Disney poured at least $671,000 into political action committees financing the city council campaigns of Anaheim City Council candidates Gail Eastman and Kris Murray in the NOv. 4, 2014 General Election, according to the Voice of OC. At least one Disney-supported PAC spent $136,925 on campaign ads against two challengers, Jose F. Moreno and James Vanderbilt, according to campaign records, as reported by the OC Register.
John Lewis, a former state senator and assemblyman who is working as a campaign consultant for Vanderbilt and Mayor Tait, said Disney is using its financial clout to ensure that a $320 million streetcar is built. The project would connect Disneyland to a a transit hub near Angel Stadium, according to the OC Register.
For Disney it was worth spending $671K if they could ensure that they could rip off the people of Anaheim with a $320M streetcar the city doesn’t need.
But Disney wasn’t alone in spending a fortune for the wrong reasons. At least $260,000 of Disney’s spending went to OCTaxPAC, which has spent more than $80,000 on attack ads against City Council candidates Dr. Jose F. Moreno and James Vanderbilt, according to the Voice of OC.
It is one thing for the OCTaxPAC to attack Moreno, a liberal Democrat. But attacking Vanderbilt – a conservative Republican? That is just wrong and it proves that the OCTaxPAC is not about defending taxpayers. It is about ripping off taxpayers! They want Disney to get their mitts on the streetcar money so that the vile former Mayor of Anaheim, Curt Pringle, and his associates can make a mint off the streetcar contract.
Tait was the target of aggressive attacks from a political action committee controlled by former mayor-turned-lobbyist Curt Pringle, including a TV ad featuring District Attorney Tony Rackauckas that falsely accused Tait of supporting a publicly funded gang memorial, according to the Voice of OC.
Al of that money was for naught. Sure Murray was reelected but her sidekick Murray lost and Tait won overwhelmingly. His victory means that his opponents, Lucille Kring and Lorri Galloway, are finished in Anaheim politics. When Kring comes up for reelection in 2016 she will be toast.
In two years there will be two more seats added to the Anaheim City Council and the City Council elections will become ward-specific. That means grassroots candidates will be able to win seats on the Council. You can walk one ward and meet all the voters. Doing that across a large city is impossible. These changes will end the grip of the special interests on Anaheim’s City Council. Pringle, Disney and the OCTaxPAC will be finished at last.