Top Anaheim city staff, Angels Baseball executives and a real estate consultant privately discussed the Surplus Land Act – a state law about selling public land – in January nearly three years after an FBI corruption probe derailed a deal to sell Angel Stadium to the team.
It’s the same law that the State Attorney General Rob Bonta fined Anaheim officials close to $100 million for violating in 2022 over the now canned land sale.
Federal agents, a few weeks later, would go public with sworn affidavits in which they alleged former Mayor Harry Sidhu tried to ram through the sale for a $1 million in campaign contributions from the Angels.
Now, the recent private meeting is raising questions as to whether city officials are trying to sell the stadium again despite city leaders saying there are no long term talks on the stadium.
Jose Moreno, a former city councilman who was critical of the past deal, said it seems like a team of negotiators are meeting with Angels executives and the discussion of the state law suggests another sale is being considered privately.
“It smacks of business as usual when it comes to the largest assets of our city, where the people of Anaheim are told that there’s nothing to see here. Yet the calendars and the conversations that are happening behind closed doors seem to suggest otherwise,” Moreno said in a Monday phone interview.
City Spokesman Mike Lyster said in a Thursday email that there are no current negotiations or expected talks on selling the stadium anytime soon.
“No long-term talks can take place without first going through the Surplus Land Act. With recent updates to the state law, that is clear for us,” he wrote.
“There are no immediate plans to begin talks, but rather education for when we do look at the stadium again, whether in years to come or by 2038, when the current lease could ultimately wrap up.”
In a text message Thursday, Councilman Carlos Leon also said officials have not given any direction to staff to start negotiations on the stadium and that a better understanding of the state law was part of a strategic plan adopted last year.
“I’ve always advocated for a transparent process regarding the stadium, but to reiterate, there are no talks currently going on now and there aren’t any in the foreseeable future,” Leon wrote.
The rest of the city council members and a spokeswoman for the Angels did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
The Surplus Land Act & Private Meetings
The Surplus Land Act is a state law that requires local government agencies with land deemed “surplus” to notice its availability to affordable housing developers and the state.
The agency with the surplus land is then required to enter into good faith, 90-day negotiations with interested bidding parties.
In 2022, California Attorney General Bonta concluded that the 2020 Angel Stadium Land Sale violated the Surplus Land Act and fined the city $96 million dollars while allowing the deal to continue with additional affordable housing requirements.
At the time, city officials denied they violated the law, but agreed to the fine.
[Read: Anaheim City Council Agrees to Pay $96 Million Fine for Illegally Selling Angel Stadium]
That’s when the FBI contacted Bonta’s office alerting them of a corruption probe into City Hall that would eventually go on to derail the deal.
Fast forward to today, public calendars show City Manager Jim Vanderpool and other city executives privately meeting with Angels executives in recent months about Angel Stadium.
Vanderpool and top city executives met on Jan. 22 to discuss the Surplus Land Act with Angels President John Carpino, Angels Vice President of Finance and Administration Molly Jolly and Larry Kosmont, CEO of Kosmont Companies – a real estate and economic development advisory group, according to Vanderpool’s public calendar,
In attendance were many people connected to the troubled negotiations that began in early 2019: Assistant City Manager Greg Garcia, Deputy City Manager Ted White, City Attorney Rob Fabela, Assistant City Attorney Leonie Mulvihill and Deputy City Attorney Ryan Hodge.
Anaheim Convention Center Director Tom Morton, Economic Development Director Sergio Ramirez and Business Development Manager Ajay Kolluri were also there.
Last November, Vanderpool and other executives also met with Carpino, Jolly and Kosmont at Gaucho Grill in Buena Pack to discuss Angel Stadium.
Moreno also noticed many of the people – like Fabela and Morton – were part of the negotiations during the previous land sale.
“That sounds like a negotiating committee,” he said. “You don’t need that many people to provide some clarifications and or to come to an understanding of what the surplus land act is.”
Lyster said that the city has held internal informational sessions on the Surplus Land Act with the Angels – the tenants of the stadium.
