Disney resort-backed Anaheim City Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava could soon face a recall election in the fallout of a corruption probe that’s touched the same resort interests that supported her campaign.
Late Wednesday afternoon, proponents of the recall sponsored by Unite Here Local 11, a labor union representing hotel workers, said they submitted over 9,000 signatures on a petition to recall the councilwoman from office.
That’s nearly twice the amount of signatures needed to force a recall election.
It also comes a little more than a year after Rubalcava was elected.
In a news release Wednesday evening, Unite Here Local 11 officials said Rubalcava could no longer credibly represent the 3rd district after city-hired investigators detailed alleged misconduct by the councilwoman in a 353-page corruption probe report.
“Our members are fighting to clean up Anaheim’s politics, and councilmember Rubalcava is connected to a corrupt cabal and has been criticized by the City’s corruption investigators. The recall process exists to remedy this exact kind of situation,” said Kurt Petersen, co-president of the union.
Rubalcava did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday, but previously said it was politically motivated.
“This recall is being put forward by an organization that spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to defeat me in 2022. I think the voters of Anaheim’s 3rd city council district are going to see this recall for what it is and reject it,” Rubalcava wrote in a text message in August.
City Clerk Theresa Bass said in an email Thursday that the proponents submitted 9,123 signatures on Jan. 17.
“I am currently conducting the prima facie review; upon completion and if found sufficient, the petitions will be sent to ROV for signature verification,” she wrote.
If Bass finds there’s enough signatures and Orange County Registrar of Voters verifies the signatures and the city clerk certifies the petition, then the city council will have to pick when the recall election is held.
Efforts to recall Rubalcava kicked off last August after allegations that the councilwoman got political data to help her campaign from an Anaheim Chamber of Commerce-created community group – an accusation she publicly denied.
[Read: Efforts to Start a Recall of Anaheim City Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava Are Underway]
City officials at the time said proponents needed to get over 5,100 signatures in four months to spark a recall election.
There are roughly 26,000 registered voters in her district, according to the OC Registrar of Voters.
Rubalcava was elected in 2022 to represent the city’s District 3 with 5,437 votes.
Resort Interests Spend Big on Rubalcava
The recall effort comes as many residents have been increasingly critical of Disneyland resort interests and the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce – groups that federal agents and independent investigators say essentially steer policy making at city hall.
Those same interests also heavily finance the campaigns of their preferred city council candidates every election, including Rubalcava.
In 2022, Rubalcava got over $380,000 in support from Disneyland’s political spending vehicle – Support Our Anaheim Resort political action committee.
The PAC paid for various things like political mailers and digital advertising.
She also received support from the Anaheim Police Association and Anaheim Firefighter Association, which spent tens of thousands of dollars in support of her campaign.
Now a political action committee called Anaheim First Responders Opposed to the Misleading Recall of Natalie Rubalcava are launching efforts to counter the recall efforts.
Less Than A Year in Office, Rubalcava Ends Up in a Corruption Investigation
Within months of being elected to office, Rubalcava’s name landed in a 353-page corruption probe report released at the end of July. It was conducted by investigators hired by the city with decades of law enforcement experience.
In their report, City-hired investigators allege Anaheim First – a chamber of commerce-created resident advisory group that got taxpayer funding – is a political data mining operation that helped Rubalcava’s campaign.
Investigators said Anaheim First gave Rubalcava 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 alleged Rubalcava violated the city charter by allegedly giving operational direction to city staff instead of the city manager.
“We have a big problem with corruption in Anaheim. We need a leader who will be transparent, honest, and help clean up our politics. If Anaheim’s independent investigators say that Councilmember Rubalcava was less than candid or violated the charter, then she should resign,” resort worker Damian Valdovinos said in the Wednesday news release.
The councilwoman pushed back against the allegations in August at a public meeting, saying there were inaccuracies in the report and said there were other issues in the city like homelessness and public safety that residents care about.
She, along with Mayor Ashleigh Aitken, later called for a host of reform proposals to be discussed by the city council in the Fall of 2023.
The contents of the report caught the attention of elected officials across Orange County.
After the report dropped, State Assemblyman Avelino Valencia – a former city councilman – called on the state to launch an audit of the $6.5 million COVID bailout sent to Visit Anaheim – the city’s tourism bureau.
Investigators alleged about $1.5 million of the money was rerouted to a chamber of commerce controlled nonprofit as part of a conspiracy.
The audit is expected to drop next month.
[Read: What Have State Auditors Found in Anaheim’s COVID Bailout Spending?]
Rubalcava served as Valencia’s district director before quietly leaving the position late last year.
She told Voice of OC she was stepping back to fight the recall effort.
The recall efforts against Rubalcava also kicked off after the councilwoman, along with hoteliers and resort interests, criticized a Unite Here Local 11 ballot measure aimed at increasing safety protections and raising the minimum wage for hotel workers to $25 an hour.
Rubalcava instead successfully proposed an ordinance that only focuses on hotel housekeepers protections and not greater pay for workers that went into effect this year.
The Unite Here measure overwhelmingly lost in a special election in October.
This story has been updated to give more details on how the recall verification and certification process works and to include a quote from the Anaheim City Clerk.
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.
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