iNDICA News Bureau-
Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu has resigned as a federal investigation into his actions around a plan to sell the Los Angeles Angels stadium site gets underway.
The city, California’s tenth largest, announced that Sidhu, a Republican politician, had resigned effective today. His attorney denied any wrongdoing in the deal.
Attorney Paul S. Meyer representing Sidhu told indica, Mayor Harry Sidhu has always, as his foremost priority, acted in the best interests of the City of Anaheim, and he does so today. In order to continue to act in the best interests of Anaheim and allow this great City to move forward without distraction, Harry Sidhu has resigned from his post as Mayor effective May 24, 2022. Meeting the needs of the community has been and will always be Harry Sidhu’s top priority.”
Adding on he said: “A fair and thorough investigation will prove that Mayor Harry Sidhu did not leak secret information in the hopes of a later political campaign contribution.”
His unwavering goal from the start has been to keep the Angels in Anaheim so that this vibrant social and economic relationship would continue. Mayor Sidhu was appointed as a member of the City’s negotiating group to help reach a mutually beneficial agreement between Anaheim and the Angels.
“A Superior Court judge ruled that the negotiating group did not violate the Brown Act. The negotiations followed accepted lawful practices used in all major business negotiations. No closed session material, no secret information, was disclosed by Mayor Sidhu. The government affidavit confirms that Harry never asked for a political campaign contribution that was linked in any way to the negotiation process,” Meyer stated.
An affidavit from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) included in a court filing by the state attorney general’s office had said Sidhu may have shared nonpublic information with Angels representatives during negotiations.
The mayor has not been charged with any crime yet. The FBI affidavit was in support of search warrants. The FBI also said it was unaware at the moment if an Angels representative was asked for a campaign contribution.
Anaheim learned of the affidavit May 16. Following this, the city’s council urged Sidhu to step down. An agreement between the city and the state of California regarding the sale which deals with affordable housing has been put on hold, NBC News reported.
Anaheim has spent years negotiating terms to sell the stadium and the land on which it sits to a group led by Angels owner Arte Moreno.
According to the FBI affidavit, Sidhu used an intermediary to pass confidential information about those talks to an Angels representative and then sought to conceal his actions, Politico.com reported. An Angels representative did not respond to Politico’s requests for comment.
The affidavit has also claimed that Sidhu repeatedly discussed his intention to ask an Angels representative for U.S. $500,000 or more in campaign donations in exchange for his work advancing the stadium deal.
Meyer’s statement said the affidavit showed Sidhu “never asked for a political campaign contribution that was linked in any way to the negotiation process.
“His unwavering goal from the start has been to keep the Angels in Anaheim, so that this vibrant social and economic relationship will continue,” the former mayor’s attorney said.
