A very big fish has swum into turbulent waters of Anaheim city politics.

This fund raising invite landed in my e-mail inbox last Friday:

CFAF is an organization of Anaheim residents and business owners who generally support the reforms and the freedom-friendly, pro-business and pro-neighborhood policies adopted by mayor Curt Pringle and his allies on the City Council. In 2008, CFAF is interested in seeing Anaheim continue to move forward in this positive direction by electing Council Members who support Mayor Pringle's agenda.

The suggested donation amounts are huge for a city-related PAC: $49,000 for a "Diamond" sponsorship, $25,000 for "Gold," etc.

While Mayor Curt Pringle can't control this PAC due to Anaheim's $1,000 contribution limits, he is the one inviting the donors and has prodigious fundraising ability. When Councilman Harry Sidhu was exploring whether to challenge Curt for re-election 2006, the mayor held a blow-out fundraiser (also at the House of Blues) at which he raised $350,000, if I remember correctly. Harry got the message.

The point being, that the combination of these giant sponsorship amounts and the Pringle prowess at raising money translates into the Citizens for Anaheim's Future having a big warchest on 9/24/08.

The PAC is chaired by Virginia Zlaket, a long-time friend of Curt's and a very nice lady, to boot. Great deli, too. Clearly, as the invite's statement of purpose makes plain, the PAC will support Curt's political objectives in Anaheim.

The immediate question is which candidate or candidates Citizens for Anaheim's Future will support in November? Apart from the SunCal-Disney brawl over the Resort District, Councilwoman Lorri Galloway has been generally supportive of mayor pringle's agenda. Indeed, when she came onto the council in the wake of Tom Tait being termed-out, she replaced Tait as the third vote in Curt's governing majority (the other being former Councilman Richard Chavez).

Prior to flipping to the pro-SOAR/Disney side in early 2007, Councilman Harry Sidhu was a thorn in Curt's side and as I mentioned earlier, had explored challenging Curt's re-election as mayor.

Anaheim Planning Commissioner Gail Eastman has the support of SOAR, the coalition created by Disney and the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce to fight the SunCal condo project, among other things.

A fourth candidate, John Karczynski, is a protege of Councilwoman Lucille Kring. There's no love lost bewteen Mayor Pringle and Councilwoman Kring, so it's tough to imagine Karczynski gets any love from Citizens for Anaheim's Future.

Basically, you have three candidates who fit, to some extent or another, the PAC's self-proclaimed critieria, but only two seats. If CFAF ends up backing Eastman, that means they're picking an incumbent to toss.

The Disney-SunCal fracas had a fracturing effect on Curt's govenring majority, and I'm sure he'd like to finish his last two years in office with a majority as stable os the one he enjoyed in his first term. So it'll be interesting to see whom CFAF throws its weight behind.

I don't think Citizens for Anaheim's Future is a single election cycle creation. Readers will remember that earlier this year, Mayor Pringle sought to have some charter amendments (such as expanding the council to seven and creating an infrastrucutre trust fund) studied and possibly placed on this November's ballot, but was stymied by his council colleagues. I think it is a good bet CFAF will be the vehicle for qualifying those charter amendements for the June 2010 election.

Stay tuned...