was more “pro-labor” than legislation backed by Governor Gavin Newsom in October 2019. Whereas the law Newsom supported required cannabis businesses that have more then twenty employees enter into such an agreement, Anaheim’s proposal only required two, but that they be full-time.

From the proposed ordinance.

Anaheim wasn’t the only city UFCW Local 324 was committed to getting a labor peace agreement. For example, minutes of one Stanton City Council meeting reveal: “Mr. Derek Smith, Political Director, UFCW 324, submitted an e-comment requesting that the City consider the inclusion of ‘Labor Peace’ language that would provide clarity to the cannabis industry and future workers regarding the quality of jobs that are expected from the City.”

The push to legalize cannabis businesses was derailed when The Investigator published articles in May 2020 which revealed Sidhu’s son not only was a pot consultant, but lived on his father’s four-acre Anaheim Hills estate. Though the Fair Political Practices Commission issued a letter clearing the mayor of any potential conflict of interests, one councilman sympathetic to the cannabis ordinance voted “no” because he distrusted Sidhu.

For reasons that aren’t clear, Ament, Flint, and Sidhu abandoned the idea of getting a cannabis ordinance passed by council. The November 2020 election led to Avelino Valencia III and Jose Diaz winning seats. Though backed by Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, they weren’t trusted. And Gloria Ma’ae–who opposed the original ordinance–later replaced Brandman. But in late 2021, a new strategy emerged, thanks to UFCW Local 324.

The Silva petition.

On Friday, October 15, 2021, the Anaheim City Clerk received a letter from Stacy Silva declaring that it was her “intention to circulate a petition” to gather signatures to put an initiative on the ballot entitled “The Anaheim Cannabis Regulation and Land Use Measure.” She filed all the required paperwork and paid a $200 filing fee. Silva instructed the city clerk that all correspondence be sent to her lawyer at his Woodland Hills office.

Evidence The Investigator uncovered shows that Silva, who is a resident of West Anaheim, wasn’t some middle-aged mom off the street who favored cannabis legalization. Public records available online from the U.S. Department of Labor reports that she has been employed as an office clerk at UFCW Local 324’s headquarters in Buena Park at least since 2009. Furthermore, Silva is listed as a “friend” on Derek Smith’s Facebook account.

Silva’s lawyer was Bradley Hertz, an election law attorney who had done work for Ament. A Form 410 filed with the city clerk’s office on September 26, 2018 reveals he was treasurer of an independent expenditure committee called “No on L, a Project of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce,” which spent $932,053 in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat a measure which raised the wages of workers of hotels that received tax subsidies.

The text of the initiative Silva submitted was mostly a copy of the cannabis ordinance championed by Ament, Flint, and Sidhu in 2020. However, there were exceptions. First, the number of permitted cannabis retailers allowed to operate in the city was increased from from 20 to 30; one single entity could control up to five of them, instead of three. Second, the requirement workers be full-time to qualify for a labor peace agreement was scrapped.

Herein lies the “smoking gun” of UFCW Local 324’s alliance with the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce to legalize cannabis businesses. They first tried to pass an ordinance through the council, but failed. Now there was evidence they were collaborating on a ballot initiative. However, there is a catch. Ament had resigned before Silva filed her paperwork with the city clerk. That begs the question: who took his place?

Regardless of what the case might be, Silva withdrew her initiative on October 28th claiming it needed “minor edits.” Then she submitted a new version on November 22nd, which reinstated the requirement workers be full-time to qualify for a labor peace agreement. But after December 7th, everything stopped. When The Investigator asked City Clerk Theresa Bass what happened, she said Silva didn’t continue the filing process.

The Dalati petition.

Three months later, a new face appeared. Belal Dalati, a local real estate agent, walked into the city clerk’s office on Monday, March 21, 2022 with a letter notifying them it was his “intention to circulate a petition” to gather signatures to put a cannabis initiative on the ballot. Most of the paperwork he filed was identical to Silva’s. He used the same title, preamble, and law firm as a contact. But the text of the initiative was different.

Evidence suggests Dalati had a longtime interest in cannabis. Several emails show Councilwoman Lucille Kring–a close ally of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce—personally set up a meeting between him, City Manager Chris Zapata, and City Attorney Robert Fabela to discuss this matter. “A friend of mine, who is a businessman in the city, would like to meet with you both about cannabis,” she told them on January 10, 2020.

Unlike Silva’s initiatives, Dalati’s came from Adam Spiker, of Spiker Rendon Consulting, Inc., a cannabis industry lobbyist located in downtown Los Angeles. The initiative he touted was very “pro-labor.” Not only did it drop the requirement workers be full-time to qualify for a labor peace agreement, but a points system was set up to give preferences to applicants of city licenses who had good employee and community benefits plans.

One of Spiker’s former clients was Catalyst Cannabis, a retail chain of “weed stores” with locations in Santa Ana and Long Beach. The workers at all of those outlets were organized by UFCW Local 324. The relationship between this company and the union was so positive they organized law clinics at the latter’s Buena Park headquarters in 2021 to help clean up employee criminal records. One of the attorneys present at the April clinic: Ashleigh Aitken.

Emails show Annie Mezzacappa, Sidhu’s chief of staff, was forwarding updates on how Dalati’s initiative was progressing to her boss, Flint, and Laura Cunningham, the new president and CEO of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce. When The Investigator questioned Cunningham about this, she said “I am regularly cc’d on emails. I cannot comment on unspecified emails. Please note that I never sat in on any cannabis meetings.”

By May 16th, Dalati changed his mind. At the urging of Bill Taormina and Paul Kott, two local businessman who were opposed to legalizing cannabis businesses, he withdrew his initiative. In a text message Taormina sent to Councilman Trevor O’Neil, he alleged that “Bill Dahlati [sic] was forced into filing the petition by Jeff Flint and other ‘dope dealer’ promoters. He was actually threatened by them not to withdraw the petition ….”

File:Seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.svg

On the very same day Dalati yanked his initiative, State Attorney General Rob Bonta announced he was “pausing” an agreement his office made with the City of Anaheim settling a dispute over the state’s surplus land act. The reason? The Federal Bureau of Investigation notified him they were looking into allegations of political corruption in connection with the pending sale of the Angel Stadium to Arte Moreno, an Arizona billionaire.

