Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu was a no-show at Tuesday’s Anaheim City Council meeting and its probably a good thing. Anaheim residents — and leading Democrats — called him out for his reported actions documented by the FBI. The first pubic speaker was Ashleigh Aitken, the DPOC-endorsed candidate for Mayor.
Council member Avelino Valencia called for Sidhu to step down and for the Angels Stadium deal to be re-done from scratch. Avelino suggested Sidhu was watching the meeting from home and called him out, “If you’re watching, you have one last opportunity to do the right thing for our city.”
Former Anaheim council member and just-announced candidate for mayor, Lorri Galloway, issued this statement to TheLiberalOC: “The news of greed and big money impacting Anaheim politics is rightfully infuriating to citizens of Anaheim. No one should ever be able to buy an election. This is why I’m running for Mayor. I believe a history of transparency, experience and ongoing community leadership is what the city needs to move forward into the brighter days ahead.”
State Senator Tom Umberg and State Rep. Tom Daly issued a joint letter calling the stadium deal “a rip off.” From the letter, this: “The recent articles detailing a federal investigation into Mayor Harry Sidhu’s unique role in the City of Anaheim’s sale of Angel Stadium have confirmed our previous concerns and raised new ones,” they wrote in the letter, referring to an earlier 2019 letter they sent raising concerns over the stadium.”
Sources tell TheLiberalOC Sidhu may likely not be on the ballot in November and Republicans are scrambling for a candidate that has a shot. Voters may take out anger at Sidhu on any Republican candidate for Mayor. And this might just be the tip of the iceberg. If Sidhu cooperates with the Feds, the possibility of more indictments could come into play — if Harry has the goods.
I am wondering why Sidhu was allowed by the Anaheim City Council to be the sole negotiator on a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Were other Council members expecting a campaign cash bonus as well?
You need to do a follow up article to this one. “Anaheim Democrats Rail on Valencia”