Anaheim City Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava is no longer the district director for State Assemblyman Avelino Valencia (D-Anaheim).
“I’ve made this change to spend even more time working for the residents of Anaheim’s District 3 and to finish the work they elected me to do,” she said in an emailed statement from Anaheim spokesman Mike Lyster Thursday night – hours after the Voice of OC reached out to her for comment.
Rubalcava said she is also “stepping back to fight an unwarranted, unnecessary and misguided recall attempt.”
She did not say when she vacated the role.
Valencia – a former Anaheim city councilman who was in office when the corruption scandal broke – did not respond to a voicemail and text message request for comment Thursday.
Staffers at his district office and state office refused to confirm Rubalcava’s departure from the role Thursday. Erinn Ryberg, Valencia’s chief of staff, did not respond to emailed questions Thursday.
Rubalcava was previously the chief operating officer for the Orange County Business Council prior to being elected to office. It’s unclear if she quit or was fired from that position and both the council and Rubalcava have not publicly spoken about it.
Efforts to recall Rubalcava kicked off in August weeks after a damning 353-page corruption investigation report in which independent investigators – with over three decades of law enforcement experience – alleged misconduct by the councilwoman.
[Read: Efforts to Start a Recall of Anaheim City Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava Are Underway]
Investigators allege in the report that a chamber of commerce-created resident advisory group, Anaheim First, is a political data mining operation they say helped get Rubalcava elected by giving her a list of names and contact information taken down when the group was conducting its community outreach meetings.
[Read: Was an Anaheim City Hall-Funded Nonprofit Used as a Political Data Mining Operation?]
They also say Rubalcava violated the city charter by allegedly giving operational direction to city staff instead of the city manager.
Rubalcava publicly pushed back on those findings earlier this year and called on residents to resist rushed reactions to the findings of the report.
The councilwoman was elected to office in November 2022 with the Support Our Anaheim Resort political action committee – Disney’s political arm – spending over $380,000 on her campaign through independent expenditures paying for things like mailers and digital ads.
Valencia successfully called for a state audit that is currently underway of a $6.5 million bailout sent to Visit Anaheim – the city’s tourism bureau.
The bailout was given shortly after the pandemic kicked off in March 2020, when the resort would be closed for another year. The spending was later backfilled by federal COVID dollars.
Investigators allege $1.5 million of that money was rerouted to an Anaheim Chamber of Commerce-controlled nonprofit.
[Read: Anaheim’s Own Look at City Hall Finds Disneyland Resort Businesses Improperly Steer Policymaking]
In the past, Valencia has told the Voice of OC that anyone found guilty of wrongdoing amid the fallout of the corruption scandal should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
He has never answered Voice of OC questions about the allegations against Rubalcava mentioned in the city investigative report.
Meanwhile, Rubalcava said Thursday that she looks forward to serving residents for years to come.
“In the months ahead,” reads her statement. “I’ll continue working with my neighbors on the issues that matter to them.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.