In the days and weeks that followed, the public would learn–thanks to FBI affidavits released in court filings–this scandal wasn’t just about Sidhu and the stadium deal. At the very heart of it was Melahat Rafiei, a political consultant and Democratic Party operative, who is alleged to have committed various crimes in connection with the Anaheim Chamber Of Commerce’s attempt to legalize cannabis businesses.

However, in writing this article, The Investigator made a decision to mostly stay away from Rafiei. Why did we do this? First, her name didn’t pop up in anything having to do this story. Second, the FBI affidavits that have been released so far offer an incomplete and distorted view of what transpired. Third, the testimony offered in those affidavits are solely focused on proving violations of federal criminal laws. It doesn’t talk about what was legal.

Besides Rafiei, it’s erroneous to presume that everybody who worked along with Ament, Flint, and Sidhu to legalize cannabis businesses broke the law. Nothing can be further from the truth. The reality is, an overwhelming majority of people that ended up being dragged into this affair–including pretty much everybody we mentioned in this article–are innocent of any crimes. They are what we would call “victims of circumstance.”

The Investigator knows despite our good faith efforts to gather accurate information for this article, what we have written isn’t the full story. And it’s possible a few corrections will need to be made as we learn more. But what’s important is we have exposed the biggest “secret” of this scandal: UFCW Local 324‘s alliance with the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce to legalize cannabis businesses. And it implicates Democrats and Republicans.

The political ramifications of this “secret” are political dynamite. For example, during last year’s election, in order to win the endorsement of the Orange County Register, then-candidate Aitken told the editors “the former mayor and his tightly knit ‘cabal’ were allowed to run roughshod at City Hall, and created a culture of intimidation for staff, management, concerned residents, and the smaller business community.”

What Aitken neglected to mention is UFCW Local 324, a major union of whom she has had close ties to since 2018, was involved in a “pot deal” with the same “former mayor and his tightly knit ‘cabal.'” Though there is no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing, it does vastly complicate things. Maybe she didn’t know about it, but giving $350 worth of city-owned tickets to Smith, their political director, won’t help her in any pleas of innocence.

To further understand the magnitude of her quandary, the very same political director Aitken rewarded with tickets was also the treasurer of an independent expenditure committee which spent $138,155–most of it being UFCW cash–to help her become mayor. The only other group in town that invested almost as heavily in her campaign was the Anaheim Police Officers Association, and they came in a distant second at $92,556.

For matter of record, The Investigator asked for interviews or sent questions out to Belal Dalati, Harry Sidhu, Derek Smith, Stacy Silva, Adam Spiker and others we believed had knowledge about this matter. Most didn’t answer our emails or reply to voice messages. One person declined to speak citing ongoing “local and federal investigations.” Ashleigh Aitken ignored our request for comment on the Anaheim Ducks tickets she gave to Smith.

Posted in Adam Spiker, Anaheim, Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, Anaheim City Clerk, Anaheim City Council, Anaheim Ducks, Angel Stadium, Annie Mezzaccapa, Arte Moreno, Ashleigh Aitken, Avelino Valencia III, Belal Dalati, Bill Taormina, Bradley Hertz, Buena Park, Cannabis Businesses, Cannabis Consultants, Cannabis Legalization, Cannabis Workers, Catalyst Cannabis, Chris Zapata, City of Anaheim, Core Strategic Group, Democrat, Derek Smith, Fair Political Practices Commission, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Form 401, Form 802, Gavin Newsom, Gloria Ma'ae, Harry Sidhu, Honda Center, Jeff Flint, Jordan Brandman, Jose Diaz, Labor Peace Agreement, Long Beach, Lucille Kring, Melahat Rafiei, Orange County Democratic Party, Orange County Republican Party, Paul Kott, Republican, Rob Bonta, Robert Fabela, Santa Ana, Spiker Rendon Consulting Inc., Stacy Silva, Theresa Bass, Tickets, Todd Ament, UFCW Local 324, United Food & Commercial Workers Local 324 and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
07 Feb 2023

Past Involvement With Muzeo Museum, Community Services Board Brought Aitken, Faessel Together

Ashleigh Aitken, Josh Spears, Stephen Faessel, Bette Aitken, and Susan Faessel at the Muzeo Museum & Cultural Center in 2018.

By DUANE ROBERTS
Editor & Publisher

During The Anaheim Investigator’s recent inquiry into Norma Campos-Kurtz‘s close ties with Councilman Stephen Faessel, we accidentally stumbled across circumstantial evidence which suggested that another prominent Anaheim politician might also have had a similar relationship with him: Mayor Ashleigh Aitken.

For example, we discovered the mayor had some sort of link to Anaheim Beautiful, a non-profit organization that Faessel and his wife have championed. Multiple photographs The Investigator reviewed show Aitken attended a couple of events this group held at various venues, sometimes while the councilman’s wife was present.

In one photo of a September 2018 luncheon, Aitken can be seen seated at a table directly across from Campos-Kurtz, a who not only joined the Board of Directors of Anaheim Beautiful the previous year, but also maintained a tight relationship with Faessel through her job as district director for state Assemblyman Tom Daly.

Campos-Kurtz (back to camera) with Aitken in 2018.

In an attempt to learn more, The Investigator sent an email to Faessel asking him about his interactions with Aitken, including what knowledge he had about her with respect to Anaheim Beautiful, especially since evidence in our possession suggested that she had been affiliated with this non-profit for at least six years.

In response, the councilman told us that though he doesn’t consider Ashleigh to be a close friend, he has known her for “some years” now. But he said that they became acquainted with each other through their involvement with the Muzeo Museum & Cultural Center and Community Services Board, not Anaheim Beautiful.

Below is Faessel‘s reply:

I served as a member of the original MUZEO board with Betty Aiken and got to know her husband Wylie through that connection, I recall that Ashleigh chaired a MUZEO Fundraiser years ago when her mom and dad were still active in the organization.

My wife Susan served on the Anaheim Community Services Board along with Mrs. Ashleigh Aitken for a couple years in the later 2000’s (I cannot recall exactly) so certainly I got to meet her from time to time there.

While you mentioned her being a member of Anaheim Beautiful, I do not have any personal knowledge of that. Susan and I are very supportive of Anaheim Beautiful however I don’t know every member. She may have been a member.

