Out of about 700 contributors to former Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu’s 2018 campaign and his planned reelection bid this fall, 105 of them have or had a contract or business with the city at some time, according to an audit report the Anaheim City Council will discuss Tuesday.
The report, attached to a council meeting agenda published late Thursday, lists hundreds of people, organizations and companies, when and how much they donated to support Sidhu, and, if there was one, the type of contract or agreement they had with the city.
It doesn’t include the amounts of the contracts or the dates of their duration, but city spokesman Mike Lyster said they’re a mix of contracts that predate Sidhu taking office in late 2018 and others that were signed during his time in office, which ended May 24 when Sidhu resigned.
Some of the contracts are active, and others have concluded, but the audit report doesn’t specify those details. Also, the data only covers 2017 through 2021; a campaign finance report covering 2022 won’t be due until July.
The City Council asked City Manager James Vanderpool to look into whether any of Sidhu’s campaign donors had business with the city after it came to light the former mayor is under federal investigation.
An FBI affidavit, filed in support of search warrants, alleged Sidhu may have passed along confidential information intended for Angels Baseball officials while the city was negotiating to sell them Angel Stadium; he allegedly hoped to solicit $1 million for his reelection in return.
Sidhu’s attorney, Paul S. Meyer, said previously in a statement announcing the resignation that Sidhu didn’t disclose any secret information, and that a “fair and thorough investigation” would prove that. He could not be immediately reached Friday for further comment.
The FBI affidavit notes the investigating agent has no evidence that Sidhu actually solicited campaign funding from the Angels, or that the team’s representative was aware of his intention.
Among the released list of Sidhu’s contributors who have done business with the city were four Angels Baseball executives (but not team owner Arte Moreno), who gave a combined $12,000 over the 2018 and 2022 election cycles, and the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, which gave $2,700 over both cycles.
Former chamber CEO Todd Ament was recently charged with alleged mortgage fraud. The affidavit supporting his arrest included details of intercepted conversations in which Ament discussed which Anaheim city officials he believed he controlled; names were redacted.
Regarding the campaign contributions identified in the audit, Angels spokeswoman Marie Garvey said, “these personal donations were completely legal and transparent.” Garvey recently announced Moreno has agreed to void the agreement to purchase the stadium property, saying at the time: “There has been a lot of misinformation and falsehoods stated throughout this process and we want to be clear, we negotiated in good faith with all elected officials and city staff and created a fair deal that was good for Anaheim and Angels Baseball.”
Related links
Anaheim corruption probe and Angel Stadium deal: Everything you need to know
Anaheim corruption probe and Angel Stadium deal: Everything you need to know
Why the Anaheim City Council nixed the Angel Stadium sale
On Tuesday, Vanderpool will ask council members whether they want independent investigations of any issues related to the federal investigation of Sidhu, or of his campaign donors and “any malfeasance that may have resulted in city funds paid to those contractors,” according to an agenda report.
At the request of Councilman Jose Moreno, the council also will consider campaign finance reform proposals Tuesday. Moreno’s suggested changes would: require council members and the mayor to sit out votes on matters involving campaign donors within a one-year window of when the contribution was made; limit the amount of time before and after an election that candidates could raise money; and set an end date on how long after an election candidates could do fundraising to pay off campaign debt.
Also on Tuesday, the council will discuss what to do about the vacant mayor’s seat. The city charter says the council should appoint a replacement, and hold a special election if it is unable to appoint someone after 60 days.
But with some residents arguing there’s a cloud over the council, it could be politically tricky to do anything other than wait for the November election, when the seat will be on the ballot anyway.