Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken, a Democrat running for reelection in a majority-Latino city, is under review after her chief of staff claimed she repeatedly called her a “dirty Mexican” and grilled her about being a lesbian.
Employment attorney Lawrence Lennemann sent a four-page mediation demand to City Attorney Robert Fabela on September 11 for Berenice Ballinas, a Latina who remains a city employee on medical leave.
The letter says Ballinas was made to drive Aitken home from events after the mayor had been drinking.
“On various occasions when Ms. Ballinas was forced to drive Mayor Aitken home, Mayor Aitken exclaimed that she did ‘not want her car driven by a dirty Mexican,’” Lennemann wrote.
Lennemann said the line was used more than once.
The same letter accuses Aitken and former City Manager Jim Vanderpool of a years-long habit, from 2023 through June 2026, of calling Ballinas a lesbian, pressing her to admit it, and questioning her dates and guests.
“Beginning in or about 2023 and continuing through at least June 2026, Mayor Aitken and Mr. Vanderpool repeatedly and habitually made unwelcome comments regarding Ms. Ballinas’ perceived sexuality,” the letter claims, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times, “including myriad statements and insinuations that she is a lesbian, directly referring to her as a lesbian, pressuring her to admit that she was a lesbian, questioning of her romantic relationships, and comments directed at her guests and companions.”
It also describes a June outing at Disneyland’s Club 33 and the 1901 Lounge at California Adventure, where Aitken allegedly commented on a Disney worker’s sexuality and ethnicity.