To go to your main question, we know of each other and have for some years. We do not, nor ever have met socially (unless we happened to have attended the same event coincidentally.)

Therefore I would not describe our relationship as ‘close friends.’

The Anaheim Investigator made at least three attempts to contact Aitken and Berenice Ballinas, her chief of staff, requesting comment for this article. However, for some strange reason, the mayor, who claims to be open and transparent with everybody, declined to answer any of the questions we sent her and ignored our emails.

Posted in 69th State Assembly District, Anaheim Beautiful, Anaheim City Council, Ashleigh Aitken, Bette Aitken, City of Anaheim, Community Services Board, District 4, Facebook, Muzeo Museum & Cultural Center, Norma Campos-Kurtz, Orange County Democratic Party, Stephen Faessel, Susan Faessel, Tom Daly, Wylie Aitken and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
06 Feb 2023

Newly Appointed Councilwoman Campos-Kurtz Admits She Has Had Close Ties to Faessel For Years

Norma Campos-Kurtz (left) with Jordan Brandman (right) at an Anaheim Beautiful luncheon in December 2017.

By DUANE ROBERTS
Editor & Publisher

In the aftermath of the Anaheim City Council vote to appoint Norma Campos-Kurtz to the District 4 seat vacated by Avelino Valencia III last year, a number of partisan Democrats were struggling to figure out the reason why Councilman Stephen Faessel was seemingly “chosen” to nominate her during the final round of balloting.

One video that was circulated on various Facebook groups made an attempt to understand what transpired by carefully dissecting every single move the council made that night. But such superficial analysis always ends up becoming an exercise in futility especially if you don’t know anything about the context of the behavior which took place.

The Anaheim Investigator, however, knew there was a very simple explanation for all of this. And we really didn’t have to dig that deep to find it. Evidence shows that Campos-Kurtz and Faessel are friends. Regardless of what the councilman’s publicly-stated motives were for picking her, they’ve known each other at least since 2016.

The relationship between the two began in earnest shortly after Faessel was elected to his seat on the Anaheim City Council in 2016. At that time, Campos-Kurtz was district director for Tom Daly, a state Assemblyman whose area encompassed a large chunk of Anaheim. One of her tasks was to do outreach to the councilman.

Things began to blossom when Campos-Kurtz joined the Board of Directors of Anaheim Beautiful in 2017, a non-profit organization whose core membership appears to consist of upper-middle class homeowners, some of whom have had ties to other groups like Support our Anaheim Resort and the now-defunct Anaheim First.

Not only has Faessel been a strong supporter of Anaheim Beautiful, but his wife has been an active participant in their activities:”Susan supports … Anaheim Beautiful programs such as Green Ribbon Week, Neighborhood Clean Up, Memorial Tree and Holiday Lights Tour,” according to the Anaheim High School Alumni Association website.

There is no doubt Campos-Kurtz’s involvement with Anaheim Beautiful’s board has benefited them. For example, in two messages posted on Facebook and Twitter in 2019 and 2021, it appears she was instrumental in boosting political support for that non-profit’s activities, including a scholarship program and a holiday lights award ceremony.

In direct response to a question The Investigator emailed to Campos-Kurtz about her relationship with Faessel, she quite frankly admitted to us what we already suspected based on evidence gathered during our own probe: that she had been friends with the councilman for several years now, though mostly in an official capacity.

“I met the councilmember soon after he was first elected to council as a result of responsibilities while working for then Assemblymember Tom Daly,” she told us last Friday. “Over the years I’ve met up with the councilmember (and his wife) at several community events, organization luncheons/dinners, city meetings and events.”

For matter of record, The Investigator does not dispute that Campos-Kurtz is qualified to be a councilwoman. But decisions to appoint someone to a vacant seat aren’t made at a city council meeting alone. They are based on pre-existing relationships formed over years of interactions. Faessel may deny it, but that’s one reason why he nominated her.

Posted in 69th State Assembly District, Anaheim Beautiful, Anaheim City Council, Anaheim First, Anaheim High School Alumni Association, Avelino Valencia III, City of Anaheim, District 4, Facebook, Norma Campos-Kurtz, Orange County Democratic Party, Stephen Faessel, Support Our Anaheim Resort, Susan Faessel, Tom Daly, Twitter and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
24 Jan 2023

Likely Front Runners Vying for District 4 City Council Seat Have Hidden Ties to Disney-Funded SOAR

Linda Newby (left) with Natalie Meeks (right) at a closed-door meeting of the Anaheim First Neighborhood Leadership Summit in July 2019.

By DUANE ROBERTS
Editor & Publisher

Norma Campos-Kurtz and Linda Newby, two candidates of whom The Anaheim Investigator believes are the likely front runners in the race to fill the District 4 city council seat vacated by Avelino Valencia III last year, have hidden ties to Support Our Anaheim Resort (SOAR), an entity mostly funded by The Walt Disney Company.

Evidence reviewed by The Investigator–including campaign finance documents, numerous photographs, and archived websites–not only show that both women have contributed money to SOAR’s political action committee through various fundraisers, but that one of them was appointed to its separate advisory board in 2022.

Newby, a longtime resident of Anaheim, is the owner of Gallery Travel, a “full-service travel agency.” Between 2013 and 2014, she served on the board of directors of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce and has been active in other groups formed by that body, such as Anaheim First, which was backed by former Mayor Harry Sidhu.

Multiple photographs in the possession of The Investigator show Newby has participated in SOAR fundraisers on and off since 2014. Form 460s filed by SOAR with the City Clerk’s office report she gave at least $100 to them on at least four different occasions (the last time being August 26, 2021), but did so under the name of her business.

Newby with Sidhu.

Campos-Kurtz, like Newby, has also given SOAR cash. For example, a Form 460 filed in 2020 reports that she made a $100 contribution in October. But another form filed a year earlier shows that Ken Kurtz, her husband, gave them about $200. Notes mention that his payment was made directly to Jill Kanzler, then executive director.

Campos-Kurtz with her husband.

Early in 2022, Campos-Kurtz was appointed to the SOAR Advisory Committee–a fact that she neglected to mention in the application she filed with the city seeking appointment to the District 4 council seat. Additionally, she said nothing about her brief stint with Anaheim First, which still lists her as a member on their website.

