Anaheim's political landscape is seeing significant changes in how special interests contribute to city elections, with Disney and local hoteliers adopting new spending strategies. These adjustments come after corruption investigations, including federal and independent probes, highlighted the "outsized influence" of Disneyland Resort interests on local policymaking at city hall. The modifications in how these funds are distributed have made it more challenging to track the origins and timing of financial support for city council candidates this election cycle.
Historically, the Support Our Anaheim Resort (SOAR) political action committee was a central mechanism for these groups. SOAR primarily received its funding from Disney and collected donations from hoteliers in the resort district, typically spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote its preferred candidates. Independent investigators, in a 2023 report, noted that a SOAR board member described the committee as a tool to “groom” candidates and politicians favored by resort interests.
A year after this report was released in 2023, Disney and local hoteliers altered their approach. Instead of channeling funds through SOAR, they began donating to several new political action committees, each dedicated to individual candidates. These new PACs shared a common naming structure: “Anaheim Residents, Small Businesses, and Public Safety Leaders.”
In 2024, Disney contributed nearly $1 million to political action committees supporting Councilmembers Norma Campos Kurtz, Kristen Maahs, and Ryan Balius. More recently, instead of establishing new committees, Disney and hotelier-funded groups transferred leftover funds 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,” holding approximately $200,000 as of January. Of this amount, $180,000 was subsequently transferred to individual PACs designated to support the reelection campaigns of Mayor Ashleigh Aitken, Councilman Carlos Leon, and Councilwoman Natalie Meeks.
The funds directed towards Mayor Aitken's campaign arrived a little over two weeks before she publicly disclosed her struggle with alcoholism. This admission followed a claim filed against the city by her Chief of Staff, Berenice Ballinas, which included allegations of racist and homophobic remarks by the Mayor. Mayor Aitken has denied these specific allegations. Due to the multi-entity transfer process, the only public disclosures identifying Disney or other resort area interests as the original source of this funding are found in nearly two-year-old reports from committees that are now largely inactive. Disney spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
Specifically, the “Anaheim Residents, Small Businesses, and Public Safety Leaders” committee contributed $80,000 to “Neighbors for a Strong Anaheim supporting Aitken for Mayor 2026.” This group then spent over $60,000 on mailers endorsing Mayor Aitken on October 2, amidst the unfolding allegations.
Before these allegations surfaced, Mayor Aitken had the backing of the Anaheim Police Association and was running against two lesser-known political newcomers. However, the police association's PAC suspended its support for Mayor Aitken at the end of September, stating that the Mayor was entitled to due process and a fair investigation. The police union's committee later spent nearly $58,000 on polling and mailers opposing Mayor Aitken on October 16. This action came after the police association received $40,000 back from a PAC it had sponsored for Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava's campaign a little over a week prior. The Lincoln Club of Orange County, a conservative donor group, also spent around $40,000 on media opposing Mayor Aitken and approximately $1,500 on digital advertisements supporting one of her opponents, Alfredo Rodriguez.
Beyond the mayoral race, the “Anaheim Residents, Small Businesses, and Public Safety Leaders” committee also disbursed about $100,000 to committees supporting Councilwoman Meeks and Councilman Leon, both of whom are running unopposed in their respective races. Half of this amount went to “Neighbors for a Strong Anaheim supporting Meeks for City Council 2026,” which had spent $25,000 on mailers for the councilwoman's reelection as of Wednesday. The other half was directed to “Neighbors for a Strong Anaheim supporting Leon for City Council 2026,” which had spent nearly $13,000 on mailers for the councilman's reelection as of October 2.
In other council races, the police association PAC, while opposing Mayor Aitken, is providing substantial support for Councilwoman Rubalcava's reelection bid against Elia Renteria-Garcia. 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.” As of October 19, this group had spent nearly $88,000 on mailers, digital advertisements, and text messaging in support of Councilwoman Rubalcava.
The firefighters union also contributed to Councilwoman Rubalcava's campaign, spending over $10,000 on digital ads, text messages, data, and design services as of October 13. Additionally, the union spent over $5,000 on text messages supporting Councilman Leon's reelection campaign and more than $5,000 on text messages for Councilwoman Meeks' campaign as of October 8. The firefighters association did not respond to inquiries regarding their expenditures in races where candidates are running unopposed.