“All of this is being done for everyone to better understand what is involved with the Surplus Land Act and a site like the stadium,” he wrote.
“Anaheim’s strategic plan, adopted by our City Council in April, calls out ‘addressing the future of Angel Stadium of Anaheim and the surrounding property’ as a priority, with seeking better understanding of the Surplus Land Act as a natural follow-up.”
Moreno said he hopes the city council will publicly discuss the Jan. 22 meeting.
“If they don’t do so, then it certainly sounds like there are negotiations happening, while they tell the people of Anaheim that there’s nothing happening,” he said.
“The city manager and the city public information office may say, ‘nothing is happening, nothing to see here.’ We really have to scrutinize their words, because their words and their actions seem to suggest two different things,” Moreno said.
Former mayor and stadium deal critic Tom Tait said it’s normal for city officials to have discussions with Angels executives about the property and it’s not necessarily indicative of a land sale.
“I would think that would be normal, that would be part of the relevant issues in developing that property,” he said.
Tait also said any future land sale has to be a good deal for Anaheim taxpayers.
“The city has all the leverage, because they own the property in the stadium, and any deal that’s done should reflect the tremendous value of that land,” he said.
A Lease Extension, an Audit and an Assessment
Earlier this month, city officials announced that Angels Baseball extended their lease of Angel Stadium to 2032.
“This lease extension brings added certainty and ensures the strong tradition of baseball in Anaheim. As mayor, I look forward to working with the Angels on future community partnerships,” said Mayor Ashleigh Aitken in a Feb. 5 news release.
Former City Councilwoman Denis Barnes said officials and Angels executives will probably wait until lease extension ends to discuss another sale or until the ball team breaks their lease.
At the same time, Barnes said she’s unsure what the Angels owner Arte Moreno – no relation to Jose Moreno – will do after the last sale fell apart.
“We didn’t even see it coming the first time,” she said “I think he tried it once. It left a bad taste in his mouth. It didn’t work out and it got a lot of publicity. He doesn’t like bad publicity, so I doubt he’ll go down a road where it isn’t for his best outcome. I mean, would you?”
Former Councilman Moreno said the extension happening a few weeks after the meeting about the Surplus Land Act comes as no surprise.
“We’ve seen this movie before,” he said. “It’s just another rerun.”
The extension comes as residents await the findings of a state audit into Anaheim’s canned Angel Stadium land sale and the team’s lease agreement – as well as the findings of a city assessment of the stadium’s condition back in 2022.
[Read: How Trashed is Angel Stadium?]
Lyster said in an email last month that the stadium assessment is ongoing.
“We don’t have anticipated completion timing at this point and look forward to sharing details when we get there,” he wrote.
What Caused The Angel Stadium Deal to Implode?
The private meetings are taking place after city leaders agreed to pay the Angels $2.75 million for the collapse of the stadium deal last July – roughly two years after sworn FBI affidavits ignited a corruption scandal that saw the Angel Stadium implode.
In those affidavits, federal agents detailed attempted efforts by former Mayor Harry Sidhu to get a $1 million in campaign support from the Angels in exchange for ramming through the land sale.
Sidhu resigned the same day his former colleagues voted to cancel the Angel Stadium land sale and later pleaded guilty to corruption charges – including lying to federal investigators about the campaign finance scheme.
[Read: Ex-Anaheim Mayor Sidhu Agrees to Plead Guilty to Corruption Charges]
In his plea agreement, Sidhu admitted to sharing confidential information with former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Ament and an Angels representative – along with deleting emails about the stadium deal to impede an FBI probe.
One of those emails laid out preparation for a mock city council meeting to defend the sale of the stadium.
[Read: Could The Angels Soon Be Playing Baseball Without A Stadium Lease in Anaheim?]
Before revelations of the FBI corruption probe, Anaheim officials were on track to sell the stadium and the roughly 150 acres it sits on for $150 million cash – knocking roughly $170 million off the sales price for “community benefits credits,” which included 466 affordable housing units and a seven-acre park.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
