UPDATE: SEARCHABLE PDF OF THE REPORT
Vern here. I guess we’ve been needing this this week. We just haven’t had a chance to write anything brilliant about the Anaheim-commissioned corruption report by the JL Group yet.
You can see the 353-page report HERE. When I make a reference to the page number, it’s the page number JL listed at the bottom of the page; not what shows up as the PDF page, which is one page higher because of the cover page.
First thing we noticed is it was not as redacted as we’d feared. Names are named. Funny, all the redactions seem to be when assistant city attorney Pelletier e-mails someone something. Funny because it seemed like she took point in the redactions, to be made by her friend “SCOTT.” But 99% seems to be here.
Second thing we noticed was how frustrated JL was at getting NO COOPERATION from:
- Disney and their government flack Carrie Nocella
- Anybody from the Angels Baseball
- The Chamber of Commerce – and this was under new chief Laura Cunningham
- and Visit Anaheim under Jay Burress.
And they couldn’t do anything about it because they had no subpoena power. Which is why they were REALLY HOPING to get a little help from DA Todd Spitzer. Crickets there so far.
WE NEED YOU, ATTORNEY GENERAL BONTA! We need you to take this report and run with it.
I gotta run right now, but I’ll add a little more when I get back. And meanwhile THIS IS YOUR JL CORRUPTION REPORT THREAD.
************
I’m still around page 100. But the VOC gang has been putting out a lot of good stories on different aspects of this:
- Norberto on the report in general
- Their first report: Hosam gets comments from usual suspects
- Spencer on Anaheim First
- Brandon on the uselessness and inaction of Spitzer
- Noah on obstruction esp. from Natalie R
- Noah on Anaheim’s lousy job at keeping public records / accountability
- Hosam on the silence and inaction of Anaheim Council so far
I knew I disliked Natalie Rubalcava for a reason. Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong features prominently in the corruption report as a major spoke in the kleptocracy wheel. As soon as I saw her spitting venom like a cobra from the dais in her attempt to kill this report I knew she was petrified of what would or could be said about her and I was right. If she won’t resign I’d gladly help to recall her from office and make sure she never runs for anything ever again.
Can we officially title JL’s final report as: The Anaheim Endemic and Systemic Corruption Report, 2023 Edition
The word from reliable sources is that the number one reason the kleptocracy pushed for Natalie R to get on council was to kill the report. This comes (second hand) from Lucy Dunn, who ran the OC Business Council for decades, with NR as COO. Can’t say that NR didn’t do her best to kill the report, but it couldn’t quite be done.
That was doubtless also the mission of Pringle’s most dependable disciple Natalie Meeks. Maybe credit should be given to the rest of the council for resisting the two Natalie’s constant attacks on JL.
Another rumor is that the Chamber’s Laura Cunningham and Visit Anaheim’s Jay Burress are being let go in the wake of the report. Window-dressing, they only did what they were supposed to do.
My usual pajarita hasn’t heard those rumors, but observes that, “Both entities are unusually quiet right now, which could mean they are talking to lawyers.”
Republicans feel so at home in Anaheim, they are throwing a party there soon. Rather ironic that DeSantis is going to rally in the town that Disney helped build and still seeks to control.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-08-01/trump-california-republican-party-desantis
Related, Pringle cringes at allegations of improper lobbying activities.
https://www.ocregister.com/2023/08/02/former-anaheim-mayor-curt-pringle-denies-running-afoul-of-city-lobbying-law/amp/
I wonder what Kirk Cartozian or Perry Minasian have to say about the report.
In the above-linked Saavedra piece, Pringle pulls out a line I’m sure we’ll hear more of in the coming weeks: The folks who talked to JL were not under oath or subpoena and had financial and political motivation to make shit up!
I DID have a feeling Pringle wasn’t reporting all his lobbying. A couple weeks ago I helped some neighbors and friends fight a charter school at Rio Vista & Wagner, at the Planning Commission. First thing I thought was I bet Pringle’s lobbying for this, as he’s been neck-deep in any and all charter schools for several years. But I looked in the lobbyist registry and saw nothing about Pringle lobbying for Red Hook Capital or “Scholarship Prep.”
And it wasn’t so much about it being a CHARTER SCHOOL per se, it was about a bad location in a neighborhood with all the expected traffic and crowds. But I did have to mention one thing in my speech – the fact that this particular charter school, rather than go through the usual process of applying with the local school district like responsible and necessary charters do, bypassed AESD and went directly to the OC Board of Education where they can be counted on to approve ANY charter school. And my point was, this was a sign that this company should not be trusted to keep other promises to the neighborhood.
Commissioner Luis Andres Perez (who actually was one of the two “NO” votes) scolded those of us who brought up “charter schools”, emphasizing that this hearing had nothing to do with education policy but just zoning and safety etc.
LUCILLE KRING, who is now LEADING the Planning Commission, must notta gotten Luis’ memo. Along with klepto MIchelle Liberman and poodle-brained Anaheim-Firster Amelia Castro, they all raved about how much they LOVE CHARTER SCHOOLS as five of them voted aye just as though it were instructed and pre-ordained.
