.
.
.
Here’s the lede, lest I bury it: California Democratic Party Board Member Mirvette Judeh has decided to take on incumbent Florice Hoffman for the position of Regional Director for “Region 17,” which consists of Assembly Districts 65, 68, 69, and 72. This is a surprise to me personally: we’re friendly, we’ve worked together on various campaigns (including those of Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders), and yet I had had no idea that her candidacy was in the works. (I do have an idea of why I didn’t know, and I don’t take it personally.)
Florice, who has strong Building Trades support and traditionally strong ties within the women’s community — ties being tested this month with her support for Eric Bauman over former Emerge California Executive Director Kimberly Ellis for CDP Chair — had been looking like she might run unopposed. It looks like various of us independently tried to conjure up ways to change that, and Mirvette’s candidacy apparently become the consensus solution. Mirvette — who has also had good ties with people within the labor movement, but who is not a major player within it — will provide Florice with strong and energetic insurgent competition. The electorate is composed of all CDP delegates from the four Assembly Districts mentioned above; voting will take place at the convention in Sacramento between May 19 and 21.
Various kinds of nastiness sometimes emerge in such late challenges, and OC politics is not beyond being nasty, but we can all individually and collectively do something about that. If you get nasty calls or contacts — including veiled or stark threats — from people on any side of any race (not just this one), consider speaking up. I have my own views on these races, and would hope to ground them in factual assessments wherever possible — but beyond those views is the bedrock belief that votes should reflect one’s judgment of who would actually be better in a position rather than who has promised one the most goodies or threatened one with the worst consequences for “refusing to cooperate.” I invite you to hold me and those I support to the same standard as those whom I do not support — and blow the whistle without fear or favor on what you see happening either in public, behind the scenes, or even only to you. (Expect pushback if your story seems off.)
Now here’s what I started writing before I realized I was about to bury the lede.
* * * * *
Most of the attention in local Democratic political circles in recent months has gone to the State Party Chair race, where current CDP Male Vice-Chair Eric Bauman faces a challenge from insurgent Kimberly Ellis, with OC’s own hapless perpetual State Bar Ethics Board target Lenore Albert-Sheridan — yes, I will back that up with facts — also in the race to, most people seem to think, drain away votes from any gullible Berniecrats from Ellis. Aside from some other state officer positions, and some State Party Caucus positions, the most powerful races decided at the convention are the 20 (or so) “Regional Director” positions, each of which is the primary liaison between the state party and the four assembly districts they are assigned.
We few Democratic members of Assembly District 55 (represented by Philip Chen) comprise 1/8 of Region 15, represented by Bauman’s longtime assistant Clark Lee (one of the most affable people in local politics.) We have not much influence in much of anything there, and so far as I know no one is running against Clark. In the Southernmost portions of the county, Assembly Districts 73 (represented by Bill Brough) and 74 (represented by Matt Harper) are bound in Region 18 with Districts 75 and 76, both in San Diego County. This is an especially unwieldy district; DPOC members Denise Penn and Deborah Sklurnik are running against one Ellis supporter from San Diego (whose name I don’t recall.)
Most of OC — right around 8/13, if you do the math — is part of Region 17, which includes the County’s two Democratic Assembly Members (Sharon Quirk-Silva in District 65 and Tom Daly in District 69) as well as Districts 68 (represented by Steven Choi) and 72 (represented by Travis Allen.) This is, more than the others, considered “the” OC seat within the state party — the only one for several years that has had an OC resident as its Director.
For the past four years, that Director has been DPOC Treasurer and longtime Teamster’s Union lawyer Florice Hoffman. [Disclaimer: Historically, Florice and I are often antagonistic, despite having friends in common and sharing most — though definitely not all — views on political issues. Out of fairness, I’m going to try to avoid characterizing her in this story.]
Until yesterday, the second-to-last day of filing, it looked on the surface as if Florice would be running unopposed. Now, that has changed. Mirvette Judeh, a CDP Executive Board member, DPOC member, and a leading figure in the county’s Muslim community, has filed to run against her.
Note that Mirvette and I have worked together on various races, including the Bernie Sanders campaign, the Kamala Harris campaign, and for Jose Moreno’s City Council races — as well as being actively engaged with Anaheim’s reform concerns generally. (I can attest from that experience that she’s hard-working, reliable, honest, inquisitive, candid, and socially skilled. And really funny.) We both support Ellis for Chair, though I take it that I have been doing so a bit more actively. But while I knew that someone was likely to run against Hoffman, and knew (and liked) the only candidate of whom I was aware, I had had no idea that Mirvette was running until yesterday afternoon, hours after she had filed.