That Campos-Kurtz has a close relationship with SOAR is of no surprise. Between 2014 and 2021, she worked for Democratic State Assemblyman Tom Daly, who was one of the earliest champions of this Disney-funded entity. Not only do Form 460s show that Daly got funds from them, but he bragged about their endorsement in 2012.

In 2020, SOAR spent a whopping $405,710–the bulk of which came from The Walt Disney Company–to help Valencia get elected to his District 4 city council seat. It’s not a coincidence that at the time this was happening, he was working as a field representative for Daly and Campos-Kurtz just so happened to be his boss.

Screenshot from SOAR’s website.

Despite the fact eleven other people have filed applications seeking appointment to the District 4 city council seat, The Investigator believes that none of them ever stood a chance of being considered for this position. From our perspective, the decision as to who will replace Valencia had already been made weeks ago.

However, there appears to be no clear consensus on the Anaheim City Council right now as to whether they will pick Campos-Kurtz or Newby. There is a possibility the vote could end up deadlocked 3-3 for both. Regardless of what the case will be, the odds a candidate tied to SOAR will be chosen to fill this seat are quite high.

Posted in 69th State Assembly District, Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, Anaheim City Council, Anaheim First, Avelino Valencia III, City of Anaheim, District 4, Form 460, Gallery Travel, Harry Sidhu, Jill Kanzler, Ken Kurtz, Linda Newby, Natalie Meeks, Norma Campos-Kurtz, Orange County Democratic Party, Orange County Republican Party, SOAR Advisory Committee, Support Our Anaheim Resort, The Walt Disney Company, Tom Daly and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
03 Nov 2022
1 Comment

Anaheim City Councilman Quietly Employed Girlfriend of Top Serrano Associate as ‘Senior Policy Aide’

Avelino Valencia (left) with Gerry Serrano (right), president of the Santa Ana Police Officers Association, in June 2018.

By DUANE ROBERTS
Editor & Publisher

Councilman Avelino Valencia III quietly employed Tina Arias Miller, the girlfriend of a top associate to Gerry Serrano, president of the Santa Ana Police Officers Association, as a “Senior Policy Aide” during a brief period of time between 2021 and 2022, according to public records obtained by The Anaheim Investigator.

Miller, who is president of the Rancho Santiago Community College District Board of Trustees, has been involved in a relationship with Ernesto Amado Conde, a retired Santa Ana Police sergeant known to be Serrano’s closest ally. He is also a consultant for the police union, earning thousands of dollars in fees from them each year.

The job offer was set into motion shortly after Valencia sent out an email to James Vanderpool, the city manager, on Monday, July 26, 2021, expressing that he “would like to hire Dr. Tina Arias Miller as a Senior Policy Aide…. Dr. Miller will be working about 6-7 hours a week. Her hourly compensation will be $31.00 an hour.”

Valencia’s email to the city manager.

Documents The Investigator acquired from the City of Anaheim show that Miller worked for Valencia less than a year. A human resources action report notes she was hired on August 16, 2021. And her last day on the job was March 31, 2022, according to the final Form 700 Statement of Economic Interests that she filed.

However, it’s unclear what Miller did for the councilman that warranted her higher pay grade. For example, The Investigator carefully reviewed his calendar during the several months he employed her and though she was sent to a few city meetings, she appears to have spent most of her time doing tasks that lesser-paid council aides do.

But most importantly, Valencia took steps to ensure the public never knew he had hired her. At no time did he ever list Miller’s name on his homepage on the city website. And despite the fact she had an official email address, she was apparently told not to use it to send messages, enabling her to elude detection from public records act requests.

The last Form 700 that Miller filed.

This isn’t the only time Valencia has tried to hide his ties to Serrano and his associates. Last year, The Investigator discovered he gave city-owned Angels baseball tickets to Gerry through his wife Serina. In the original Form 802 he submitted, he tried to use her maiden name to conceal this fact, but was later forced to refile it using her married name.

The councilman’s questionable behavior spurred The Investigator to look much deeper leading us to not only uncover evidence of his longtime friendship with Miller, Conde, and Serrano, but the police union president’s hidden relationships with other powerful Democratic Party politicians, including Fiona Ma, the state treasurer.

Valencia has known Serrano since 2018. Sources have alleged the two used to “hang out” together at the Santa Ana Police Officers Association headquarters quite often. Furthermore, they claim Serrano was a guest at his wedding to Monica Mungia, who is employed as a principal with the Anaheim Elementary School District.

Posted in Anaheim City Council, Anaheim Elementary School District, Angel Stadium, Angels Baseball, Avelino Valencia III, California State Treasurer, City of Anaheim, District 4, Ernesto Amado Conde, Fiona Ma, Form 700, Form 802, Gerry Serrano, James Vanderpool, Monica Munguia, Monica Valencia, Orange County Democratic Party, Political Patronage, Rancho Santiago Community College District, Santa Ana Police Officers Association, Serina Serrano, Tickets, Tina Arias Miller and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
21 Oct 2022

Anaheim Police Aren’t Investigating Candidate’s Bizarre Claims Blogger Made Death Threat, Vandalized Signs

Hari S. Lal, a candidate running for Anaheim City Council in District 6, has alleged that a blogger threatened to kill him.

By DUANE ROBERTS
Editor & Publisher

In a statement sent last month to The Anaheim Investigator by Hari S. Lal, a candidate running for Anaheim City Council in District 6, he alleged that Matt Cunningham, a political consultant who runs the Anaheim Observer, a right-wing news blog, not only made a “direct threat to my life,” but took responsibility for “hundreds” of his campaign signs “being destroyed, stolen, or having swastikas painted on them,” even causing his mailbox to be vandalized. “It is now a matter for the Anaheim Police,” he told us.

However, The Investigator has subsequently learned Lal has never bothered to report any of these purported criminal acts–some of which can be prosecuted as felonies under state law–to the Anaheim Police Department for further investigation. Additionally, the candidate has repeatedly ignored every request we have made asking that he provide us with evidence that some of these crimes actually occurred, such as show us photographs taken of those campaign signs he claimed were defaced by swastikas.