I have a feeling Pringle DID lobby for that.
“And it wasn’t so much about it being a CHARTER SCHOOL per se, it was about a bad location in a neighborhood with all the expected traffic and crowds.”
Ha ha ha ….
What a load … it’s ALWAYS about “charter schools.” Charters serve primary minorities and do a darn good job of it.
Thanks for confirming – it was the profits behind the charter school movement (probably communicated by Pringle) that motivated a majority of the Anaheim Planning Commission to thoughtlessly approve a project that is bad for the neighborhood and that particular location.
Speaking of Planning Commission Chairwoman Kring, I’m hearing she’s gonna be running for Council again believe it or not. Redistricting has put her into District 2. That would mean she would be running against Carlos Leon… in 2026! Will she be 90 yet? Can you believe this?
ALSO re. Kring, I had noticed in the FBI’s Ament/Melahat affidavit that Melahat had paid off Lucille’s campaign debt as part of the cannabis bribe. (“I even paid off [former elected official’s] campaign debt!” (along with a bribe to Sidhu.)) Couldn’t be anyone else. And sure enough Kring and Brandman were the most passionate and outspoken in favor of the 2020 cannabis ordinance if you’ll recall. JL has a passage about Kring’s husband Ron being a lover of cannabis. I don’t think anyone’s mentioned all this yet, but it’ll be good info if Lucille DOES run again!
Oh, just found out that shitty charter school project is being appealed to council. Mid-September hearing I believe. I wonder if Pringle will manage to keep his nose out of it?
I wonder whether Kring, who has supposedly received money from the church behind the group, will recuse herself from the vote. (And I wonder if she’ll end up in some new report if she doesn’t.)
Ashleigh ought to have a talk with her Planning Commission appointee about charter schools.
The vote with Kring already happened. What’s this about a church being behind Scholarship Prep and giving money to her?
I thought that it was going back to the same board on appeal, no?
You were at the same meeting where I heard this!
No it gets appealed to the Council. I went through this whole ordeal with Sunkist Plaza two years ago.
Forgot to add that Kring can run for Council well after age 90 because she’s extremely well pickled….
Can you post the article past the paywall please.
No time! Too busy! Too many stories!
This is the ghetto method but you gotta have REALLY QUICK FINGERS:
In the second between clicking the link or better yet refreshing it – the second it takes for the paywall to pop up – you gotta quickly select all and copy – if you don’t know your windows codes that’s CTL A and CTL C. Just hold the CLT and hit A and then C.
Then copy it onto a document. (CTL V.) There’ll be lots of extra bullshit there like lists of other stories, but what you wanna read will be buried in there, and sometimes even the photos.
There. I have done my good deed. Going back to my Laguna Hills story…
What I found frustrating about the JL report is that it has 20+ pages of criminal charges identified but doesn’t name the names they are associating with those crimes.
Relax. I think that making specific accusations of criminal culpability may have been assigned responsibility. That’s a job for a prosecutor or a Grand Jury — and what they’ve done will make it easier for a Grand Jury to connect those dots.
Nothing burger – those entities are not required to submit to your desired fishing expeditions.
It’s obviously been more than just a fishing expedition — I’ll be posting the lists of possible pertinent crimes soon (did you review those?) — but we’ll see whether it catches the interest of anyone with prosecutorial powers. That would overcome your objection, Tardif.
Ah, Mike will think what he wants. Facts don’t matter.
Fear and Loathing in Anaheim.
When the going gets weird, the weird get going.
So happy that Cunningham, after the JL Report release, the rumored firing of his wife, the Jordan Brandman revelations, and the failure of Disney on appeal to avoid Measure L, has finally found something important to write about – a brawl between progressive police-critic SA councilman Johnathan Hernandez and minority ex-friends over small amounts of money!
https://ocindependent.com/2023/08/santa-ana-councilman-johnathan-hernandez-assaulted-by-disgruntled-former-aide/
Umm I don’t see how a council aide could be an independent contractor but if Carter was an independent contractor aide then I do not believe he would be required to file a form 700.
Vern, do we know whether Arianna Barrios (that’s who it was, right?) was an independent contractor for Kris Murray when aiding Murray with PR on Council?
Eric, if someone had a company that was providing the service and paying for a person’s (like the principal) work themselves, would that exempt the person (as a separate legal entity) from the Form 700 reporting?
Zenger might know too. I hereby rattle his cage!
I can answer that for you. Yes, Arrianna Barrios was under contract with Murray to perform services as her aide. Others from Communication Lab have also served in that capacity for other officials in Anaheim. When I requested Arrianna’s invoices that billed for her time with Murray they were all identical, with very vague descriptions of what work was performed. I do believe she filed 700 forms though, as that’s how I recall we knew she had done work for Disney, and another employee in her firm serving as Advisor/Aide to another council member had a wife who worked for Disney.
