A state watchdog agency that oversees public officials declined to investigate a formal complaint arguing that Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken should have disclosed that a foreign embassy paid for her husband to travel with her on an official visit to Qatar, a letter from the agency sent this month shows.
Aitken and her husband, Michael Penn, attended an economic forum in Doha, the emirate’s capital, in May 2025, and the Qatari embassy in Washington, D.C., covered their travel costs, Aitken’s public disclosure records and city emails show.
The state Political Reform Act allows officeholders to accept free travel above an established annual gift limit of $630 when they are on official business, making allowable the $16,880 in free travel Aitken declared for herself on a city gift reporting form in April.
However, the act doesn’t permit an outside entity to pay for their spouse unless they have an independent relationship with the gift-giver.
Penn, according to a private email from the embassy, traveled to Qatar as a representative of Chapman University, where he serves as a member of a volunteer advisory board, though his invitation was delivered well after the one sent to his wife. The private college in Old Towne Orange said through a spokesman that it had no official business in Qatar last year, but added that representatives often advocate for its programs in various settings.
A Fair Political Practices Commission complaint filed Aug. 27 by Anaheim resident Jeanine Robbins asked the FPPC to investigate Penn’s $16,779 in reimbursed travel expenses as a “reportable gift attributable to Mayor Aitken.”
“What I couldn’t find in the documents was proof that Aitken or Penn paid the embassy back for his trip,” Robbins said in an interview.
Robbins argued that Aitken should have reported Penn’s sponsored travel to the city in addition to her own. The FPPC generally presumes that a gift to the official’s spouse is equivalent to a gift to an official unless it meets the exemption criteria.
The explanation that Penn traveled on behalf of Chapman satisfied the FPPC, which decided not to investigate on grounds that Penn had an invitation separate from his spouse’s, according to a Sept. 16 response letter sent to Robbins.
“It appears that Ashleigh Aitken’s spouse attended the trip to Qatar through his own invitation that was received directly from Qatar for their position with Chapman University and not as a guest,” Kendall L.D. Bonebrake, chief of the FPPC’s enforcement division, wrote. “Therefore, the cost associated with the trip would not be considered a gift to Aitken.”
Asked for comment on the trip, Aitken said in an email to TimesOC: “The FPPC has reviewed all the relevant evidence and, as the state agency in charge of enforcement, has declined to open an investigation. This matter is closed.”
The Qatari embassy did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Robbins also raised the issue during the public comments session of Tuesday evening’s City Council meeting and said she plans to ask the FPPC to reconsider investigating the matter.
A TimesOC review of public and private records, as well as follow-up reporting, shows a complicated timeline of communications leading up to Penn’s separate invitation.
City emails reviewed by TimesOC show the embassy initially invited Aitken to bring a guest to the forum. Emails between a private account and the embassy sent later show the Qatari representatives inviting Penn separately on behalf of Chapman about 26 days after the mayor was first invited.
Anaheim city records also show that a Qatari embassy official tabulated Penn’s travel expenses as Aitken’s “spouse” for the mayor’s office days after the forum concluded.
A consultant working for Aitken’s reelection campaign confirmed Penn received a separate invitation as chair of Chapman’s board of governors.
While Robert Hitchcock, a Chapman spokesperson, deferred questions about the trip to Penn — who did not respond to a request for comment — he said the “university had no official business in Doha, Qatar in 2025.”
Hitchcock followed up Tuesday afternoon elaborating on his initial statement regarding the trip.
“Professionally and personally, our board members and supporters often talk about the caliber and value of a Chapman education and our many wonderful schools and academic programs,” he wrote. “From our perspective, there was nothing more formal about the trip than that and nothing ongoing.”
Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken’s attendance at the Qatar Economic Forum in 2025 prompted questions about her husband’s free trip.
(Courtesy of the city of Anaheim)
Meshal Al-Thani, Qatar’s ambassador to the United States, invited Aitken in a March 24, 2025 email.
