Anaheim’s Chamber of Commerce is once again searching for a new chief executive after Laura Cunningham quietly departed earlier this year, marking another departure from the c-suite that multiple investigations found held outsized control over city hall for years.
Those investigations were just part of a series of reviews in Anaheim after the FBI filed court documents revealing an investigation of the proposed sale of Angel Stadium in 2022, saying they found city leaders inappropriately worked with the Chamber to shape city policy in favor of businesses.
It’s a move that ultimately pushed city officials to cancel the sale.
Former Chamber CEO Todd Ament and former Mayor Harry Sidhu have both pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from the corruption investigation. No one else has been charged.
Investigations by both the state auditor and independent investigators hired by the city found that Visit Anaheim, the city’s tourism bureau, improperly sent $1.5 million of COVID-19 relief funds from the city to the Chamber of Commerce without explaining what it was used for.
[Read: CA Auditors Lambast Anaheim’s Tourism Bureau, Find Improper Tax Dollar Spending]
While Cunningham took over for Ament near the end of 2022, her departure leaves the chamber without a CEO for the second time in less than two years.
Cunningham did not respond to requests for comment.
In a statement on Tuesday, the chamber praised Cunningham’s leadership and said she would be missed.
“Our Board of Directors, professional staff, and members are deeply grateful for her leadership, integrity, organizational skill, and effective advocacy for Anaheim’s businesses, economy, and residents,” the chamber’s staff wrote in an unsigned statement.
Her departure also comes right as Visit Anaheim hired Mike Waterman as a new CEO to replace Jay Burress, who departed last November amidst the state audits.
[Read: Visit Anaheim CEO Resigns After Allegations of Rerouting Tax Dollars]
Waterman is set to take over the tourism bureau on April 29.
According to the Chamber’s website, there are only three listed employees left at the organization, one of whom has an automatic email response saying they no longer work for the Chamber.
Cunningham is taking over a new job at the Irvine Ranch Water District as the agency’s External Affairs Manager, which according to the job listing will be responsible for coordinating with local government agencies and raising the water district’s profile in the communities it serves.
The Irvine Ranch Water District did not respond to requests for comment.
How Did Laura Cunningham Land in a Corruption Investigation?
Despite serving as the Chamber CEO for just over a year, there were numerous questions over how involved Cunningham was with the past corruption called out in the investigations.
While Cunningham agreed to be interviewed as part of the city investigation, the chamber also denied investigators access to records while she was CEO, according to their report.
Investigators noted that Cunningham was an active participant in much of the Chamber’s work at city hall while she was a senior vice president for the chamber, including in helping secure funding for city council members’ races.
“Cunningham’s text messages with [former Councilman] Trevor O’Neil demonstrate the Chambers’ direct involvement with securing PAC campaign endorsements and the interaction between the Chamber, Politicians and Ament,” investigators wrote.
In recent years, the Chamber and other resort interests have played political kingmaker of sorts – heavily backing Disneyland resort-friendly candidates through political action committee spending.
Investigators noted it was unclear whether or not Cunningham knew about the plan to divert $1.5 million from Visit Anaheim’s coffers to the Chamber after she claimed she wasn’t allowed to review chamber finances until she became CEO.
“This investigation could not prove whether or not Cunningham knew or would have known about the funds,” investigators wrote, noting the chamber “refused to provide our investigators any documents to assist us in our investigation.”
Investigators also found that the Chamber’s tax filings in 2020 and 2021 were signed and filed by Cunningham, but she didn’t become the chamber’s CEO until December of 2022, according to her LinkedIn page.
She was also listed as an attendee to at least two closed door meetings between former Mayor Harry Sidhu, city staff, hoteliers, lobbyists and Disney in the investigator’s report, which was also detailed in the FBI affidavits.
[Read: Inside The Shadowy Anaheim Chamber of Commerce Retreat Called Out By the FBI]
During her time as the Chamber’s CEO, Cunningham defended the organization’s past actions, disputing the state auditor’s claims that their work at city hall was improper because they were also receiving tax dollars from the city that then went towards lobbying efforts.
“We respectfully disagree with this assessment, as these services and activities have demonstrably benefited the tourism and convention industries in Anaheim,” Cunningham wrote in her response letter. “Moreover, such activities align with standard operating procedures for tourism improvement districts across the state.”
In a Wednesday statement, prominent local businessman Bill Taormina said the Chamber of Commerce has strayed far from its original mission.
“My family and businesses have been involved with the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce for over 60 years, watching it change from a vibrant, business-promoting entity into a political king-making machine,” Taormina said.
Taormina, who told city contracted investigators Sidhu was “the perfect puppet” for resort interests, said a restructured Chamber of Commerce should include the community.
“By returning to its original mission, political influencing will be eliminated and replaced with clear, unbiased dialog between the ENTIRE community and our elected officials,” he said. “I am hopeful that the Chamber can rise from its broken state into an entity that promotes both business and resident’s best interests.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
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