1) Anaheim City Council District 3 Election
After settling a Voter Rights Act lawsuit, the city of Anaheim has shifted to a district-based electoral system. Of the four districts up for election this cycle, District 3 epitomizes the conflict at the heart of the community: the pro-corporate (Disney) interests versus the working class community that helps keep the tourism-based economy of the city running. The race features the city’s first openly gay councilmember who has strong labor backing, versus an anti-subsidy Latino community leader that is poised to capitalize on demographic advantages.
The Candidates:
-Jordan Brandman, incumbent city councilman
-Jose F. Moreno, President, Los Amigos of Orange County
-Linda Lobatos, businesswoman
-Robert Nelson, small business owner
-Jennifer Rivera, legal secretary
The Numbers:
Total Voters: 19,516 (48% Dem., 23% Rep., 26% Indep.)
Racial Make-Up: 52% Latino, 11% Asian
Who and What Are We Watching?
As we have seen in several other cities throughout the state, Anaheim’s at-large system of voting was the subject of a lawsuit that contended that the system violated the rights of Latino residents. Despite being 54% Latino, there currently are no Latino members on the city council. The city settled at a cost of nearly $2 million and agreed to bring to voters the proposal to adopt a district-based system and expand the number of council seats from four to six. (Latino-Fox) Both measures subsequently passed and this November will bring four of the six new districts to the ballot.
While the race for District 3 features five candidates, the two with the highest probability of victory are incumbent councilman Jordan Brandman and Jose Moreno, president of a community group called Los Amigos of Orange County and an associate professor of Chicano and Latino studies at Cal State Long Beach. Nowhere is the contrast between the Anaheim enjoyed by out of towners and the reality lived by residents more evident than District 3, a section of the city where half of all residents live on an annual household income of $50,000 or less, according to 2014 U.S. Census data. Latino residents have the greatest concentration in District 3, making up 72% of the total population and 48% of those eligible to vote.
Mr. Brandman was first elected to the city council in 2012 and is the body’s sole Democrat. In October 2015, he publicly came out as gay, making him the first openly gay City Council member in Anaheim’s history. (OC Register) He previously served on the Anaheim Union High School District board and has worked as a district director for Assemblyman Ian Calderon since 2013.
Mr. Brandman is part of an informal council majority-along with councilwomen Kris Murray and Lucille Kring-that represents pro-business (Disney) interests and is often at odds with Mayor Tom Tait and the rest of the council. In fact, this majority has seemed to operate beyond the consideration of anyone in the community and that has gotten Brandman into trouble and left his future prospects in question. Last fall, Brandman aborted a bid to replace Rep. Loretta Sanchez, who is running for U.S. Senate, when a city council vote he registered regarding the new district system elicited outrage from the county Democratic Party and the Latino community. In fall of 2015, Brandman joined his two other council colleagues that form the majority to vote to delay the election for his district, which has a Latino Majority, from 2016 to 2018. (OC Register) The County Democrats formally condemned Brandman, which ultimately shuttered his Congressional campaign. (Voice of OC) Although the council ultimately backed away from the vote, it was seen as an attempt to disenfranchise Latino voters and provide Brandman additional time on the council before either facing a stiff fight or attempting higher office.
Despite losing the support of county Democrats, Brandman’s campaign boasts strong support from labor, public employees, and other organizations. Among the organizations that have endorsed him are SEIU United Service Workers West, Teamsters Local 952, IBEW Local 47, Anaheim Firefighters, Anaheim Municipal Employees, Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, and the Orange County Business Council. Representative Sanchez, Assemblyman Tom Daly, as well as Speaker of the Assembly (former Republican Mayor of Anaheim) Curt Pringle are backing Brandman. (Ballotpedia)
Facing off against Brandman is Jose Moreno, who hopes to inaugurate the new district as its first Latino representative. We imagine that is exactly what Moreno had in mind when he became the lead plantiff in the Voter Rights’ Act lawsuit that resulted in the new system the city now has in place. (Anaheim Blog) Moreno previously ran for city council in 2014-prior to the new districts being put in place-and finished fourth out of eight candidates. The 15% that he garnered would have made him the top vote getter in what is now District 3. Prior to his unsuccessful council run, Moreno served as an elected member of the Anaheim City School District Board from 2006-2014. Moreno also holds board seats on the Anaheim police chief’s advisory board and the Orange County Community Housing Corporation.
Mayor Tait has endorsed Mr. Moreno as they share a disdain for the corporate subsidies that the council has typically provided to the resorts in the area. The County Democrats have also endorsed Moreno presumably unable to forgive Brandman for last year’s board vote.