I really liked the candidate whom I had supported behind the scenes. (I won’t identify that person, who is not historically a close ally of mine, because the anonymous hyenas in the Liberal OC comments section would, predictably, savage that person’s reputation. If that makes you sick, you’re welcome to speak up.) But with the path having been cleared for Mirvette, I find myself feeling quite pleased — and not merely because I like her personally.
Suddenly, this race seems like a major opportunity for Orange County to remedy a huge deficiency in Democratic politics statewide: the glaring lack of Muslim representation among our Party Officers and Regional Directors. (If there ever has been one, and admittedly the party’s online historical records are pretty sparse, Muslims now active in the party aren’t aware of it.) So that’s the theme I want to focus on today: Orange County could elect a Muslim woman to be part of the central infrastructure of the State Democratic Party. A Muslim woman, in fact, who has everything she needs to be an outstanding role model.
When I spoke to Mirvette yesterday evening, she was all about the issues, largely “process” issues such as the breadth and composition of who makes decisions, “top-down versus “bottom-up,” and the manner in which the party’s leaders treat others who aren’t. When I pointed out that her candidacy was in some respects groundbreaking, it seemed like — if the thought had occurred to her at all — it hadn’t been at the forefront of her mind in motivating this challenge. Yet I want to start off today on a reasonably objective footing, so this is the story I think it’s worth telling.
Region 17 in OC is one of the few places in California with a large enough Muslim population, spread over the four Assembly Districts, that the desire to serve an underserved surpasses a threshold where the absence of that representation is truly felt. My sense is that the political leaders of the Muslim community in California have generally come from religious, cultural, professional, and issue-oriented groups, but not so much from the formal political structure in which all of this is supposed to mix. And Mirvette, with her deep ties to the community, gregarious personality, and passion for social justice — especially as a Muslim woman who won’t be subjugated — is an excellent person to blaze such a trail.
She wears her traditional religious practices on her sleeve (and most of her hair), yet like the best clerics and laypersons of other religions she is generous and engaging towards those of other faiths. She regularly makes common cause with the Latino community and the broader Asian community while taking an interest in the broader ecumenical issues — such as corruption in Anaheim and what it portends for future generations.
But she’s also a “get in your face and mix with the crowd” sort of populist leader. As the person who arranged and emceed a fundraiser for Dr. Jose Moreno’s campaign last year at Desert Moon restaurant in Little Arabia, she left any gender-plus-religion stereotypes one might have had in the dust. I’ll just say it: at one point, she challenged Moreno (who has had a reputation for being a little on the serious-to-solemn side) to a push-up contest on the dining room floor. What she did to that poor man would have destroyed a weaker soul — but, as you can see from the photos above, a visibly loosened-up Moreno took being thrashed (seriously, thrashed) by this athletic young mother in great spirits. (He had to. Otherwise he might have had to go another round with her.) The crowd loved it.
This may seem like silliness, but anyone who’s been involved in electoral politics knows that it is not. It’s a matter of having an easy way with people — some combination of interest, intelligence, decency, and above all actually liking the interactions with people who differ from you — and a genuineness that is hard to fake. (Well, maybe it’s easy enough to fake by the standards of other people who are faking it as well, but once you get out of the private pool into the broader world — something that we Democrats desperately need to do — then it’s hard to fake.)
As both a decision-maker within the party and a liaison between the central party and the local party and the Democrats (and potential members of a Democratic electoral coalition) beyond the local party, Mirvette would be a breath of fresh air. “Liaison” is part of the job description — and it also describes her perfectly.
Who knows what reports will emerge tomorrow, or in the weeks ahead, but this morning it’s just nice to recognize how the bounds of what is possible in Orange County politics just got a little wider.
**********
UPDATE FROM VERN: Mirvette’s announcement video, introduced by Victor and Monica.
Since this is a Facebook live video, I had to put it in the body of the story instead of comments.
Also, skip forward to 1:50 because the audio wasn’t working at first.
Progressive CA (D) Regional Director 'Region 17' candidate Mirvette Judeh (OFFICIAL) announcement for CA (D) Regional Director 'Region 17' campaign.>>[Technical difficulties until minute 1.50 forward the video to watch.]<<#Progressive#Region17LooksLikeThis#Time4Change#VoteMIRVETTE
Posted by Victor Valladares on Thursday, May 4, 2017
You didn’t mention a few things: Mirvette speaks 4 languages (including of course Spanish fluently), she’s a great speaker, she worked tirelessly for district elections in Anaheim – especially when Jordan was trying to sabotage them, and she is notably outspoken on LGBT issues, which is a refreshing change from older traditional Muslims.
Plus she led the MayDay Parade in flashy high-heel boots and veil, pushing a stroller.
AMAZING NEWS!
This is Great News!!!
Now Back The Homeless Issue!!!