The whole brouhaha between Lal and Cunningham erupted on September 13th when the latter published an article which accurately reported the Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector’s website showed the candidate then-owed $146,337.93 in delinquent property taxes on his Anaheim Hills mansion. In response, Lal threatened to sue the blogger demanding he “immediately withdraw your false and misleading articles regarding myself with respect to the property tax in the amount of $140,000.”

Lal’s mansion in Anaheim Hills.

So far, no lawsuit has been filed. And an updated version of the article is still online. But in the statement Lal sent, he claims Cunningham “doxxed” him in the first one that was posted, revealing “personal details” about his life which “went far beyond” what is considered public record. “This appeared to be a malicious attempt to threaten my family and incite vandalism towards my property,” he told us. “It succeeded: my mailbox was spray painted that night. I hold Mr. Cunningham directly accountable for this.”

Furthermore, Lal also alleged the blogger threatened to kill him, and took credit for trashing his signs: “I was called on my personal cell phone that evening by a blocked number; the caller identified himself as ‘Cunningham, of course!’ He mocked me and–in a reference to hundreds of my campaign signs in Anaheim Hills being destroyed, stolen, or having swastikas painted on them–shouted: ‘We have flattened your signs and we will flatten you!’ This was a direct threat to my life! It is now a matter for the Anaheim Police.”

However, Lal never bothered to report any of these purported criminal acts to the Anaheim Police for further investigation. Sergeant Shane Carringer, public information officer for the department, told The Investigator via email on October 17th they have “confirmed there are no records showing Lal contacted APD.” And the candidate has repeatedly ignored our requests to provide us with evidence some of these crimes actually occurred, such as show us photographs taken of campaign signs defaced by swastikas.

Reacting to Lal’s allegations, Cunningham had this to say: “It is true I unpublished the article as a courtesy to Mr. Lal while I further investigated his claims and explanations, which turned out to be false. I then re-published an expanded version with additional information. The rest of his allegations about me are false–especially his absurd claim that I made a threatening phone call to him. I have never spoken to Hari Lal–I do not even have his cell phone number. All my communication with him was via e-mail.”

There are no records Lal contacted Anaheim Police.

And these aren’t the only bizarre claims Lal has made. In his statement, the candidate says the reason why he didn’t pay $146,337.93 in delinquent property taxes was because he applied for a “reassessment” under Proposition 60–which would enable him to transfer value from a previous home he owned to his current one. “For reasons unknown to me, the application was not granted, and the case was set aside to be adjudicated,” he told us. “This adjudication never occurred, due in part to COVID-19.”

But The Investigator filed a public records act request with the Orange County Assessor Department–the only agency through which Lal could apply for a “reassessment”–asking they release all “emails, letters, faxes, correspondence, petitions, and other documents, legal or otherwise, which deal with, address, and/or pertain to any attempts by Hari S. Lal, through various provisions of Proposition 60 or Proposition 90, to transfer the base year value of his last primary residence to the residence he currently owns.”

In reply, the Orange County Assessor sent a letter back stating the “assessor had no responsive records.” Joanne Kim, a quality assurance manager for the department, told The Investigator via phone and email last month that Lal never applied for any “reassessments” of his Anaheim Hills mansion under provisions of Proposition 60, Proposition 90, or Proposition 19. In fact, Kim said that they have no records the candidate had ever contacted them. “We don’t have anything from him,” she reiterated.

In his statement, Lal also claims that his “case is now pending appeal for a declaratory relief regarding my eligibility for Prop 60/90,” suggesting this issue is perhaps being litigated in court. But for some reason, the candidate–who himself is a lawyer by trade–wouldn’t tell The Investigator what venue he was pursuing this matter in, who the presiding judicial officer is, and when the next hearing date will be. He repeatedly ignored all of our requests to provide us with any information about it.

There are no records Lal contacted the Assessor.

During our month-long inquiry into this affair, The Investigator couldn’t find any proof that would support any of Lal’s claims. The fact the candidate himself was uncooperative and refused to provide us with evidence wasn’t especially helpful. Nevertheless, we did find one thing that he was being quite truthful about: somebody has been taking down his campaign signs in Anaheim Hills. And not only do we know the name of the “culprit,” but we also know the name of their employer.

In one of the public records act requests we filed with the City of Anaheim, a document was released to us by the Planning & Building Department which reported that a part-time clerk was dispatched to remove one of Lal’s campaign signs that had been illegally posted on city property near 8225 E. Santa Ana Canyon Road in Anaheim Hills. They apparently retrieved it sometime before noon on Tuesday, September 27th because by 11:50 a.m. the case file on this matter had been closed.

Below is the statement sent last month to The Anaheim Investigator by Hari S. Lal, a candidate running for Anaheim City Council in District 6.

lal-statement-on-m.cunningham-for-duane-roberts-1Download
Posted in Anaheim City Council, Anaheim Hills, Anaheim Observer, Anaheim Police Department, City of Anaheim, District 6, Election, Hari S. Lal, Joanne Kim, Matthew Cunningham, Orange County Assessor Department, Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector, Planning & Building Department, Political Campaign, Property Tax, Proposition 19, Proposition 60, Proposition 90, Shane Carringer and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
01 Sep 2022
1 Comment

Did City Attorney Advise Councilman to ‘Lie’ About Reasons Why He Gave Tickets to Campaign Backers?

Robert Fabela, City Attorney for the City of Anaheim, speaking at a meeting of the Anaheim City Council earlier this year.

By DUANE ROBERTS
Editor & Publisher

In a highly unusual chain of emails obtained from the City of Anaheim last year through the public records act, City Attorney Robert Fabela appears to have advised Councilman Avelino Valencia III to “lie” to The Anaheim Investigator about the underlying reasons why he handed out several thousand dollars worth of city-owned Angels baseball tickets to his campaign backers–something of which the city attorney has emphatically denied.

The emails in question, which were also shared with City Clerk Theresa Bass and Chief Communications Officer Mike Lyster, offers a rare glimpse into a system that holds nobody accountable for misusing any of the hundreds of tickets the city gets each year from Angel Stadium and Honda Center, allowing politicians like Valencia to give them away like candy to big donors, personal friends, and union leaders who helped get him elected.

Councilman Avelino Valencia.

It was remarks Valencia made at the June 8, 2021 meeting of the Anaheim City Council which set into motion the email exchange which led Fabela to offer advice. During public comments, a resident who read one of our articles blasted him for distributing tickets to “well-connected friends and political backers.” In response, the councilman said he, like others, just gave them to “public members who were doing good work for the community.”

