Ashleigh Aitken
Introduction
Ashleigh Aitken is the Democratic mayor of Anaheim, California — the city’s first female mayor — whose City Hall career was upended in September 2026 when her own chief of staff, Berenice Ballinas, accused her in a mediation letter of directing a racial slur at Ballinas and harassing her over her perceived sexuality. The allegations, reported by TimesOC and the New York Post, include a claim that Aitken exclaimed she did “not want her car driven by a dirty Mexican” and that she questioned Ballinas’ sexuality in front of others at Disneyland’s exclusive Club 33. No criminal charge or lawsuit has been filed against Aitken.
Background Information
Aitken was born in Fullerton, California, graduated from Rosary High School there, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in secondary education and history from Boston College. She worked in the Washington, D.C. office of Democratic congressman Dick Gephardt before becoming a trial lawyer at Aitken Aitken Cohn, the firm she practices with alongside her husband, Michael Penn, her father, and two brothers.
She ran for mayor in 2018, losing to Harry Sidhu 32.5% to 31.9%, lost a 2020 race for Orange County Supervisor, then won the 2022 mayoral election and was sworn in that December as the first woman to hold the office. She and Penn married in 2002 and have three daughters. By 2026 she was running for re-election, facing a challenge from Anaheim doctor Imran Sharief.
Berenice Ballinas, the aide at the center of the story, had worked for Aitken since 2022, sometimes driving the mayor home; she also sits on the board of EMERGE California, which trains Democratic women to run for office.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Allegations. The claims in this section are allegations from a confidential September 11, 2026 mediation request letter sent to the Anaheim city attorney by employment attorney Lawrence Lennemann on behalf of chief of staff Berenice Ballinas, as reviewed and reported by TimesOC, the Voice of OC and the New York Post. They were never admitted by Ashleigh Aitken, no criminal charge has been filed, and nothing described here has been adjudicated in court. Aitken has not responded to the specifics, saying she is limited in how she may respond and pointing instead to her record.
The letter alleges that on various occasions when Ballinas was forced to drive Mayor Aitken home, Aitken exclaimed that she did “not want her car driven by a dirty Mexican,” according to Lennemann’s mediation request to city attorney Robert Fabela.
It also describes a June lunch at Disneyland’s hyper-exclusive Club 33 and California Adventure’s 1901 Lounge, memberships that cost tens of thousands of dollars, where Aitken allegedly questioned Ballinas’ sexuality in front of other people and gossiped about a Disney worker’s sexual orientation and ethnicity. The letter claims at least two Disney employees separately complained about the mayor’s conduct, and that Disney suspended a third party’s Club 33 membership as a result.
Ballinas also named former city manager James Vanderpool, claiming that from about 2023 through at least June 2026, Aitken and Vanderpool “repeatedly and habitually” made unwelcome comments about her perceived sexuality, including insinuations that she is a lesbian, direct references to her as one, and pressure to admit she was one. Among other allegations, the letter states that Aitken pressed the Mexican American Ballinas to accept blame for a Christmas tree that went missing from another city department in 2024.
Lennemann writes that his client endured a “sustained pattern of harassment, discriminatory treatment and, most recently, retaliation,” that city medical personnel diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder, and that the 31-year-old is recovering on leave after brain surgery for an aneurysm. He alleges retaliation continued after the letter: the city withheld an approved raise, removed Ballinas from the city website, and suggested to outside parties that she no longer works there.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The letter became a public-records fight: First Amendment advocates argue it should be releasable under California public-records law as akin to a claim against the city, but when a reporter asked for it, city spokesman Mike Lyster told him he was free to file a public records request and declined to comment on the letter or its allegations, saying the city was still reviewing it.
On the Tuesday after the TimesOC report, Aitken acknowledged the controversy for the first time, telling the Voice of OC by text through her political consultant: “I am limited in how I may respond, but I can ask that you look to my record, my words, my initiatives and my values to inform your opinion of my character.” She did not directly deny the letter’s specific claims in that statement. Lennemann declined to comment, and Vanderpool could not be reached; he had resigned earlier in 2026 amid a state probe into an unreported 2020 Lake Havasu trip paid for by the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce.
Her election challenger weighed in: Dr. Imran Sharief told the Voice of OC that “Anaheim is one of the most diverse cities in America, and our leaders have a responsibility to treat every resident and employee with dignity and respect. The people of Anaheim deserve to know the truth about what happened.” The New York Post noted that the Voice of OC, which broke the mayor’s response, is chaired by Aitken’s father.
Current Status
As of the latest reports, Aitken remains mayor of Anaheim and a candidate for re-election, with the city still “reviewing” the letter and declining to release it. No criminal charge, council censure, or recall proceeding against her has been reported. Ballinas remains on medical leave while recovering from brain surgery, and her attorney says the retaliation she describes is ongoing.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The allegations landed at the worst possible moment in Aitken’s political calendar — weeks before an election she entered as the heavy favorite, now shadowed by a scandal her opponent is using to demand transparency. Her public response has been limited to pointing voters at her record, a stance that leaves the specifics of the letter unanswered as the public-records fight over its release continues.
For Ballinas, the toll is medical as well as professional: a PTSD diagnosis attributed by her attorney to the treatment she describes, and a brain aneurysm requiring surgery that has her on leave from the job she held since 2022. The mayor’s office, meanwhile, has lost both its chief of staff to leave and, earlier in the year, its city manager to a separate scandal.
Sources
- New York Post, “California mayor accused of making racist, inappropriate sexual comments,” September 23, 2026 — source
- Voice of OC, “Will Anaheim Release Letter Detailing Accusations Against Mayor Alleging She Made Racist Remarks?” September 2026 — source
- Wikipedia, “Ashleigh Aitken,” accessed September 2026 — source