{"id":484972,"date":"2026-10-04T17:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T17:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/484972\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T17:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T17:06:10","slug":"claim-that-anaheim-mayor-called-staffer-dirty-mexican-is-old-hat-in-o-c-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/484972\/","title":{"rendered":"Claim that Anaheim mayor called staffer ‘dirty Mexican’ is old hat in O.C. politics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every fall, I teach a Latino History of Orange County course at Chapman University \u2014 from the Portola expedition<\/a> all the way to Huntington Beach\u2019s MAGA Latina councilmember, Gracey Van Der Mark<\/a>. The lecture last week focused on how anti-Mexican politics have always worked in Orange County and usually go on to be copied nationwide.<\/p>\n

I usually, sadly, have to update this lecture every year because the lowlights just keep coming. That\u2019s why this time around, one of my PowerPoint slides ended with \u201c2026: Anaheim?\u201d.<\/p>\n

Haven\u2019t you heard? A lawsuit accuses Anaheim mayor Ashleigh Aitken of calling her chief of staff a \u201cdirty Mexican.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stay classy, O.C.!<\/p>\n

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TimesOC writer (and my fellow Anaheimer) Gabriel San Rom\u00e1n first reported on the allegation last month<\/a>. He revealed that a lawyer for Aitken\u2019s chief of staff Berenice Ballinas was seeking mediation from the city after his client suffered a \u201csustained pattern of harassment, discriminatory treatment and, most recently, retaliation\u201d while doing her job. A legal claim filed soon after offered pages of alleged incidents detailing what Ballinas claimed she had to deal with when her boss supposedly had too much to drink while on city business. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s an ugly read, with incidents at Disneyland\u2019s Club 33, Angel Stadium and other Anaheim landmarks. Yet no passage is more damning \u2014 yet more Orange County \u2014 than when Ballinas claimed Aitken once called her a \u201cdirty Mexican\u201d in front of then-city attorney Jim Vanderpool<\/a> and said another time that the mayor didn\u2019t want \u201ca Mexican\u201d like Ballinas to drive her car while Aitken was supposedly what the British satirical magazine Private Eye would call \u201ctired and emotional<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mayor, a Democrat who\u2019s running for reelection, has denied the explosive charge in an official statement and during a recent council meeting. And yet the allegation against her now enters Orange County\u2019s long, sad spectrum of anti-Mexican political history.<\/p>\n

Just part of the list: Proposition 187<\/a>. Poll guards<\/a>. Trying to give local police immigration-enforcement powers<\/a>. When then-Orange County supervisor Ronald Caspers called a group of Mexican American county employees who demanded promotions \u201cbandidos\u201d during a 1972 supervisors meeting, then suggested the supes move the county seat away from Santa Ana because the city \u201cdoes not have a normal ethnic balance\u201d \u2014 in other words, it was too Mexican.<\/p>\n

Or how about when a Newport Beach council member, Dick Nichols, opined during a 2003 council meeting that he opposed expanding the grassy areas of Corona del Mar State Beach because Mexicans \u201cclaim it as theirs, and it becomes their personal, private ground all day\u201d? (Asked to apologize, Nichols doubled down<\/a> by saying, \u201cWhere the hell am I in any way discriminating or being a bigot by making a statement that is blatantly true?\u201d)<\/p>\n

My hometown is not exempt from this sad parade. Anaheim\u2019s schools, parks and swimming pool were segregated until the 1950s. In 1999, the Anaheim Union High School District board of trustees voted to sue Mexico for $50 million for educating the children of undocumented immigrants (The Times\u2019 write-up was the first time I appeared in the paper, although the writer misspelled my last name<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Why all the O.C. anti-Mexican hate? You\u2019ll have to enroll in my Chapman class for the full explanation. But the main reason is that Mexicans have long functioned as O.C.\u2019s demonized minority. When millions of O.C. residents have grown up believing the powers that be that all Mexicans do is work low-paying jobs and underachieve in life, no wonder politicians bash them again and again \u2014 and no wonder many Anaheim residents aren\u2019t giving Aitken the benefit of the doubt.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the Anaheim City Council announced after a closed session that it would launch an independent investigation<\/a> into Ballinas\u2019 allegations. Aitken had an eventful Friday of her own. She admitted on Instagram that she has an \u201cunhealthy relationship\u201d with alcohol and sighed to CBS Los Angeles<\/a> that Ballinas was \u201csomebody who I thought was my right-hand person.\u201d And while local activists have demanded she resign, O.C.\u2019s ascending liberal machine isn\u2019t asking for her head the way they would\u2019ve if it were a Republican official: Mayor Anaheim gave the opening remarks at the Orange County Labor Federation\u2019s annual Solidarity Awards gala on Friday night to cheers.<\/p>\n

Stay classy, O.C.!<\/p>\n

The week\u2019s biggest stories \"Steve <\/a> <\/p>\n

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton visits patrons at Victorio\u2019s Ristorante in North Hollywood, where a watch party was held for the CNN governor\u2019s race debate Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

(Jason Armond \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

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Retro candies, zombie-themed chips, ghost-branded coffee and large-scale movie characters can all be found at the Horror Boodega snack shop in Burbank.<\/p>\n

(Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s recipe \"A <\/a> <\/p>\n

(Genaro Molina\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

For culinary content producer Owen Han, his nonna\u2019s recipe for meatballs<\/a> is as classic as they come. She does not brown the meatballs but instead poaches them in the copious tomato sauce (she called it salsa di pomodoro, or sugo, but you might know it as marinara) so they are extra tender. <\/p>\n

Photo of the day \"In <\/a> <\/p>\n

(Nava Rawls \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Games \"Mini <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s today\u2019s mini crossword<\/a>, plus our other free, daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and jigsaw games<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Have a great day, from the Essential California team<\/p>\n

Jack Dolan, investigative reporter
Hugo Mart\u00edn, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters<\/p>\n

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>. Check our top stories<\/a>, topics<\/a> and the latest articles<\/a> on latimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n