In an attempt to learn more about the “good work” these people did, The Investigator sent Valencia an email on June 17th which listed the names of 22 individuals that public records showed were the recipients of his ticket largess between the months of April and May. “In the interest of full public disclosure, [we’re] requesting information as to the type of ‘volunteer public service’ each of the above persons are engaged in,” we wrote.

Of course, Valencia never replied. And that was not entirely unexpected. The Investigator already knew he gave 28 city-owned Angels baseball tickets worth $5,740 to 13 campaign backers who spent $38,938 on his bid for city council–about 60% of all tickets he handed out during those months. The councilman would have had a difficult time explaining to us what kind of “good work” these people did besides helping him win an election.

It wasn’t until in mid-July The Investigator learned Valencia was concerned about our inquiry into the reasons why he gave out tickets. A chain of emails obtained through the public records act showed that shortly after receiving our June 17th message, the councilman forwarded it to Fabela and Bass, asking them for help. “Please see the below email I received,” he said. “I would appreciate your advise [sic] and direction regarding the request.”

Within a half hour, Fabela issued a reply. The city attorney told Valencia he had “no obligation to respond” to The Investigator because it was “an ask for a verbal response.” Furthermore, he stated “policy” allows the councilman to “provide tickets not only for past service, but also to ‘attract’ service.” And finally, Fabela said if he does choose to respond, that this is “more of a public relations issue,” urging him to contact Lyster “to help him with … strategy.”

Forty minutes later, Bass followed up with an email backing one of Fabela’s points. “For reference, I am attaching a copy of our Ticket Policy — Section 5.0 states the conditions by which tickets may be distributed,” the city clerk told Valencia. “As noted by Rob, the policy allows for ‘attracting or rewarding volunteer public service’ which was noted on your Form 802, meeting the requirements of the policy and FPPC Form 802.”

Fabela’s email to Valencia.

The chain of emails The Investigator discovered–especially the one sent out by Fabela–offers us a behind-the-scenes look into why the ticket system has been constantly plagued with cronyism and corruption. Though part of problem lies with bad policies that have allowed council members to hijack it for political purposes, evidence we have unearthed seems to hint an overly compliant city bureaucracy might also be enabling this unethical behavior.

That Valencia sought advice from Fabela on how to respond to The Investigator’s email is in itself amusing. After all, the councilman had already gone on record at the June 8th meeting as saying he just gave tickets to “public members who were doing good work for the community.” Since all we requested was that he provide us with information as to the type of “good work” they did, why was there a need to consult the city attorney?

But it is what Fabela instructed him to do that is of great significance. Besides the fact he told Valencia that he could ignore The Investigator–and thus stonewall our inquiry–it appears he advised him to “lie” about the reason why he handed out those tickets, reminding the councilman that “policy” also allows him to “provide tickets … to ‘attract’ service”–a flimsy pretext which doesn’t require recipients to do any “volunteer public service.”

To better understand the context of Fabela’s advice, it was given after the councilman had already handed out tickets to 22 individuals–most of them campaign backers–between the months of April and May. And by reminding Valencia that “policy” also allows him to “provide tickets … to ‘attract’ service,” the city attorney hinted a different pretext could be used to justify what he did, thus “lie” about his reasons for distributing them.

What is most revealing about Fabela’s email is he never advised Valencia to truthfully answer The Investigator’s questions. Given that taxpayers own these tickets, one would think the city attorney would zealously guard their interests. Not so. Everything he wrote, whether intentional or not, encouraged the councilman to be deceptive. Even his suggestion Lyster be contacted to formulate a response hinted it be a spun narrative.

The email that Bass sent out, however, was more straightforward. The city clerk was correct when she told Valencia “policy allows for ‘attracting or rewarding volunteer public service’ which was noted on your Form 802, meeting the requirements of the policy and FPPC Form 802.” There is nothing on ticket disclosure forms which require council members to explain why they gave them away. But they do have to identify a “public purpose.”

A Form 802 that Valencia filed in April 2021.

It is not a strange coincidence that on every Form 802 Valencia filed for each big donor, personal friend, and union leader that he gave city-owned Angels baseball tickets to, he listed “attracting or rewarding volunteer public service” as the “public purpose.” That’s because this “public purpose,” as it is currently written, contains a major loophole which enables council members to hand out tickets to anybody on a flimsy pretext.

This loophole was first noticed by Gabriel San Roman, a former investigative journalist for the defunct-OC Weekly. While reviewing more than 1,539 ticket disclosure forms in 2019, he discovered a common pattern among council members who were abusing the system for their own selfish motives: they noted on each Form 802 they filed that they gave away tickets for the “public purpose” of “attracting or rewarding volunteer public service.”

Upon further scrutiny, San Roman learned this “public purpose” allowed council members to disburse tickets for two entirely different reasons: they can give them to “reward” people for “volunteer public service” they have done; or give them to “attract” people to do “volunteer public service” in the future. Since council members aren’t obligated to explain why they gave them away, nobody ever knows which of these two they chose.

The ambiguous nature of this “public purpose” has created a loophole which council members have been all too eager to exploit: if tickets can be given away to “attract” people to do “volunteer public service” in the future, then the recipient doesn’t have to do anything to earn them. Over the years, this flimsy pretext has paved the way for doling them out to practically anybody–big donors, lobbyists, political operatives–you name it.

OC Weekly cover story on August 9, 2019.

For matter of record, The Investigator did reach out to Fabela seeking his comment for this article. We asked the city attorney point blank if in the advice he gave to Valencia that he was “encouraging him to be deceptive—if not ‘lie’ to us—should he have chosen to respond” to our inquiry requesting he provide “additional information about his reasons for handing out tickets to 22 people during the months of April and May 2021”

“The answer to your question is ‘no’ as your inquiry is based on a misreading of both the email and the City ticket policy,” said Fabela. “The question to the Council member incorrectly assumed that past public service is the only criteria allowed under the City’s ticket policy, and my email to the Council member corrects that and reflects what City policy actually states. I do not see how that could be interpreted as encouraging anyone to ‘lie.'”

