Aitken, who is up for reelection next month, responded to the email later that day saying she reached out to leaders individually over the phone, she welcomed the meeting and denied the allegations against her but would only sit down with the leaders if Moreno wasn\u2019t present.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will not, however, engage with Dr. Moreno as I feel it puts me in an unsafe environment.\u00a0 If you are still willing to sit down with me under those parameters, I would appreciate your time to discuss these very important accusations,\u201d she wrote in her response.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/08.09.2022-Omar-Sanchez-Voice-of-OC-36.jpg\")
Anaheim councilman Jose F. Moreno at a city council meeting on Aug 9, 2022. <\/p>\n
Moreno said he endorsed Aitken\u2019s political campaigns twice and it\u2019s difficult to understand why the mayor would agree to meet with all the community leaders except for a particular person.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve supported initiatives that she has pushed. I\u2019ve also raised questions about some initiatives that she chose not to push. So I certainly hope it wasn\u2019t simply because I had asked in some instances over the past couple years, public questions about some of her actions. I certainly hope that the mayor\u2019s office of Anaheim is bigger than that,\u201d he said in a Thursday evening phone interview.<\/p>\n
Moreno said the point of the meeting was to hear from her directly about the allegations and to work on addressing the pain and impacts on the community the allegations have caused.<\/p>\n
Aitken said she looks forward to sitting down with community groups to discuss the allegations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look forward to sitting down with our community groups to discuss these ridiculous allegations. They seem to be a well-orchestrated attack before an election, but that doesn\u2019t mean people\u2019s feelings haven\u2019t been hurt. Community is more than just one person, and I intend to speak to any and all groups that will welcome honest dialogue,\u201d she said in a Friday text message.<\/p>\n
Aitken did not take a reporter\u2019s call about the controversy but said in a follow up text message her refusal has to do with her lack of trust in Moreno.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no trust there. Honest dialogue requires mutual respect. The fact that my response was leaked to the press only reinforces my position. The community deserves a forum focused on solutions, not a circus driven by those seeking chaos over connection. My offer stands,\u201d she wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moreno has achieved prominence as a local Latino activist by leading the community group Los Amigos, which has been meeting on a weekly basis in Anaheim to discuss Latino issues and concerns for decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Days after Aitken\u2019s Sept. 25 email to the groups, Ivon Pe\u00f1a, the executive director of OCCORD, replied on behalf of the leaders expressing their disappointment in the mayor requiring the exclusion of Moreno to meet.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the seriousness of the allegations and the concern they have generated in our communities, we are disappointed that your response would require the exclusion of a member of the very group requesting this dialogue and a member who has worked for decades uplifting our Latino-Mexican-origin communities,\u201d Pe\u00f1a wrote in a Sept. 29 email response to Aitken.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does not escape us that your rationale for trying to exclude Dr. Moreno raises serious racial\/ethnic and gendered tropes about Latino men,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are genuinely disappointed that you have refused a meeting with us as a community, as we sought to approach this moment with seriousness, transparency, and care for the communities we serve and the trust necessary in our democratic institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/CC-Anaheim-2026-Sawyers-7.jpg\")
Anaheim City Hall front entrance in Anaheim, Calif. on Sept. 22, 2026. Credit: Sydney Sawyers \/ VOICE OF OC<\/p>\n
Pe\u00f1a said community leaders just wanted a chance to speak to Aitken about concerns from residents about the allegations who were deeply hurt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe majority of us did not understand where these sentiments of feeling unsafe were coming from,\u201d Pe\u00f1a said in a Thursday evening phone interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were trying to convene not to attack the mayor or anything like that. We were trying to have dialog because dialog leads to accountability. We really believed in the importance of dialog and accountability because the mayor still has important questions to reflect on about her leadership, the trust of the community, and really what comes next.\u201d<\/p>\n
In her email response to Pe\u00f1a, Aitken said she was happy to meet with the leaders but if they can\u2019t accept her restrictions that was their choice not hers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a Woman\u2019s Studies major, I deeply contest the notion of a static \u2018Latin American gender culture\u2019.\u00a0 I also don\u2019t\u00a0 subscribe to reverse sexism, as it is a fevered response to women gaining power in the home and outside of it.\u00a0 Women do not have historic institutional power, making your framework indefensible,\u201d Aitken wrote in Sept. 29 email to the community leaders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI would caution accusing me of sexism and racism based on my email. The current movement of Traditional Masculinity and the calls for historic gender roles inside and outside the home is indefensible, and certainly not aligned with my values.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pe\u00f1a said it was disappointing to see the mayor double down on her response and rather than understand the community\u2019s concerns be dismissive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t reject dialog with her. We disagreed with the conditions she had placed on meeting because we were supposed to come together as community leaders,\u201d Pe\u00f1a said in the phone interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lesson on feminism and sexism was just really disappointing. Especially for myself \u2013 as a woman of color, as a Latina \u2013 it really missed the mark, trying to give me a lesson on feminism and sexism when those intersections of race and gender is something I navigate every single day, and I think it was really steering away from the point that we were trying to make.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Pe\u00f1a and Moreno emphasized the importance of due process.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur community has often been victimized with lack of due process. We\u2019ve often been railroaded and disparaged and diminished without due process. That\u2019s been quite often in the history of Latinos in Anaheim, let alone Orange County, let alone California and as a nation. So for us, due process is really important,\u201d Moreno said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Allegations Against Aitken & a City Council Response<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/CC-Anaheim-2026-Sawyers-23.jpg\")
Anaheim City Council meeting on Sept. 22, 2026. Credit: Sydney Sawyers \/ VOICE OF OC<\/p>\n
In a claim filed against the city,<\/a> Aitken\u2019s chief of staff, Berenice Ballinas, alleged the mayor called her a \u201cdirty Mexican,\u201d repeatedly questioned her perceived sexuality, mocked her faith, and drank heavily at government functions and events.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ballinas also alleges city leadership dismissed and minimized her concerns about Aitken\u2019s behavior.\u00a0<\/p>\n Aitken has denied the slurs attributed to her but admitted last week to having a drinking problem, going to rehab last year and relapsing<\/a> at a birthday celebration this past June.\u00a0<\/p>\n