The two candidates have seen vastly different results on the fundraising front. Brandman has raised around $170,000 thus far and benefited from his pro-business stance by way of independent expenditures of at least $117,000, including several organizations relating to local resorts and expenditures by the city police and fire unions. (Voice of OC) Meanwhile, Moreno has struggled comparatively as he recently reported a total of $37,000. No doubt Moreno hopes the backing of the Party will help to even the playing field in the home stretch.
The Issues
The most contentious issue in Anaheim politics is the relationship between the city and area resorts-specifically Disney. In June 2015, by a vote of 3-2 (sensing a pattern?), the council agreed to establish the Hotel Incentive Plan that is designed to incentivize luxury hotel development through tax subsidies. The plan allows for new facilities that meet basic standards of service to receive 70% of the revenue generated by the transient occupancy tax for the first 20 years of existence. Thereafter, the city would collect 100% of the tax. (OC Register) Opponents of the subsidies, which include Mr. Moreno, argue that the tax revenue is vital to investing in areas such as police, schools, park, and other services. “Over the past several years, the City Council has invested hundreds of millions of dollars on projects in the Resort District,” Moreno states on his campaign website. “Sadly, these investments have been via corporate tax giveaways and local corporate tax-exemptions to well-connected and well financed lobbying groups. We certainly need to invest in these assets, but they should not be at the expense of our fiscal health…. We have streets in Anaheim with no streetlights, parks with no grass, and aging infrastructure in our residential areas.”
Proponents of the subsidies claim that they are necessary to remain competitive with other vacation destinations in the state. Brandman’s response to critics is that the subsidies help to attract more business, thus more money into city coffers, and that the economic benefits derived from the projects helps the city invest in other areas. In addition, he has been careful to point out that the labor agreements pertaining to new developments guarantee the use of union labor. “Money is going exactly where [my opponents] contend it’s not – code enforcement, park renovation, expanding libraries, building community centers,” Brandman said. “No better way do you improve quality of life than making sure that [jobs for] the biggest project involving municipal dollars are guaranteed to go to union labor,” Brandman said. “That was not happening until this liberal Democrat was on the council.” (Voice of OC)
Moreno has expressed the view that subsidies are simply an example of pay-to-play politics and has proposed a city ordinance preventing organizations that receive subsidies from donating to local campaigns. (Voice of OC) Based on what has transpired this election cycle, Moreno has a point. A recent report by the Voice of OC showed that The Walt Disney Company “has funneled more than $900,000 into a complicated network of groups supporting Disney-friendly candidates in six council races and attacking their opponents.” Now that the council has expanded and the method of election has changed, it is clear Disney believes it needs to step up to maintain the dynamic that has been so friendly to the company’s interests. Among the candidates backed by Disney interests is Brandman who has taken in over $80,000 in donations from organizations tied to the resort.
Affordable housing is also a major issue in the campaign. 2014 Census data showed that 65% of District 3 residents are renters with a majority spending more than a third of their income on housing. Here, again, the candidates are of diverging opinion. Brandman has stated that the city has done “an incredibly good job” of planning and building affordable housing and should continue down that course with additional emphasis on securing state assistance. Moreno believes the city requires more new affordable projects to meet resident’s needs and points to council support for more high-end development as a step in the wrong direction. (Voice of OC)
Lastly, how to address continual public safety issues in the community have also draw stark differences between Moreno and Brandman. The community has been on edge ever since a string of police shooting led to a citizen riot in front of City Hall in 2012. (Voice of OC) Brandman claims that the city is on the right track and points to efforts to hire additional police officers-provided by the economic development he helped create-is the appropriate avenue to smoothing over the divide. “A city's highest obligation is securing every resident's right to feel safe in their own home and on our streets. From my first day on the city council, this has been my greatest priority. I'm proud to report that we're hiring 33 new police officers, building a new fire station, and improving emergency response times across the city. Through sound budgeting and prudent investments in revenue-generating economic development programs, the Anaheim Police Department and Anaheim Fire & Rescue will soon be fully staffed and prepared to meet our most urgent needs.” (Brandman)
Moreno believes that approach is shortsighted and fundamentally ineffective. He argues that adding officers won’t solve the problems at hand and that the city should invest in community centers and youth-oriented programs to keep kids of the streets and out of trouble. “This whole idea that…restoring police officers is going to create safety, it’s just not borne out of history,” said Moreno (Voice of OC)
We will soon know if Brandman’s sizable money advantage and support from labor and Disney-led interests will be enough to hold off the considerable demographics that favor the new approach embodied by Moreno.