Independent investigators hired by Anaheim said they found numerous potential violations of the city’s lobbying laws in the last decade, in what they described as a “pattern of behavior” by lobbyists in the city.
The details come from a highly anticipated report released Monday, July 31, on alleged corruption in Anaheim. It highlighted former Mayor Curt Pringle and Jeff Flint, the former CEO of Core Strategic Group, in detail, saying they failed to report their lobbying activity to the city clerk, which investigators said was potentially a crime of perjury.
Both Pringle and Flint did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Tuesday.
The city-commissioned probe followed the revelation in 2022 of FBI investigations into former Mayor Harry Sidhu and former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Ament, which included allegations that a self-described “cabal” of business and political leaders exerted significant influence at Anaheim City Hall. The report by the JL Group investigators drew from more than 150 interviews, more than 50,000 documents and nearly a million emails.
To combat the lobbying disclosure issues described in their report, investigators from the JL Group, a Laguna Niguel-based workplace consulting firm, recommended Anaheim create a city ombudsman/ethics officer, whose duties would include monitoring the lobbying reports submitted. The JL Group further endorsed that Anaheim amend its lobbying laws to require employees to self-report when they are lobbied, to help the ombudsman/ethics officer verify meetings in the lobbyist reports.
Anaheim requires its lobbyist to register with the city and submit quarterly reports of their meetings with city officials to the city clerk.
Pringle and Flint had several meetings in the past few years that should have been reported but were not, JL Group investigators said.
Anaheim has “no meaningful mechanism to enforce reporting,” according to investigators, who added that “there seems to have been a willful disregard of regulations governing political activity and undue political influence in the city of Anaheim.”
The JL Group said it confirmed through interviews 27 meetings that Flint did not report on his quarterly lobbying reports over the last few years. Since 2018, Pringle had not reported at least 12 meetings, according to the report.
Along with failing to report meetings, another common issue investigators said they found was lobbyists not always disclosing who they worked for.
Bob Stern, former general counsel for the California Fair Political Practices Commission, said most cities in the state don’t have lobbying ordinances. Anaheim does, but Stern said the city should take the additional step of having an independent ethics commission to monitor lobbying in the city.
“That’s one of the problems,” Stern said.
Marisol Ramirez, a director with the Orange County Communities for Responsible Development, said there aren’t enough consequences for lobbyists in California.
“Compared to the amount of money they make, (any fines) are like a slap on the wrist,” Ramirez said.
In September 2022, the Anaheim City Council amended the city’s lobbyist laws to start carrying misdemeanor penalties of up to six months in jail for lobbying without making the required disclosures, where before there were just fines. Violations can also be subject to a fine of up to $1,000.
Anaheim city attorneys began looking last year into whether there had been disclosure violations by Flint, according to emails the JL Group reviewed. On June 30, 2022, City Attorney Robert Fabela sent an email to a few colleagues asking if they could assist in determining if there was a potential violation by Flint that should be taken to the Orange County District Attorney, according to the report.
The same day, a deputy city attorney in Anaheim contacted the city clerk to obtain Flint’s lobbyist registration documents and quarterly reports to determine whether “there was any potential perjury that was committed,” according to the report.
City Manager James Vanderpool met frequently with Flint and was surprised to learn that there were so few reported meetings in Flint’s reports, the JL Group report said.
The report did not include whether there was a conclusion to the city inquiry.
Besides unreported lobbying, Pringle has also been accused of possibly violating the city’s revolving door law, which bars former elected officials from lobbying the places they used to represent for two years. Pringle is accused of engaging former Mayor Tom Tait on behalf of Disney regarding transportation issues immediately after leaving office. Three witnesses told investigators that Pringle was a Disney lobbyist at that time.
The report identified Pringle as one of the two primary lobbyists that currently meet with the city. The other is Todd Priest, who used to work for Pringle. Priest told investigators that Pringle would want him in the room during meetings because he was a registered lobbyist, the report said.
“Curt never wanted to fancy himself a lobbyist,” but wanted to provide clients “strategic guidance,” Priest told investigators.
Pringle declined to be interviewed by investigators.
‘The godfather’
Around Anaheim, Pringle was known as “the godfather,” the person to “get things done” at City Hall, whose blessing was needed to seek office or top posts, according to the city’s internal investigation.
Pringle, 64, a Republican, served in the state Assembly during the late 1980s and 1990s where he was elevated to speaker. He was elected Anaheim mayor in 2002 and served until 2010. As mayor, he was credited with leading the effort to remake the area around Angel Stadium and the Honda Center into the Platinum Triangle with mixed-use development.
Pringle is the current president of Curt Pringle & Associates, a government relations firm with an office in the Platinum Triangle.
Pringle almost single-handedly elevated former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Ament into power in Anaheim, the JL Group report said.
Ament has been described in an FBI affidavit as a ringleader of the cabal of political insiders that allegedly exerted influence on City Hall. And JL Group investigators said it appeared “as if the city was merely subsidizing the Anaheim Chamber with infusions of money on a near-yearly basis.”
Ament pleaded guilty last year to federal fraud charges as part of an FBI investigation and is awaiting sentencing.
The JL Group investigation concluded Pringle was “a significant part of the catalyst for Ament and the chamber’s rise to power and influence in Anaheim.”
Those interviewed by investigators said Pringle used his position as mayor to set up his lobbying business.
Investigators were told “during Pringle’s tenure as mayor of Anaheim, he took actions on many issues that could eventually position himself for subsequent lobbying contracts with the city of Anaheim.”
Pringle worked closely with Ament in forming the Save Our Anaheim Resort PAC in 2007. SOAR regularly donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to candidates in Anaheim.
The PAC was Ament’s idea, Paul Kott, a SOAR board member told investigators. It became a vehicle to raise money and to groom candidates for elected office and top City Hall posts.
The report said several witnesses told investigators that Ament acted as a gatekeeper to Sidhu as mayor, and reportedly that Ament “required some sort of payment before arranging a meeting with Mayor Sidhu,” which could be in the form of a donation to the Chamber of Commerce PAC. Ament could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
The report concluded that Ament was another person who seemingly violated the city’s lobbying laws because he was “by all appearances, acting as a lobbyist on behalf of various businesses seeking to do business with the city … These activities were never registered or reported, nor did Ament ever register as a lobbyist with the city.”
Orange County campaign finance watchdog Shirley Grindle, who was interviewed by investigators, said she was not surprised to read about the alleged lobbying violations.
“Anaheim needs to clean house,” she said, “and they need to start taking some of the recommendations the JL Group is giving them.”
Source: Orange County Register
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