Regardless of what the city attorney’s intent was, it’s quite evident that Valencia felt empowered by what he said to continue distributing tickets to campaign backers without fear of any repercussions. Though the councilman has been handing more of them out to local residents and non-profit groups, he still doles tickets to cronies who not only have helped get him elected to public office in the past, but will probably do so in the future.

For example, five months after the councilman got advice from Fabela, he gave a pair of city-owned Los Tigres Del Norte concert tickets at the Honda Center to Gloria Alvarado, who is executive director of the Orange County Labor Federation and a vice-chair in the Orange County Democratic Party. So what “public purpose” did Valencia say this was for on his Form 802? You guessed it: “attracting or rewarding volunteer public service.”

Below is the chain of emails set into motion by The Investigator’s inquiry into the recipients of Councilman Avelino Valencia’s tickets on June 17, 2021.

email-chain-roberts-valencia-fabela-bass-06172021001-1Download
Posted in Anaheim, Anaheim City Council, Angel Stadium, Angels Baseball, Avelino Valencia, City Attorney, City Clerk, City of Anaheim, Ernesto Medrano, Form 802, Gabriel San Román, Gloria Alvarado, Honda Center, Matthew Mariscal, Mike Lyster, OC Weekly, Office of the City Attorney, Office of the City Clerk, Orange County Democratic Party, Orange County Labor Federation, Political Patronage, Robert Fabela, The Anaheim Investigator, Theresa Bass, Tickets and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
13 Jun 2022

Six State Legislators Signed Letters Backing Santa Ana Police Union President’s Bid to Increase Pension

Six state legislators signed letters supporting efforts by Gerry Serrano, president of the Santa Ana Police Officers Association, to increase his pension.

By DUANE ROBERTS
Editor & Publisher

Two letters The Anaheim Investigator obtained from the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) through the public records act show that six members of the state legislature not only quietly lent their names in support of a bid by Gerry Serrano, president of the Santa Ana Police Officers Association, to increase his future pension earnings, but circumstantial evidence suggests at least five of them received hefty campaign contributions in return for their efforts.

Though nothing in the letters specifically mentions Serrano by name, they do make reference to a set of facts that are only unique to his case. Furthermore, the police union president himself actually entered them into evidence during a video conference hearing about his pension that was held before Adam L. Berg, an administrative law judge, on November 21, 2021. The sole reason why The Investigator became aware of their existence is because Berg cited them in a ruling released earlier this year,

Both letters, which were typed on official state government stationery, are identically worded. The only exception is they have different letterheads and signatories. The first one, dated May 14, 2021, uses a generic letterhead and is signed by Senator Bob Archuleta, Senator Tom Umberg, Assemblyman Tom Daly, Assemblyman Freddie Rodriquez, and Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk–Silva. But the second one, dated June 3, 2021, is only signed by Senator Josh Newman and uses the letterhead of his office.

In the correspondence, all six state legislators expressed their deep and underlying concerns about a decision that CalPERS made to exclude “special compensation” earned by an “employee / union president” from being “used to determine the employee’s total monthly pension payments upon retirement.” It was their belief, they wrote, that “CalPERS has issued an interpretation of state law” that was “inconsistent with the clear language and legislative intent of the controlling statutes.”

The legislators argued that several government codes, including one passed by the state legislature in 2018, authorizes “public employers to grant a leave of absence and allow representatives of employee organizations to fulfill their union responsibilities without loss of compensation or other benefits.” For CalPERS to deny this “employee / union president” pension credit for the “special compensation” he earned while performing these duties was a direct violation of state law, they claimed.

But in the months that followed, their letters have so far had little, if any impact, on subsequent legal proceedings which dealt with Serrano’s pension. In Berg’s ruling, issued on February 15, 2022, he wrote that both letters “contain the authors’ opinion as to the meaning” of the government code “and what they believe the outcome of the case should be.” From the judge’s perspective, these were “inadmissible opinions as to the ultimate legal question in this case” and “were not considered.”

Excerpt from Berg’s ruling.

During a seven month period between June and December 2021, the Santa Ana Police Officers Association funneled a combined total of $24,100 into the campaign coffers of at least five of the six state legislators who signed the letters. And all of the contributions, interestingly enough, appear to have been curiously timed: they were either made roughly within 30 days of the date the letters had been written; or within 30 days of the hearing that Serrano submitted them as evidence.

For example, one Form 460 the Santa Ana Police Officers Association Independent Expenditure Committee filed with the City of Santa Ana on August 8, 2021 reported that Archuleta, Newman, and Daly each got $4,900 in June 2021. Another form that was filed on January 30, 2022 by the Santa Ana Police Officers Association Political Action Committee disclosed that in December 2021, Archuleta got another $2,000, Umberg about $4,900, and Rodriguez only $2,500.

This pattern of donor behavior is eerily reminiscent of the $15,900 the Santa Ana Police Officers Association gave to Fiona Ma, the state treasurer. In that case, she received the money at the same time her office was working closely with Serrano to draft two new laws that would exclusively benefit him. Likewise, it appears that five of the legislators who got campaign contributions from the police union received the cash within the time frame Serrano first began using their letters.

Regardless, this latest inquiry by The Investigator not only reveals there are no lack of elected officials eager to do special favors for Serrano, but it hints the latter uses the funds of his police union like a personal piggy bank, dispensing them to any politician he thinks will help him with his goal of securing a larger pension. And as we see now, this latest paper trail we’ve been following shows that the state treasurer isn’t the only person in Sacramento who has been implicated in this affair.

Below are the two letters signed by six state legislators that Gerry Serrano entered into evidence at a hearing about his pension on November 21, 2021.

exhibits-m-and-n-from-serrano-oah-hearing_redactedDownload
Posted in 29th State Senate District, 32nd State Senate District, 34th State Senate District, 52nd State Assembly District, 65th State Assembly District, 68th State Assembly District, Adam L. Berg, Bob Archuleta, California Public Employees Retirement System, California State Assembly, California State Legislature, California State Treasurer, CalPERS, Campaign Contributions, City of Santa Ana, Fiona Ma, Form 460, Freddie Rodriguez, Gerry Serrano, Josh Newman, Santa Ana, Santa Ana Police Officers Association, Santa Ana Police Officers Association Independent Expenditure Committee, Santa Ana Police Officers Association Political Action Committee, Sharon Quirk-Silva, State Treasurer's Office, Tom Daly, Tom Umberg and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
23 May 2022
1 Comment

Sidhu Registered Helicopter at Arizona Home of Businessman Who Owned The Catch Restaurant

Mayor Harry Sidhu with his son tossing out Easter eggs from his helicopter at Ronald Reagan Park in Anaheim Hills in April 2022.