When do we see a story on “Alfresco Gardens” the Plan that Nancy West has put together,.. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the “Inside Baseball” News And the Fact that Florice Hoffman and her bunch have to step aside in favor of a more progressive slate across the board..and ahead of next years midterm election.
Write one, Mark. We’re all volunteers here.
While I highly respect my good friend Mirvette and believe she has an incredible skill set and life experiences that will bring change to the face of OC politics, the job of Regional Director requires and in depth understanding of party policies and practices and the need for strong personal relationships in order to unite an entire diverse region!
Florice has spent decades building those relationships and has done an incredible job as Regional Director so far. I would suggest that with so much at stake in 2018 this is not the time to derail a hard working dedicated and intelligent Progressive party leader!!!
First of all, welcome to the blog (although I know that you’ve occasionally posted here before), my excellent and admirable brother-in-law! Thanks for your positive statements on behalf of both Florice and Mirvette. Mirvette seems to be intent on keeping this a positive and respectful campaign and I will try to respond in that spirit.
I don’t think that any aspect of “understanding party policies and practices” is beyond Mirvette. I think that our current County Chair Fran Sdao offers a great example of someone with limited party experience being able can step into a position and do an excellent job. This is a liaison position above all, and that requires someone’s have the time and inclination to reach out to and positively engage with the party’s disparate elements. I have zero concerns about Mirvette’s ability to do so.
What Mirvette (more so than Florice) does have, however, is a largely outsider’s perspective that I think is especially important to this position right now. Florice’s strongest personal relationships are largely within the “Teamsters-and-Trades” sector of the Labor movement and within our (meaning “your/my/her”) generation of the feminist movement, which in OC has tended to be upscale and Anglo.
I do not mean to disparage either in saying that, but I think it should be noted that both of those sectors are already extremely well-represented within the party hierarchy, statewide and countywide (as well as nationally.) Mirvette has strong ties to and the respect of local Labor figures as well — Ada Briceño would be her alternate in the position, to take one example — and the grace to establish good relations with those that she does not.
She also has strong ties to the Latino community (she’s Spanish-fluent and was raised in Puerto Rico!) and particularly to the feminists of color movement that Florice comparatively lacks. And, as pointed out above, her ties particularly to the Muslim community and to the Pan-Asian community address what is to my mind THE most pronounced deficiency in DPOC representation today. And Region 17 one of THE few in the state — frankly, I’d say the foremost if not only one — that can address the lack of ties between the Muslim community and the party leadership.
You’re right that a critical function of those relationships is to “unite an entire diverse region” — and I think that that’s a fair standard to apply here.
I wrote something for Labor Day 2014 — it mentions Florice only as an OCLF-endorsed candidate — that I think sheds light on the problems of uniting this region, about 60% of Orange County including its most Democratic areas: “The Great and Truly Essential Labor Movement and the Less Great One.” http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2014/09/the-great-and-truly-essential-labor-movement-and-the-less-great-one/.
I realize that I’m not at my most measured in this piece (which in no way reflects on the extremely measured Mirvette), but If you consider only the proper nouns and take away the sometimes pointed adjectives, I think that you and Florice would agree that her labor ties have historically been overwhelmingly tilted towards the latter: the portion of OC’s Labor movement that has been dominant — but that is both less “Democratic” and “democratic.”
Florice has been a great boon to her friends and an energetic and effective servant of her patrons — and I think that no one can argue that her friends and patrons are not and should not be a critical part of the central (in both senses) region of Orange County. She is formidable both as friend and foe. But when it comes to fostering unity, to building bridges, to incorporating diverse new views and perspectives — I just don’t think that there’s any comparison between them. Mirvette would bring something fresh, new, and desperately lacking. And she would also, temperamentally, be the type of leader who would bend over backwards to be evenhanded. Florice — who will STILL be DPOC Treasurer and perhaps the closest ally of the current Chair and still VERY influential in party governance — holding both positions would primarily reinforce existing power relations.
One can argue for the merits of either set of qualities, but at a minimum I don’t think that the tradeoff is as clear cut as you suggest. And as a reformer I think that the short and long-term upside of Mirvette’s increased centrality in the party hierarchy is by far greater.
(Too wordy for your taste, I’m sure, for which I apologize. I was born this way!)
I was worried I would miss the convention before I was done reading your response. We shall agree to disagree and I will continue to be a strong Mirvette supporter. Just not for this position.
Also although Florice is an attorney representing the Teamsters, she is also the attorney one of the most progressive unions in the nation, United Healthcare Workers West who consistently support progressive candidates and causes such as Dr Moreno’s victory over Disney and Brandman.
That’s true — and UHWW is a great affiliation. If all of her clients were of that caliber, she and I would probably get along better.