I can confirm that when I served as Policy Advisor to Denise Barnes I worked as an Independent Contractor under the City Manager’s office, rather than being hired as staff on the clock. Being a contractor let me be available when the Councilmember needed me, while maximizing my effectiveness. I filed a 700 form with the City of Anaheim, as well as certified copies showing I attended State mandated training for “public officials” including Sexual Harassment policy and Ethics Training. Thankfully I already do all of the above as a public official with the OC Cemetery District, so I was able to duplicate my paperwork. But yes, contractors must file 700 forms.
In fact….most consultants and independent contractors have a line item in their contracts (as mine did) which states they shall disclose potential conflicts in the broadest category (Category 1) according to the City’s Conflict of Interest policy. See link here;
https://www.anaheim.net/DocumentCenter/View/4254/City-Disclosure-Categories?bidId=
Yet we have seen many, many cases of contractors NOT filing their 700 forms. When the Chamber was handling the Enterprise Zone I asked for their 700s, and some (like Ament) only filed it AFTER my request was made and the City called him on it. Consultants for Angels negotiations skipped filing too. Hope that clears up the issue.
What, I move a few thousand miles and I don’t get an invite?
Lame.
The Voice has printed their EIGHTH story based on the JL Report. This one, by Brandon, is entitled “How Disneyland Resort Interests Planned to Withhold Money… from Anaheim’s Working Class” so I first thought it was gonna be another, better one on Disney’s failure on appeal to avoid Measure L’s Living Wage.
But no – it is ANOTHER case of Disney trying to keep money from going to the working class, related to the expected “LMPR” tax windfall coming up in a few years; the late 2020 “retreat” that the FBI focused on; Sidhu’s 2021 bond speech that Nocella helped write; and Ament’s cherished 30-30-30-10 formula for divvying up future revenue (which was very obfuscated by the various folks who purported to “explain” it to JL.)
Worth a careful read. And remember Disney hates the working class:
https://voiceofoc.org/2023/08/how-disneyland-resort-interests-planned-to-withhold-tax-money-from-anaheims-working-class/
I don’t know if they hate the “working class” but they sure don’t want to leave any meat on the carcass.
There is so much good stuff in this (admittedly sloppy) report that is worth following up on, some of which I will, and I’m only halfway through reading it. (It’s me and Donna’s bedtime reading lately.) Countless priceless little details that I have to mention somewhere. (Another frustrating thing is how they jump back and forth between decades without any warning like some Tarantino movie.)
My favorite part so far is the tale of Isa Bahu’s ARCO station. EVERYBODY makes a cameo! I will definitely tell that story in a better way soon. But also, I hope Isa comes back and finally GETS his station back – everybody honest admits that will be VERY GOOD for everyone in that neighborhood! (Imperial/La Palma)
The writing is pretty damn iffy. Sometimes paragraphs pop up seemingly out of context. I decided to let wiser minds penetrate the mysteries therein.
Just in from Mayor Ashleigh:
ANAHEIM MAYOR ASHLEIGH AITKEN ADDS REFORM ITEMS TO CITY COUNCIL AGENDA
Anaheim, CA – Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken has instructed city staff to place a number of items on the City Council meeting agenda for Tuesday, August 15.
Aitken released the following statement in addition to the following summaries of the agenda items:
“The release of last week’s independent report confirmed the wrongdoing that many suspected was going on for years. It showed rampant corruption in the former mayor’s office, and it appears to have been carried out in collusion with groups that are supposed to be our city’s community partners. Restoring transparency and public confidence will take time, and reforms will likely come in stages. I have instructed staff to place these items on the agenda for our next council meeting because they represent actions we can immediately take as we work to rebuild trust.”
Agenda items for August 15:
-Discussion of a city hall worker protection ordinance with the goal being to implement whistleblower and other protections for everyone who works in city government.
-Discussion of a stronger lobbying ordinance with the goal being to more clearly define what a lobbyist is in the City of Anaheim and ensure the public can easily access information on who is lobbying the city.
-Discussion about conducting an internal audit into the $6.5 million given to Visit Anaheim and if that money can be repaid into the general fund.
-Discussion on how the city can best cooperate with state and federal partners in any external audits.
-Discussion on making the city calendars for councilmembers, the city manager, and the assistant city manager more public.
-Discussion on the public reporting of all lobbyist meetings with city staff and city councilmembers.
-Discussion about updating policies in the city manager’s office to include changing the signing authority from $250,000 to $100,000, noticing the city council of all signed contracts, and posting contracts on the city’s website.
Discussions are not reforms. And ad hoc committees are where items are sent to die.
These are good but very modest ideas, and I have some sarcastic things to say about some of them. We need much more.
But I don’t have a problem with the word “discussion.” Of course any ordinances or reforms will begin with public council “discussions.”
I have a huge problem with the word discussion. It’s a weasel word.
If she has an idea (she probably doesn’t – hence the weasel) she should make a concrete proposal and try to sell it. Collecting ideas on the dais is either dumb or intended to accomplish nada.
100% correct.
Just a reminder of what things looked like half a year ago:
http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2023/02/wrap-that-investigation-up-barks-panicked-new-anaheim-council/