Anaheim Campaign Finance Structures Shift After Influence Investigations

The political spending landscape in Anaheim’s elections has undergone a notable shift among Disneyland Resort interests and local hoteliers, following federal and independent corruption investigations. These inquiries, including a 2023 independent investigation report, found that Disneyland Resort interests exert substantial influence on policymaking at city hall.

The report described the former Support Our Anaheim Resort (SOAR) political action committee (PAC) as a mechanism to “groom” resort-backed candidates and politicians, according to one SOAR board member. SOAR, which primarily received funds from Disney, historically gathered donations from Disney and resort district hoteliers to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars advertising for favored candidates.

A year after the 2023 report's public release, Disney and hotelier interests altered their campaign finance strategy. Instead of SOAR, which is now largely defunct, these entities began directing funds into several new political action committees. These new PACs were specific to individual candidates and shared a common root name: “Anaheim Residents, Small Businesses, and Public Safety Leaders.”

In 2024, Disney donated nearly $1 million to PACs supporting Councilmembers Norma Campos Kurtz, Kristen Maahs, and Ryan Balius. This year, rather than creating new committees and donating directly, Disney and hotelier-funded committees rolled over leftover money from the Balius and Maahs PACs into a committee supporting Councilmember Kurtz. This committee was then renamed “Anaheim Residents, Small Businesses, and Public Safety Leaders.”

As of January, this consolidated committee held approximately $200,000. Subsequently, $180,000 of these funds were transferred to individual PACs established to support the reelection efforts of Mayor Ashleigh Aitken, Councilman Carlos Leon, and Councilwoman Natalie Meeks. The transfer of money to back Mayor Aitken occurred a little over two weeks before she publicly disclosed her struggle with alcoholism, amidst a claim filed against the city by her Chief of Staff alleging racist and homophobic remarks. Mayor Aitken has denied these allegations.

The “Anaheim Residents, Small Businesses, and Public Safety Leaders” committee, funded by leftover Disney and hotelier money, contributed $80,000 to “Neighbors for a Strong Anaheim supporting Aitken for Mayor 2026.” This latter group spent over $60,000 on mailers backing Mayor Aitken on October 2, during the period of public discussion regarding the allegations.

Prior to the allegations becoming public, Mayor Aitken had the backing of the Anaheim Police Association (APA). However, the police association’s PAC suspended its support for Mayor Aitken at the end of September due to the allegations. Leaders of the police group stated at the time that Mayor Aitken is entitled to due process and a fair investigation into the accusations before conclusions are reached. As of Friday, the police union’s committee has spent over $93,000 on polling and mailers opposing Mayor Aitken. Separately, the Lincoln Club of Orange County, a conservative donor group, has spent around $40,000 on media buys against Mayor Aitken and approximately $1,500 on digital ads supporting Alfredo Rodriguez, one of her challengers.

For other races, “Anaheim Residents, Small Businesses, and Public Safety Leaders” provided about $100,000 to committees supporting Councilwoman Meeks and Councilman Leon, both of whom are running unopposed for reelection. Half of this sum went to “Neighbors for a Strong Anaheim supporting Meeks for City Council 2026,” which spent $25,000 on mailers supporting the councilwoman’s campaign as of Wednesday. The other half was directed to “Neighbors for a Strong Anaheim supporting Leon for City Council 2026,” which spent nearly $13,000 on mailers for the councilman’s campaign as of October 2.

In other campaign spending, the Anaheim Police Association PAC is heavily supporting Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava’s reelection. The police union’s political action committee has donated nearly $90,000 to “Anaheim Residents, Taxpayers, Public Safety Leaders, Small Businesses and Housing Advocates Supporting Natalie Rubalcava for City Council in 2026.” This group, as of Friday, has spent over $102,000 on mailers, digital ads, and text messaging to support Councilwoman Rubalcava.

The firefighters union has also made campaign expenditures. As of October 13, the union spent over $10,000 on digital ads, text messages, data, and design to support Councilwoman Rubalcava’s reelection campaign. Additionally, as of October 8, the union spent over $5,000 on text messages supporting Councilman Leon’s reelection and more than $5,000 on texts supporting Councilwoman Meeks’ campaign. The firefighters association did not respond to questions regarding their spending in unopposed races.

The use of multiple entities for money transfers means that the only disclosures indicating the original source of these funds from Disney or other resort area interests are found in nearly two-year-old reports from committees that are now largely inactive.