Nearly half a million dollars has already been raised by a mix of Disneyland resort and labor interests to either support or oppose Anaheim Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava’s upcoming June 4 recall election.
Rubalcava’s been on the council less than two years and is the first city council member to face a recall election in Anaheim for over four decades after she was detailed in the city’s corruption report and opposed Measure A, a failed ballot measure that would’ve raised wages for hotel workers.
[Read: Anaheim City Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava Faces June Recall Election]
In their report, independent investigators hired by the city accused Rubalcava of misconduct, claiming an Anaheim Chamber of Commerce resident advisory group helped her get elected.
[Read: Was an Anaheim City Hall-Funded Nonprofit Used as a Political Data Mining Operation?]
Investigators accused the advisory group – Anaheim First – of giving Rubalcava a list of names and contact information they gathered when conducting community outreach meetings to help her 2022 election campaign.
Rubalcava has denied the claims in the report, and was one of the council members to introduce reform ideas following the report.
While she won election with 5,437 votes in 2022, the proponents of the recall claim they managed to garner over 9,000 signatures calling for Rubalcava’s recall.
The pro-recall effort has been almost exclusively financed by Unite Here 11, a local labor union representing hotel employees that spent over $315,000 by the end of 2023 to get the recall on the ballot and was the leading entity behind Measure A.
Since the end of 2023, the union hasn’t disclosed any spending on the race, with their last disclosures showing an outstanding balance of over $226,000 to vendors, with only $11,000 in the account.
Ada Briceno, one of the union’s leaders, declined to comment.
But supporters of Rubalcava – a mix of labor unions and resort interests – have been fundraising non stop since the recall petition was certified in February, and have raised nearly $190,000 to fight the recall effort.
Construction unions have come out as her strongest supporters so far, investing $75,000 in a campaign committee dubbed Working Families Against the Recall of Natalie Rubalcava according to campaign finance disclosures.
Laborers International 652 also donated another $25,000 to a fund titled Anaheim First Responders Opposed to The Misleading Recall of Councilmembmer Natalie Rubalcava.
Hoteliers near Disneyland have also pitched in with fundraising, setting up their own fund through the Orange County Hotel and Lodging Association to support Rubalcava that’s racked up at least $39,000, according to campaign finance disclosures.
The city’s police and firefighters unions have also come out in support of Rubalcava, investing nearly $40,000 altogether in both the Anaheim First Responders fund and in their own separate spending.
State Sen. Josh Newman also donated $1,000 to a committee supporting Rubalcava alongside the county sheriff’s union, which threw in $2,500.
While the election is less than two months away, none of those political action committees have disclosed any spending yet, with the only support coming from a texting campaign worth around $5,000 paid for by the Anaheim Firefighters Association.
In a statement to Voice of OC through her political consultant Derek Humphrey, Rubalcava said she was “proud of the diverse coalition” who were supporting her in the recall.
“I appreciate their help in getting the message out to voters about what I’ve been able to accomplish over the past year and a half,” Rubalcava stated. “I care deeply about Anaheim, and I hope to continue serving on our City Council.”
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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