Anaheim residents decide next Tuesday whether or not Natalie Rublacava will keep her seat on the city council in a race that has triggered a historic split in labor and Democratic Party circles along with big spending from an array of special interests advertising in the final days of the race to sway voters.
Rubalcava is the first city council member to face a recall in the city for over four decades.
[Read: Anaheim City Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava Faces June Recall Election]
Next week’s recall election was kicked off by Unite Here Local 11, a union representing Southern California Hotel workers, after independent investigators accused the councilwoman of misconduct in a corruption probe report last summer.
[Read: Was an Anaheim City Hall-Funded Nonprofit Used as a Political Data Mining Operation?]
Rubalcava has publicly denied the allegations.
She also criticized a ballot initiative by the union – dubbed Measure A – that would have bumped up the minimum wage for hotel workers in Anaheim, a bid that ultimately failed last fall.
Unite Here Local 11 is spending big in support of the recall, the only major proponent for Rubalcava’s removal.
The union spent over $315,000 last year to get Rubalcava’s recall on the ballot, and according to their recent campaign finance disclosures have invested $350,000 in a spending committee aimed at unseating the councilwoman over just the past month.
But Rubalcava’s supporters have raised even more, reporting over $468,000 in fundraising since April 21, and a combined total of nearly $730,000 since January according to their disclosures.
While the Unite Here union has been the biggest force pushing for Rubalcava’s recall, other unions are pushing back.
Construction unions have been a staunch defender of Rubalcava, with the Southern California District Council of Laborers donating at least $50,000 to multiple spending committees protecting Rubalcava alongside other laborer unions.
The city’s police officer and firefighter unions have also come in on Rubalcava’s side, with the police association sending $25,000 to support Rubalcava last month as the firefighters union spends over $7,500 on text messaging to voters opposing the recall.
In addition, the Orange County Employees Association also contributed $10,000 to a committee supporting Rubalcava back in January, along with another $10,000 from the Anaheim Municipal Employees Association in December.
Rubalcava’s biggest support has come from the hoteliers that surround Disneyland, who’ve invested heavily in their own special committee aimed at keeping her in office, with owners of hotels like the Marriott, Stovall’s Inn and the Hyatt donating nearly $50,000 apiece.
The state’s Hotel and Lodging Association also contributed $20,000 to Rubalcava’s defense, with another $49,000 coming from the California Real Estate political committee.
Disney has also joined in on the race to protect Rubalcava after she voted to approve Disneyland Forward, a $2 billion expansion of the theme park that included selling off multiple city streets to the entertainment giant.
[Read: Anaheim Approves $2 Billion Disneyland Forward Expansion]
The company has directly contributed $49,000 to a spending committee set up by hoteliers looking to protect Rubalcava, with another $49,000 coming into that same committee a few days later from the Save Our Anaheim Resort committee, which is primarily funded by Disney.
Rubalcava has raised almost nothing this year for her own campaign, with her disclosures showing just over $8,000 fundraised this year.
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.
