Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken faces a 25-page staff claim alleging drunken outbursts, a racial slur and harassment as she seeks reelection, charges she partly denies while promising to cooperate.
Fox News Digital reported that Berenice Ballinas, chief of staff to Mayor Ashleigh Aitken since December 2022, filed the newly released government claim against the city and the mayor. Ballinas alleges harassment, discrimination and retaliation tied to her perceived sexual orientation, Mexican heritage and Catholic faith.
The filing also accuses Anaheim of failing to respond adequately after she raised concerns. A city review is underway and an independent investigation is expected. Aitken has pledged to take part.
The timing lands close to the Nov. 3 election, where Aitken is seeking another term. Voters will weigh the claims against her record as the process unfolds.
The claim lays out multiple incidents in which Ballinas says Aitken appeared impaired at city-linked events. One came at an April 2025 City Council meeting. Ballinas alleges the mayor arrived “visibly impaired by alcohol.”
After closed session, Ballinas drove Aitken home in then-City Manager Jim Vanderpool’s city vehicle. During the roughly 15-minute ride, the claim says Aitken searched through the vehicle and personal belongings and took photographs with her cellphone. Ballinas objected and told her to delete the photos because the information was private.
The New York Post described the same pattern of alleged intoxication at city functions and the car search after the council meeting. Those details match the core filing and add weight to the workplace complaint weeks before the election.
At a team dinner, Ballinas says she watched Aitken become “physically affectionate” with another person, touching and grabbing him. The mayor’s husband removed her from the event. While walking back toward the hotel, Aitken allegedly grew angry, knocked or pushed a bicycle and damaged its mirror, then fell in the street.
The husband later asked Ballinas to send a Venmo payment to cover the bicycle owner’s loss. When told earlier that Aitken was not OK and needed help, the husband allegedly replied, “Don’t we all?”
In May 2025 at Disneyland, Ballinas offered to drive Aitken home after concluding the mayor was too intoxicated to drive safely. The claim states Aitken declined because she refused to have “a Mexican” drive her.
On June 10, 2026, Aitken took Ballinas to Disneyland’s Club 33 for a birthday lunch. The mayor consumed alcohol and repeatedly asked whether Ballinas was a lesbian, according to the filing. Later at the 1901 Lounge, Aitken allegedly questioned a Disney cast member about whether he was gay or straight and about his dating life.
Disney later sent written correspondence to the Club 33 member whose membership was used. Cast members had reported “rude, insensitive, and inappropriate remarks” during the outing.
Workplace boundary problems of this kind have drawn sharper scrutiny in other recent cases, including when a Top House Republican demands ban on lawmaker-staff relationships after misconduct reports.
Ballinas alleges Aitken made multiple derogatory comments about her Mexican heritage and used a racial slur. She also says the mayor’s questions about her sexuality crossed repeated lines.
Around July 31, Ballinas was forced to take leave. She alleges retaliation after she reported or opposed conduct she believed violated laws or workplace rules. The claim runs 25 pages and frames the city’s earlier response as inadequate.
Similar ethics fallout has ended careers elsewhere. One recent example came when Rep. Chuck Edwards exits reelection after an ethics panel found a pattern of inappropriate conduct toward female aides.
Aitken posted a statement on Facebook last month addressing the allegations directly.
"These allegations are extremely serious, and they deserve to be investigated. I did not use the racial slur attributed to me, and I have always been a champion of the LGBTQ community,"
She has said she will participate in the city review. Fox News Digital reached out to her office for further comment. No additional statement beyond the earlier Facebook post is detailed in the reporting.
Accountability fights often turn on whether officials face the process or stall it. That same tension appeared when Fauci declines second Senate panel requests and his lawyer labeled the probe political harassment.
Anaheim taxpayers and staff now wait on the independent investigation the city says is expected. The filing gives investigators a detailed timeline: the April 2025 council meeting and vehicle ride, the May 2025 Disneyland refusal, the team dinner and bicycle damage, the June 2026 Club 33 lunch and lounge questions, and the leave that followed.
Political drama can escalate quickly when personal conduct collides with public office, much as it did when Hunter Biden and Nick Fuentes nearly traded blows during a filmed interview.
The claim remains allegations at this stage. Aitken denies the racial slur and points to her record on LGBTQ issues. The city has opened a review. Ballinas has stepped away from the office. The Nov. 3 election will proceed against that backdrop.
Public offices run on trust and basic self-control. When a mayor’s own chief of staff puts 25 pages of alleged drunken scenes, slurs and pressure on the record, voters get to decide whether the standards still mean anything.
