The Anaheim Chamber of Commerce will shut down at the end of the month, the organization’s CEO told its workers Friday, after struggling to regain revenue from lost events and contracts in the fallout of a scandal that rocked the business group in 2022.
The closure will leave Anaheim, the largest city in the county by population and home to the Disneyland Resort, more than 150 hotels, upward of 15,000 businesses and two major league sports teams, without a chamber of commerce. The organization has struggled since it became public that its former president, Todd Ament, was facing federal criminal charges and had been tied to an alleged “cabal” exerting influence in City Hall.
The chamber’s interim president and CEO Jerry Jordan in an email Friday sent to the chamber’s board of directors said he was resigning immediately from his position and that staffers had been informed that April 30 would be the chamber’s final day of operation.
“I have put forth my best efforts to keep the chamber open, but unfortunately, those efforts have not succeeded,” Jordan wrote. “With the chamber now closing, I believe it is in its best interest of the organization that someone else step in to guide the final steps of this process with the dignity and care it deserves.”
Jordon, who declined to comment further on Monday, offered in his letter his support through the end of the month for the transition and to help employees with their separation.
“Staff is currently working and continuing operations of the chamber,” Heather Sievers, the chamber’s director of special events, said in a statement. “We await further direction from the board of directors.”
The board will hold a vote on April 24 to discuss how to close out the organization.
Dara Maleki, who owns The Pizza Press restaurant and joined the chamber’s board two months ago, said losing the city’s trust following the federal investigations was a significant factor leading to this point.
“When a chamber doesn’t have the confidence of the city, it’s going to lose the confidence of the business community,” Maleki said, adding, “A city of our size should not be without (a chamber).”
Key sponsorships and events the chamber once hosted for the city, such as the mayor’s prayer breakfast and State of the City address, drove revenue and awareness, but were lost after the scandal broke, Maleki said.
Ament pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges in 2022. He had left the chamber in 2021.
As the head of the chamber of commerce, Ament had straddled Anaheim’s political and business worlds. Federal investigators alleged in court filings that Ament appeared to lead “a small group of Anaheim public officials, consultants and business leaders,” a self-described “cabal,” that held regular meetings to “exert influence over government operations in Anaheim.”
Ament was a key witness in the federal investigation into former Mayor Harry Sidhu, which led to the cancellation of the city’s sale of Angel Stadium after it became public about the same time as Ament’s arrest.
Ament, who had been a close advisor to Sidhu, wore a wire for the FBI at a breakfast with Sidhu — a conversation that was used as evidence in the former mayor’s criminal case.
Ament and a political consultant in 2019 had devised a scheme to divert funds intended to pay the chamber to lobby for favorable cannabis legislation in the city through a public relations firm and into Ament’s personal bank account, according to his plea agreement. Ament pleaded guilty in 2022 to several counts of fraud and has not yet been sentenced.
Ament’s attorneys declined to comment. The chamber has had two CEOs since Ament’s departure.
City officials in 2022 paused all interactions with the chamber. The annual State of the City address was once a fundraiser for the Chamber of Commerce. When Mayor Ashleigh Aitken took office in 2022, the money raised for the event instead went to the Anaheim Community Foundation.
In recent times, the city has had some basic interaction with the chamber, including promoting business openings and several councilmembers appearing at luncheons hosted by the organization.
A major loss of funding hit in September 2023 when the city’s tourism marketing partner, Visit Anaheim, canceled a subcontracting agreement with the chamber.
Visit Anaheim, which markets the city to tourists, had subcontracted with the chamber since 2010 to promote hotels, according to a state audit released last year.
From 2012 to 2022, the chamber received $6 million in public funds, which auditors said largely came from Visit Anaheim hiring the chamber for work without the city’s permission, using the city’s tourism district funds.
Auditors said some of that money was used for political advocacy.
The chamber, when the audit was released, said in a statement that the contract’s terms allowed for the work. City officials said there was no record of a written request or approving the chamber to do subcontract work.
City officials had not become aware that the chamber was a subcontractor until 2018.
Now, the City Council receives monthly reports of all subcontracting agreements that require city approval.
The chamber dates back to 1895 and was a vehicle to promote the city’s businesses and represent their interests in government, according to its website. The chamber had $1.1 million in revenue for 2023, according to public tax records, down 56% from a peak of $2.5 million in 2020.