The facts
Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken's top policy aide says the mayor spent years drinking through official events, interrogating her staff's sexuality, and deploying racial slurs, in a 25-page legal claim the city released Thursday. Berenice Ballinas, Aitken's chief policy adviser since Dec. 7, 2022, filed the claim on Sept. 22. None of the allegations have been proven, and the city says it is hiring an "independent, experienced investigator" to review them.
Aitken denies the central allegation. "These allegations are extremely serious, and they deserve to be investigated. I did not use the racial slur attributed to me, and I have always been a champion of the LGBTQ community," she wrote in a Facebook statement last week.
The claim's ugliest allegation comes from an October 2024 hotel bar, where Aitken allegedly said she did not want Ballinas or then-City Manager Jim Vanderpool driving her car because she did not want a "dirty Mexican" and a "faggot man" driving her car. At a Disneyland event in May 2025, when Ballinas offered to drive the allegedly drinking mayor home, the claim says Aitken refused to have "a Mexican" drive her. In fall 2024, the claim says, Aitken looked at the cross Ballinas wore and called God her "imaginary friend."
The claim says Aitken repeatedly pressed Ballinas to admit she was a lesbian, in front of colleagues and friends, and kept at it after Ballinas said she is not. During a June 10 birthday lunch at Disneyland's members-only Club 33, the mayor allegedly grilled Ballinas about her dating history, then pressed a Disney cast member at the 1901 Lounge about whether he was gay or straight. Disney sent a letter on June 22 citing "rude, insensitive, and inappropriate remarks", called mistreating a cast member an "egregious violation", and put the membership on hold. Aitken asserted Disney's action was politically motivated, according to the claim.
Much of the claim centers on alcohol. Ballinas says she was expected to monitor the mayor at conferences, galas, and council meetings, arrange rides, and handle the fallout, with no authority to stop her. Aitken allegedly arrived at the April 22, 2025, City Council meeting appearing "visibly impaired by alcohol", then searched through Vanderpool's personal belongings and photographed them during the ride home. At the Disneyland event, the claim says, Aitken overruled Ballinas and did an ABC7 interview anyway, during which her speech "appeared slurred". During the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Tampa in June 2025, the mayor's husband allegedly called Ballinas around 2 or 3 a.m. Pacific time and told her to locate the mayor, pack her belongings, and get her home to California.
At a Palm Springs conference, a city employee told Ballinas the mayor asked him to pull Vanderpool off the dance floor and agreed when he asked if she meant Vanderpool was "being too gay." When he declined, Aitken allegedly called him a "pussy" and said, "Typical man, a woman has to do your job." After one Team Anaheim dinner, the claim says, the mayor knocked over a bicycle and later fell in the street. When Ballinas told the mayor's husband she needed help, he allegedly replied, "Don't we all?"
The claim also accuses Aitken of ethical lapses: the Qatar Embassy paid roughly $16,779.34 in travel expenses for the mayor's husband in May 2025, and when Ballinas raised it with the city ethics officer, the mayor allegedly said those inquiring could "bite my ass" and told Ballinas whether she reimbursed Qatar was "none of the City's business." Ballinas believes the expenses were never repaid. That sits next to Aitken's earlier boast that "I try to hold myself to a standard that is even higher than those of state law requirements."
The fallout is already political. The Anaheim Police Association's PAC, representing 400 officers, voted Tuesday to suspend its endorsement of Aitken until the allegations are investigated. Council members are set to discuss the claim in closed session Friday morning. The city has 45 days to respond; if it rejects the claim, Ballinas can sue in Orange County Superior Court.
Our take
Fuck the higher standard. Mayor Ashleigh Aitken's alleged standard appears to be the sticky floor of a dive bar toilet, and she's been licking it clean for years. This isn't a political scandal; it's a fucking hostage situation for her staff, who were allegedly tasked with following their boss around like human fucking barf bags, monitoring her drinks, arranging her rides, and cleaning up after she knocked over bikes and fell in the street. What a pathetic, drunken spectacle of a public servant. Her husband's alleged 2 a.m. cry for help - 'Don't we all?' - is the most relatable thing to come out of Anaheim politics in a decade. Yes, sir, we all need help living with this staggering cunt. The claim says she showed up to a city council meeting 'visibly impaired,' then rifled through the city manager's shit on the ride home. What is she, a fucking raccoon in a blazer? This isn't governance; it's a blackout binge with a government paycheck. And her alleged defense to the ethics officer about the $16,779.34 Qatar-funded hubby vacation - 'bite my ass' and 'none of the City's business' - is the mantra of a grifter who thinks the public treasury is her own fucking tip jar. She boasts about holding herself to a higher standard than the law, but the law doesn't cover being too shitfaced to let 'a Mexican' drive you home from Disneyland. That's just you being a racist, drunk asshole. The fact that fucking *Disney* - a company that monetizes childhood dreams - found her too 'rude, insensitive, and inappropriate' for Club 33 and put her membership on hold is the most beautifully damning review a mayor can get. When the house of mouse tells you your behavior is an 'egregious violation,' you haven't just failed as a leader; you've failed as a tourist. Anaheim's finest have already suspended their endorsement. Here's a better idea: suspend the mayor, directly into a fucking rehab facility and an ethics class. This alleged behavior is a masterclass in how to be a complete and utter prick with a gavel. What a fucking clown. She's not a champion of anything but her own vile, sloshed ego. The only thing that needs investigating is how this trainwreck was allowed to drive itself for so long. Absolute fucking disgrace.