“Costs associated with transportation, accommodations and meals for both yourself and a guest will be covered by the Embassy,” Al-Thani wrote.
The invited delegation included the mayors of Tucson, Ariz., Kansas City, Kan., Elizabeth, N.J., and Rochester Hills, Mich. Forum invitees also included businessmen Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr. and the chief executives of Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. In addition to the forum, a draft itinerary included dinners, meetings with Qatari officials, a museum tour and a visit to the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base.
Al-Thani advised Aitken to contact Michael Glenzer, an economic advisor to the embassy, to arrange travel.
Five days later, Aitken confirmed her attendance and requested travel assistance for her guest from a private email address. On April 2, 2025, she provided Glenzer with copies of her and Penn’s passports.
“I will need to purchase Michael’s plane ticket, given the California rules on gifts,” the mayor wrote.
Glenzer requested further clarification on whether Penn should be billed separately for meals, transportation and other costs.
“Mayor [Aitken] has to pay everything separate for her spouse as he cannot receive anything per California law,” Berenice Ballinas, Aitken’s chief of staff, wrote in an April 10, 2025 email.
Ballinas, who is on medical leave from the city, declined to comment for this story through her attorney.
Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken poses with members of the U.S. armed forces in Doha, Qatar, in May 2025. Her itinerary included a visit to the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base.
(Courtesy of the city of Anaheim)
Aitken’s campaign gave TimesOC a copy of an email dated April 18, 2025 that details the Qatari embassy following up on a separate, private invitation to Penn more than two weeks after Aitken provided a copy of his passport to Glenzer as her guest.
It showed a Qatari “Information Office-Washington” government email address as the sender, and copied Glenzer.
“We are reaching out to follow up on the invitation you received from Bloomberg to attend the 5th Qatar Economic Forum,” the email read. “While in Doha, you would also have the opportunity to meet with academic institutions in Qatar to discuss Chapman University.
“Qatari educational organizations have been exploring ways in which they can partner with their American counterparts, to build on our nations’ long collaboration in the field. The study of law is of particular interest.”
Penn received his law degree from Chapman in 2004 and is an attorney at his father-in-law’s firm. The volunteer board of governors he chairs acts in an advisory role to his alma mater.
The email noted that Qatar would sponsor Penn’s trip and urged him to contact Glenzer.
City records show that Ballinas and Glenzer exchanged emails about reporting expenses before and after the forum ended.
“We will keep all receipts and relevant records, and Mr. Penn has been in touch directly,” Glenzer wrote in a April 23, 2025 email five days after Penn’s separate invitation. “Please do let me know what you need for the Mayor’s records — I’ll keep everything I can think of.”
When Glenzer returned to the U.S. from Doha, Ballinas asked him for Aitken and Penn’s expenses. Five days later, he emailed a chart breakdown that included flight, hotel, meals, visa, ground transportation and hospitality gift costs.
Glenzer tabulated $16,880.34 for Aitken — the same sum she disclosed — and $16,779.34 for her spouse. He confirmed that the embassy paid for all expenses outlined in the chart.
In addition to disclosing her travel expenses, Aitken discussed the trip at an Anaheim City Council meeting on May 29, 2025. Aitken made clear she did not spend taxpayer dollars as part of a delegation of American mayors.
With Anaheim set to play host to Olympic volleyball at the Honda Center in 2028, she said she met with Qatari government officials at the forum to learn about their experiences hosting a large-scale event, the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
“It was extremely eye-opening and insightful, as it was my first time [traveling] to the Middle East,” Aitken said during the council meeting. “As the mayor of a city with a large Arab American population, I was so glad to learn so much more about this region, and I want to thank them for their hospitality.”
Sean McMorris, an expert on gift disclosures with the nonpartisan government accountability nonprofit Common Cause, said transparency is essential so “he public can make up its own mind about the timing of the [Chapman] letter in relation to the mayor’s invitation and communications with the Qatari government. The public and press are right to scrutinize matters like this.”