I like both women. I like the lawyer better for this position. Thats not to disparage Mirevette at all. I would NEVER buy a house from Florice! (JK).
I think the progressive Democrats in the county ate making great strides in intra party affairs, but am afraid at what cost.
Lets get Mirvette involved in some kind of outreach where her skillset is of the most value. Like Jeff said I respect both women. But, I think Florice is way more qualified.
BTW – Cheap shot with the photos. I mean really?????
Cheap shot? That’s the only shot I had of Florice at all, And it’s one where she’s posing with Melissa Fox and Alex Rooker. looking quite pleased. I did search online and saw nothing that seemed likely to be more pleasing to her than this one.
Mirvette has expressed the opinion that there are better photos of her out there — and sent me some. But I like these two because they give a good sense of her goofing around with Jose — and cracking him up, too, which is a rare accomplishment.
I’m sorry that you seem to think that I didn’t play fair here. I did my best to do so.
Mirvette decided to run for *this* office, and her outreach ability would no doubt be much enhanced by having this sort of position. If you don’t favor her, that’s your right, bit I don’t like the sense of telling her that she’s somehow aiming beyond where she should. There’s an unhappy tradition of that sort of thing with respect to women and to people of color, of which I presume you do not intend to be a part.
But to be conciliatory: what do you think that the “qualifications” for this office are and why do you think that Florice has more of them? We may differ on the first question, which could in turn be what leads us to differ on the second.
Well, someone who (like Lorrinda) has insider knowledge and a name I do not recognize has posted a more explicit attack on the photo I used than this one here:
OK, I see how this is going to go, “Frank Loera.” Well, then full disclosure — here’s the original photo from which it was taken:
I don’t recall where I got this photo, in which Florice appears to be giving Melissa Fox a “Regional Director’s” award in 2015, but it was probably either off of the CDP website or (more likely) in an email or something from Melissa spreading news about her receiving the award.
It’s the best photo I had of her. I do have some photos of Florice that I would not be likely to use (glaring, scowling, etc.) because they would seem like cheap shots, but this is one where she looks like she’s just had her hair done, is beaming, and is with one of her best friends and the VP of the Party.
If people want to say what they would do instead — refuse to use her photo at all??! That’s just SO respectful! — then I welcome the input. Instead, I’m filing these comments tentatively in the “try to gin up an outrage” file — a file that is generally brimming over here in OC’s Democratic politics.
So, in review: someone close to Florice thought that this photo was good enough to publish, Florice looks happy to participate (rather than it being some weird candid), and if that constitutes a hatchet job then I’m losing my touch. I think that “Frank” is one of the rare “persons” who simultaneously owes me and Florice an apology!
(By the way, for those unfamiliar with it, the “portrayal” of me that “Frank” mentions is not a photo at all, but an OC Weekly cartoon drawing of my sitting naked on my office chair at my computer. If anyone I knew did that to Florice as part of this election I would rip out all of their hair and feed it to them. Campaign on the merits, please!
#BOOM
And of course, you know everybody……
No, I don’t know “everybody” — but I know about how often I encounter new people in the general orbit of DPOC whom I would have expected to know, especially ones who would know people from as dissimilar orbits as Florice and Mirvette.
Now, I *do* have as much experience as pretty much anyone in OC politics over the past decade being personally attacked online by people with unknown and untraceable identities — and I am familiar with how they can be evasive and how evasive they can be. And I know how often those new personas whom no one seems to know tend to crop up at convenient times. But I do not presume that you are one of those mysterious entities. In fact, my intuition was that you were probably a real person whom I just don’t know. (“Frank,” though — he’s pretty clearly a fake.)
Anyway, you got my attention with your mild swipe at me about the photo — which I hope that my production of the original full shot has answered to your satisfaction. Did you get my emailed invitation to write your own piece on this race? Please respond to it, if so!
I don’t know these people, other than Mirvette, but I see nothing wrong with the photo of Florice. In fact, someone calling a clearly posed-for photo “unflattering” is rather insulting to the subject of the photo rather than the end user. The pic seems as accurate a representation of Ms. Hoffman as the profile image on her linked in, and actually a clearer, happier image than the one she selected.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/florice-hoffman-9452105/
This one is nice,http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2008/10/focus-on-the-ousd-school-board-candidates/
…. but it is older (2008?) and we have ripped on Kring for that so we shouldn’t use outdated pics. When someone is obviously grimacing, or an image is clearly lifted from video etc that is unfair. Most of us having a “resting face” that isn’t our best. But when someone poses and smiles for a pic at a public event, that becomes pretty fair use. Is this really all that is left to argue in support of a candidate?
Thank you. That was pretty much my reasoning, but you put it better than I could.