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.