A majority of Anaheim City Council members have now broken silence on allegations that the mayor hurled racial slurs at her chief of staff, with three calling for an expedited investigation this week.
There’s also increasing calls for publicly releasing the documents detailing the allegations.
It comes a week after Councilwoman Natalie Meeks publicly called for an investigation into the claims after the LA Times’ Daily Pilot first reported that Aitken’s chief of staff, Berenice Ballinas, alleged Aitken made racist and homophobic comments directed at her – allegations the mayor denies.
To date, Meeks was the only council member to publicly comment on the claims.
Until Tuesday night.
“I stand with Councilmember Meeks in demanding an expedited investigation. If the allegations are shown to be correct, I will also ask for the Mayor’s resignation,” Councilwoman Norma Campos Kurtz said during Tuesday’s council meeting.
Kurtz called for a special closed door meeting about the allegations.
“Mr. City Attorney, I would like to request that a special meeting of the city council be scheduled prior to our next regular meeting of October 13th so the council may meet in closed session with the city attorney’s office regarding the threat of litigation stemming from the alleged conduct of the mayor,” Kurtz said.
She also wants to publicly release the allegations from Ballinas.
“Separately, I would like an update on the public release of the claims documents submitted by Mrs. Ballinas. Also the status of the investigation,” Kurtz said during Tuesday’s meeting.
Aitken, who’s up for reelection in November, took issue with Kurtz’ comments.
“I want to commend Councilmember Kurtz on her bravery for coming out and joining this and kicking me while I’m down, two weeks after this has happened. I have called for an independent investigation,” Aitken said. “This process is going to play out.”
“I welcome an independent investigation, I need this independent investigation to clear my name and I really welcome it because that is what a democracy is all about – you are innocent until proven guilty,” the mayor said.
Scores of residents questioned the silence during public comment on Tuesday night.
Former City Councilman Jose Moreno said the fight to get district elections in Anaheim made it possible for Latinos to get elected to the city council.
Moreno, who is the president of the Latino advocacy group, Los Amigos, noted that Aitken helped in the push to switch from at-large to district elections – meaning voters now elect candidates from the district they reside in.
“With that you have earned our community’s patience with this investigation and may it be completed expeditiously. We also believe in due process,” Moreno said. “Councilwoman Meeks, thank you for being the only councilperson to call for accountability.”
“Natalie (Rubalcava), Carlos (Leon) and Norma (Campos Kurtz) – our people marched. They organized, they fought for decades so you can have those seats. And your silence last week where you talked about ice cream and socials and unicorns and puppies does not help our people. For you to sit there is a betrayal to the ethics and the work of so many who have marched on your behalf so you can have those seats,” said Moreno, who chairs the Chicano and Latino Studies Department at Cal State Long Beach.
Rubalcava and Leon – both who are on November’s ballot – didn’t publicly speak on the issue on Tuesday night.
“There is no room for racism in our city period,” said Councilwoman Kristen Maahs. “I’m not only concerned about how our residents feel, but how our city staff feels. I look forward to all the facts coming forward and anybody who’s using this for political gain and political theater I think has shown a lack of character.”
“I’m Mexican myself, I don’t look it and I haven’t been included in some of the comments tonight but I’m half Mexican,” Maahs said after public comment.
Councilman Ryan Balius also remarked on the allegations, joining the growing calls for an expedited investigation.
“I believe strongly in innocent until proven guilty,” Balius said. “I want to say that Councilmember Meeks brought up an issue last week at the end with the mayor and my silence was strictly, hey I agree and if I didn’t agree, you would have heard from me.’
He also said the mayor might want to go dark for a while.
“I know when we have investigations in the city and what not, we oftentimes will put staff on investigatory leave. And I don’t know how to do that on city council, but I would ask the mayor – I mean we obviously got some pain in the community – maybe it is a good idea to suspend the public calendar until the investigation is over.”
Editor’s note: Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken’s father, Wylie Aitken, chairs Voice of OC’s board of directors.
Spencer Custodio is the civic editor. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio.
