Evidence Suggests Mayor Aitken Has Been a Longtime Friend of Angels Baseball Senior Vice President

Ashleigh Aitken (c) and Molly Jolly (r) at an event celebrating the opening of a Girl Scouts facility in Newport Beach in 2017.

By DUANE J. ROBERTS
Editor & Publisher

Evidence uncovered by The Anaheim Investigator strongly suggests Mayor Ashleigh Aitken has been a longtime friend of Molly Jolly, senior vice president of Finance/Administration for Angels Baseball, a relationship which appears to have been formed through their past involvement in the Girl Scouts of Orange County, a well-known non-profit organization that both women have championed.

Not only does The Investigator have photographs of Aitken and Jolly mingling at a gathering of wealthy donors celebrating the opening of a Girl Scouts facility in Newport Beach, but has proof that they served on at least one committee together. Furthermore, Form 990s filed with the Internal Revenue Service show Jolly sat on the board of directors of that non-profit for at least eight years.

Our inquiry into this matter started when we reported the mayor and five other council members attended a luncheon at Angel Stadium on June 6th hosted by the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce. Of the more than 200 photos taken of this event, at least a dozen show Aitken and Jolly seated together. In one shot, both women can be seen with Laura Cunningham, president and CEO of the Anaheim Chamber.

Jolly, Cunningham, and Aitken at the June 6th luncheon.

Though it is unclear as to when the friendship between Aitken and Jolly first began, newspaper articles, annual reports, photos, and other materials reviewed by The Investigator hint both women started crossing each other’s paths roughly a decade ago when the future mayor began participating in “Celebrate Leadership” fundraisers for the Girl Scouts of Orange County, usually held at the Fashion Island Hotel in Newport Beach.

In 2013, Kelley Bennett, a high society columnist for the Mission Viejo News, reported that Aitken herself was one of six honored at that year’s fundraiser. “We are proud to recognize these exceptional women,” she quoted Nancy Nygren as saying, who was then-CEO of the non-profit. “They are each leaders in their respective fields and truly serve as role models for tomorrow’s female leaders.”

Within a year, Aitken and Jolly took on greater roles within the organization. For example, a Form 990 shows that while the latter was elected to the board of directors in 2014, the former eventually joined a committee tasked with organizing their annual “Celebrate Leadership” fundraisers. By 2016, Aitken was co-chair, and in one instance served alongside Jolly and others to plan the one for 2017.

Names highlighted from a Girl Scouts calendar printed in 2015.

Over the past decade, Aitken and her family have contributed thousands of dollars to the Girl Scouts of Orange County. Photos taken of a 2017 event celebrating the opening of the Argyros Girl Scout Leadership Center on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach not only show her with Jolly, but Bette Aitken, her mother, standing in front of a sign which listed them as giving “$100,000 – $249,999” to help pay for it.

In 2019, Jolly became chair of the board of directors, increasing her visibility. But Aitken, for whatever reason, dropped out of sight. However, she continued to support the organization financially. According to an annual report published that same year, both Ashleigh and Bette donated between “$25,000-$49,999” to the non-profit–just as much as the Disneyland Resort and Angels Baseball Foundation did.

Jolly isn’t the only Angels Baseball executive Aitken has had dealings with before becoming mayor. A Form 990 filed in 2020 by Alzheimer’s Orange County shows she sat on the board of that non-profit the same time Dennis Kuhl, chair of that sports team, was a director. The Investigator also has evidence Kuhl has ties to another member of her family, something that will be disclosed in a future story.

Jolly in 2019.

For matter of record, The Investigator reached out to Aitken via email at least three times posing questions about the extent of her relationship with Jolly and whether ties to the executive would affect her ability to be fair and impartial in any future negotiations the city might have with the Angels Baseball team. But so far, the mayor has failed to respond to our requests for comment.

[Update: An earlier version of this post stated Molly Jolly became chair of the board of directors of the Girl Scouts of Orange County in 2018. That is incorrect. She was elected in 2019.]