For many years, good government advocates in Anaheim, from conservatives like Mayor Tom Tait to progressives like Dr. Jose Moreno, have struggled to achieve a Council that’s not under the thumb of Disney and the other wealthy special interests, who band together every two years to spend millions in Independent Expenditures electing their chosen candidates.
This month’s election comes in the wake of April’s Disneyland Forward vote, in which the Council signed over yet another public street – Magic Way – while giving up any chance to demand a health study on Disneyland’s nightly fireworks, and accepted an absurdly small contribution to our affordable housing fund, covering less than 1% of Disney’s expected 14,000 new employees at a time that many Disney workers are already homeless.
This election comes as Anaheim is still laboring to pay off the $500 million bond we took out in the 90’s to build the Mickey and Friends parking garage, from which Disney enjoys all profits while leasing it out from us for $1 a year. And when we’re done paying off the bond we’ve agreed to sign the Garage over to them.
Host to a $6.7 billion-a-year Resort District, Anaheim should not be constantly strapped for cash, unable to afford to enforce tenant protections, build a senior center, or provide more than one public pool for a town of 350,000.
Light years from our state-mandated affordable housing goals, our council has long allowed developers carte blanche to build almost only housing for above moderate income families – 92% of the 5000 homes built since 2008. The council is finally making a move toward an inclusionary ordinance, but it’s a little late, a little little, and right before election time.
All told, it’s a good year to vote for a reformist grass-roots candidate rather than one more water carrier for the special interests.
The most exciting of these grass-roots candidates is Francisco Rosas in District 4, a Navy veteran and aircraft mechanic who was inspired to run by the Disneyland Forward vote, and has been running a stunning grassroots campaign against appointed Norma Kurtz. Norma, the only incumbent running, and a former SOAR board member, has so far been the beneficiary of $100,000 in independent expenditures from Disney, in gratitude for her vote.
By the way, the vehicle Disney and other big special interests are using to hide their contributions this year is a PAC called “Anaheim Residents and Small Businesses for [fill in blank.]” How do you like that – “Anaheim residents and small businesses” which are really Disney and out-of-town landholders like Blackstone Properties.
In West Anaheim’s district 1, the reformist candidate is Ojaala Ahmad, a community advocate bravely taking on establishment favorite Ryan Balius, Jose Diaz’ handpicked successor. But District 5 is different this year. In District 5, we have what’s called:
The Sarega effect
When someone like Andrew Sarega carpetbags into town wanting to be our councilman after living here only a couple of months, Anaheim folks unite. This guy was on the La Mirada Council for over a decade, and his colleagues refused to make him mayor due to his and his family’s disruptive, erratic behavior. Then when they finally gave in and made him mayor this spring, he suddenly told them he was moving to Anaheim instead, to run here.
This was after a decade of missing 34 Council meetings, earning the nickname Absent Andrew. This was after serving as VP of a Swiss crypto-currency company that lost 99.7% of its value. This was after trying and failing to drive a local La Mirada paper out of business for reporting on his numerous campaign finance violations. You can read all about Sarega on the Orange Juice Blog.
A former Newport cop for a very short time, Sarega has only the support of police unions, but they sure are dumping a lot of money on him. His face is on every corner, his ads are inescapable. At a time like this we rethink our priorities, and support the Disney-backed Kristen Maahs as the only candidate who can beat Sarega. (With apologies to the lovely Cristal Ruiz.)
Kristen has the backing of the entire establishment (minus the police union) – Republicans and Democrats alike, Councilman Faessel and Mayor Aitken. She has spent the past decade serving the elderly at Alzheimer’s Orange County and other agencies. She is smart and kind, and Anaheim is her home.
So this year, Anaheim, I am urging you to vote for Francisco Rosas, Kristen Maahs, and Ojaala Ahmad, for one more baby step toward an honest City Council.
Vern Nelson, an Anaheim resident and musician, runs the Orange Juice Blog.
