The California State Auditor’s office will soon put public money sent by the city to Visit Anaheim and the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce under a microscope for potential misuse of funds.
The state auditor will investigate how public money sent to the two organizations was used after city-commissioned independent investigators alleged $1.5 million of coronavirus pandemic relief funds may have been funneled to an Anaheim Chamber of Commerce nonprofit via Visit Anaheim in 2020.
Assemblymember Avelino Valencia, who was on the Anaheim City Council until last year, requested the Joint Legislative Audit Committee approve the audit days after the investigators’ report became public July 31.
It has been approved and Assemblymember David Alvarez, chair of the audit committee, asked on Saturday, Aug. 12, that California State Auditor Grant Parks prioritize the audit.
“As you are aware, a recent investigation raised serious concerns regarding the city,” Alvarez wrote in a letter to Parks. “I hope this audit will provide much needed transparency and accountability.”
The state auditor has the power to subpoena records and take depositions. The agency’s website lists the Anaheim audit as not having begun yet.
Dana Simas, chief of communications for the California State Auditor, said it would take the agency a couple of weeks to determine a timeframe for when a final report could be released.
In Avelino’s Aug. 3 request, he asked for the audit to look into all sources of public funds given by the city of Anaheim to the chamber and the tourism bureau throughout the past 10 years and how they were used. He also requested the audit analyze public funds allocated by the city to organizations affiliated with the chamber or Visit Anaheim.
“We will absolutely and fully cooperate with the state auditor in this matter,” Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO Laura Cunningham, who took over in December, said in a statement. “The Anaheim Chamber of Commerce remains focused on effective action in promoting economic growth and job creation for the benefit and prosperity of the whole community.”
While Cunningham interviewed with investigators from the JL Group, the chamber did not turn over documents, according to the report.
The City Council on Tuesday will also discuss the city doing its own audit of Visit Anaheim for $6.5 million sent to the agency in 2020 during the early months of the pandemic to promote tourism recovery. Investigators from the JL Group alleged that $1.5 million of that money may have been diverted to an Anaheim Chamber of Commerce nonprofit, but they couldn’t determine how it was used.
A spokesperson for the city of Anaheim said “we have not heard from the state auditor but stand ready to work with the auditor’s office.”
An April 2, 2020 memo sent by Visit Anaheim CEO Jay Burress to former City Manager Chris Zapata outlined how the marketing organization would spend the money to benefit the city’s tourism economy in light of the pandemic shutdowns, but the Chamber of Commerce is never mentioned.
The plan for the money, Burress wrote, was to use the money to market the city and “reduce the length of Anaheim’s downturn.”
Visit Anaheim did not respond to a request for comment.
Source: Orange County Register
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