City-hired investigators in Anaheim said they found deep levels of coordination between political action committees and former Mayor Harry Sidhu’s campaign in 2018, a possible violation of state election laws.
Sidhu beat current Mayor Ashleigh Aitken in that 2018 race. Investigators from the JL Group said in a report released on July 31 that they found that during that election cycle there was no firewall between the Sidhu campaign and several PACs, that should have closed off all contact with political campaigns.
“It’s very unusual because it’s totally illegal,” said Lee Fink, an attorney in Orange County who’s worked on election issues.
Investigators from the Laguna Niguel-based JL Group said former Core Strategic Group CEO Jeff Flint and former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Ament ran many campaign meetings for Sidhu while also coordinating spending by independent expenditures.
JL Group investigators reviewed campaign forms and interviewed witnesses familiar with the PACs as part of their investigation into illegal coordination.
Independent expenditures are money that can be spent to advocate for the success or defeat of a campaign. They are not subject to contribution limits and must not have contact with campaigns.
Derek Humphrey, a political consultant who does work for Aitken (who lost the 2018 race by 478 votes) and several other Orange County politicians, said the coordination outlined by the JL Group’s report amounts to cheating in that election.
“I think for anybody who works on campaigns professionally, the revelations of this coordination are shocking,” Humphrey said.
Sidhu resigned in 2022 following the revelation he was under federal investigation. He has not been charged with a crime.
Flint, investigators allege, “essentially ran the PACs in Anaheim” and was involved with the Anaheim Orange County Hotel and Lodging Association PAC, Support Our Anaheim Resort – or SOAR – PAC and the Anaheim Chamber of…
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