By DUANE ROBERTS
Editor & Publisher

Public records that The Anaheim Investigator has carefully reviewed–including a recent petition filed in federal bankruptcy court–show Mayor Harry Sidhu registered his helicopter at the Arizona home of Joseph Manzella, a prominent businessman who previously owned The Catch, a restaurant which at one time was a favorite watering hole and dining spot for members of Anaheim’s resort elite.

The Federal Aviation Administration Civil Aviation Registry shows Sidhu listed “8024 E. Lone Mountain Rd” in Scottsdale, Arizona as the address for the certificate they issued for his helicopter in 2020. But according to the Maricopa County Assessor’s Office, that property is owned by the Don and Ana Cardamon Family Revocable Trust, of whom The Investigator believes are the parents of Manzella’s wife, Michelle Cardamon Manzella.

In August 2019, Joseph Manzella filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register the mark “Olive Pit Grill,” an effort that was later abandoned because of strong opposition from a similarly-branded restaurant located in Boca Rotan, Florida. However, in the original paperwork Manzella submitted to the federal government in this case, he reported that “8024 E. Lone Mountain Rd” was his address.

From the database of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Earlier this year, on March 26, 2022, Manzella filed a petition seeking relief under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Arizona District in Phoenix where he declared under penalty of perjury that his address was, once again, “8024 E. Lone Mountain Rd,” even checkmarking a box which stated: “Over the last 180 days before filing this petition, I lived in this district longer than any other district.”

Though The Catch permanently closed its doors in October 2021, ostensibly due to financial problems associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, Manzella is linked to a holding company called Tableside Partners Inc., which still owns and operates several restaurants and brew pubs here in Orange County, including the TAPS Fish House and Brewery in Brea and TAPS Brewery and Barrel Room in Tustin.

Sidhu used The Catch for a major fundraiser in 2017.

Ever since the State Attorney General’s Office filed documents containing an affidavit from the Federal Bureau of Investigation alleging that the mayor committed tax fraud by registering his helicopter at an Arizona address, much media attention has been focused on that angle. But so far, aside from one clever person on Twitter, nobody has really bothered to investigate the reason why that address was chosen.

There is no evidence that Manzella, his wife, nor any of his relatives are complicit in any wrongdoing with respect to this matter, both criminal or otherwise. If anything, this is a story about how relationships between politicians and their friends, which were once kept hidden from public view, have suddenly become laid bare for all to see by the corruption scandal that has engulfed Anaheim.

[UPDATE: Harry Sidhu has stepped down as Anaheim mayor. His resignation will be effective on Tuesday, May 24, 2022.]

Posted in Arizona, Briana Walker, Chapter 11, City of Anaheim, City of Boca Rotan, City of Phoenix, City of Scottsdale, COVID-19, Don and Ana Cardamon Family Revocable Trust, Federal Aviation Administration Civil Aviation Registry, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Florida, Harry Sidhu, Helicopter, Joseph Manzella, Maricopa County Assessor's Office, Michelle Cardamon Manzella, N277MC, Orange County, State Attorney General's Office, Tableside Partners Inc., TAPS Brewery and Barrel Room, TAPS Fish House and Brewery, The Catch, Twitter, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Arizona District, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
20 May 2022

Democratic Mayoral Candidate Says Campaign Ended Ties With Consultant Under FBI Scrutiny for Alleged Bribes

Ashleigh Aitken (left), Democratic candidate for Anaheim mayor, with Melahat Rafiei (right), owner of Progressive Solutions Consulting, in 2019.

By DUANE ROBERTS
Editor & Publisher

The Anaheim Investigator has discovered that a Form 460 filed by the “Aitken for Mayor 2022” campaign committee reported they made a $10,000 payment to Progressive Solutions Consulting, a firm owned by Melahat Rafiei, a Democratic Party operative who is at the center of a corruption scandal involving cannabis businesses and the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce.

The document in question, which was submitted to the City of Anaheim on January 31, 2022, lists on page 77 that Progressive Solutions Consulting received the cash sometime between July and December of last year. The code used to identify the purpose of the payment is “CNS,” meaning Rafiei was consulting Ashleigh Aitken on her bid to become Anaheim’s next mayor.

In response to several questions The Investigator posed to Aitken about her relationship with Rafiei, the mayoral candidate acknowledged her “campaign contracted with Progressive Solutions Consulting at the end of 2021,” but said “we terminated our relationship with the company in February when Melahat Rafiei informed us that she was the subject of an investigation.”

On Thursday, Rafiei admitted to the Voice of OC she was “CW1,” a cooperating witness mentioned in an affidavit the Federal Bureau of Investigation filed in federal court to support criminal charges against Todd Ament, former president and CEO of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce. However, she has denied allegations she tried to bribe public officials in the City of Irvine.

Besides being a political consultant, Rafiei also happens to be the co-founder of WeCann, a company based near downtown Santa Ana that boasts itself as a “one-stop shop for cannabis entrepreneurs,” helping them with a wide array of issues ranging from “real estate acquisition and disposition, licensing fulfillment, business and investment consulting, and public advocacy.”

Furthermore, Rafiei, who is a resident of Anaheim Hills, not only is a member of the Cultural and Heritage Commission of the City of Anaheim, but was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom in September 2021 to serve on the Board of Directors of the Orange County Fair Board in Costa Mesa, a deliberative body of which Aitken has also been a part of since 2012.

Posted in Aitken for Mayor 2022, Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, Anaheim Hills, Ashleigh Aitken, Bribery, California Democratic Party, Cannabis Businesses, Cannabis Consultants, Cannabis Legalization, City of Anaheim, City of Costa Mesa, City of Irvine, City of Santa Ana, Cultural and Heritage Commission, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Form 460, Gavin Newsom, Melahat Rafiei, Orange County Democratic Party, Orange County Fair Board, Progressive Solutions Consulting, Todd Ament, Voice of OC, WeCann and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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