Anaheim residents might get a rare chance to see their city council members publicly discuss loose oversight and improper spending between the chamber of commerce, the tourism agency and City Hall
City officials are expected at their Tuesday meeting to file their response to a recent California State Auditor’s report alleging city officials did not oversee the spending of public tourism dollars by the local tourism bureau – Visit Anaheim – for years.
But that discussion is slated on the meeting agenda’s consent calendar – items lumped together and typically voted on by city council members in one motion without debate.
Unless an item is pulled by a council member.
To watch Anaheim’s Tuesday 5pm City Council meeting, click here.
The state auditor’s report is the latest probe in Anaheim since 2022 examining public corruption allegations in OC’s largest city following sworn FBI affidavits and a 353-page independent investigation report that allege Disneyland resort interests exert undue influence on city hall.
In the report, auditors accused the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce of improperly spending tourism dollars given to them through Visit Anaheim to lobby nearly a dozen unnamed elected officials, advocate for or against legislation and support candidates through their political action committee.
[Read: Is it Legal to Spend Tourism Dollars to Lobby Elected Officials?]
Auditors say this took place for roughly a decade because city officials did not oversee their contracts with Visit Anaheim.
“Because the city did not have a meaningful process for contract monitoring, Visit Anaheim was able to pay the Chamber for unallowable services that involved political advocacy and influence,” reads the report.
In response, city leaders say they will follow recommendations by the state auditors, including creating an independent advisory board to oversee public tourism dollar spending, create a contract oversight procedure and renegotiate their contract with Visit Anaheim by Jan. 2025.
Auditors also want city leaders to revisit two contracts – amounting to nearly $1 million – that were given to the Chamber of Commerce under former Mayor Harry Sidhu’s council majority in 2019 and 2020.
The first contract was worth $425,000 and was given out to the chamber at Sidhu’s request in 2019 to promote the city and bring in new business.
It came after the chamber heavily funded Sidhu’s 2018 mayoral campaign
[Read: Anaheim Chamber of Commerce Gets $425,000 Contract From City at Request of Mayor Sidhu]
The second contract was given out in 2020 and worth $500,000 funded by COVID federal bailout dollars to promote local shopping.
Sidhu – a prominent figure in the corruption scandal – pleaded guilty last year to obstruction of justice for lying to federal investigators about trying to ram through the Angel Stadium land sale for $1 million in campaign support from team officials.
The Chamber of Commerce supported the stadium sale.
City Manager Jim Vanderpool wrote to the state auditor in response to the report that city officials are reviewing the findings, but plan to make the recommended changes.
“The City of Anaheim has no objection to and welcomes the recommendations put forward by the State Auditor,” he wrote. “The City is now preparing an action plan to implement the four recommendations well within the timeframes identified.”
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.
