Some current and former Anaheim City employees bravely gave residents this year a rare look behind the scenes of a city hall clouded by the shadow of the largest corruption scandal to rock Orange County in recent memory.
They did so in testimony to independent investigators tasked with uncovering corruption in Anaheim.
Corruption probes in Anaheim are triggering tough ethics discussions across OC and Southern California. Will reform follow?
One current city hall department head Grace Stepter even called her boss, City Manager Jim Vanderpool a “political chameleon” in an interview with investigators.
Her testimony and others like it, along with the rest of the findings in a $1.5 million investigation shed light on what federal agents alleged in sworn affidavits last year – lobbyists and Disneyland resort interests heavily influence policy making at city hall.
[Read: Fear and Loathing at Anaheim City Hall: Working Under the Gun of Retribution]
Now, at the request of Mayor Ashleigh Aitken and Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava, a series of reform proposals are coming before elected officials this fall including a debate this Tuesday on how to best protect city hall whistleblowers:
People who want to ring the alarm bells if they see anything askew inside the walls of local government and try to stop corruption in its tracks.
But some critics question if such a policy will actually make a difference in OC’s biggest city.
Or if it is just performative.
Former...
You are reading the second issue of the Disinformation Monitor. It is published on a monthly basis and provides an overview of developments on the disinformation scenes on NATO’s eastern frontier....