Things got heated at last week’s California Democratic Party Resolutions Committee meeting, as progressive activists trying to censure Senator Dianne Feinstein were rebuffed by Resolutions Chair John Hanna, who quite frankly is not having a great year. Not only did he find a way to stop the resolution against Feinstein, he also got into an altercation with an activist, as detailed on the Calitics blog, by Julia Rosen:
I entered the California Democratic Party Resolutions Committee meeting room with Eden James, Courage Campaign’s Managing Director, bearing our sign and easel. We found a free space at the front of the room and set up the sign.
Almost immediately, Resolutions Chair John Hanna approached us, demanding that we remove the sign. Eden politely asked if there “was a rule” against signs in the meeting rooms. Hanna replied “yes.”
Kathy Bowler, CDP Executive Director, then calmly approached me, stating that the sign should be removed because the room was getting full and she had staff she needed to get into the room.
John then grabbed ahold of one side of the sign, attempting to remove it from Eden’s hands. Eden, maintaining his hold on to the other side, repeated the question to John about whether a rule existed against signs inside the meeting room. John said “yes”again and Eden asked to see the rule, saying that if there was an actual rule against signs inside the room — he would respect it.
Increasingly angry, John threatened to call security. Eden, surprised, calmly responded that John “should go ahead if that’s what you want to do.”
Suddenly, Hanna then shoved his side of the sign and Eden at the same time, forcibly pushing Eden backwards. Eden held on. John shoved again, then pushed Eden’s shoulder back with the palm of his hand.
Stunned, Eden let go of the sign as John ripped it from his hands and threw it to the floor. An unknown person then picked up the sign and sprinted it out of the room, taking it to the staff room (according to Kathy Bowler).
Hanna later responded with a long apology. Here is an excerpt:
It was a stupid move on my part for which, before the Committee adjourned, I apologized for my actions. Following the Committee meeting I apologized personally to Eden (and I should have also to you Julia) for my unacceptable conduct. Eden graciously accepted my apology and he, Julia, Brian, Steve Preminger and I had a very thoughtful discussion about a variety of subjects including ways to improve communications between the party and Senator Feinstein.
It struck me, while reading about this fracas, that the Democrats treat their liberal activists the way the Republicans treat their conservative activists. They want their votes, but don’t necessarily want to hear from them. For example, Karl Rove was an expert at placating the Christian conservatives, while President Bush made a complete mess of our foreign policy and our budget.
And the Democrats keep putting people in the right places to stop the progressives. Hanna, for example, has endorsed at least two Republicans in the last two years – Congressman Ed Royce and O.C. Treasurer Chriss Street. The latter move blew up in his face this year as Street turned out to have a lot of issues – and even his longtime supporter John Moorlach called on him to resign.
On top of that, Hanna, as President of the Rancho Santiago Community College District, oversaw the spending of $30 million on the Carona Sheriff Training Facility, and most of their bond money was spent at the Santiago Canyon College, which lies in a rich, white area, instead of at Santa Ana College, which is in the headlines this week for not fixing their fire alarms, which have been broken since 2005.
And Hanna joined with Red-faced County/OC Blog editor Matt “Jubal” Cunningham in defending the actions of Monsignor John Urell, who covered up for molesters in the Catholic Church. That blew up too when documents naming the victims of these molesters were posted on the short-lived “Friends of John Urell” blog.
Hanna is a nice guy, except when he is assaulting progressives at his meetings, but he is clearly damaged goods. So why would Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres appoint Hanna to Chair the Resolutions Committee? The answer appears to be that he is good at using the Resolutions Committee’s arcane rules to stop the progressives cold.
Why do the liberal activists take this B.S. from their party? They ought to quit and join the Green Party, and mail their torn up Democratic registration cards to Torres. Now THAT would send a very clear message.
I notice it’s only “Red-faced” County Blog when you are taking shots, but when they are coming from the same side, like with Joe Dunn, you drop the “Red-faced” insult.
And what’s “arcane” about missing a deadline for submitting resolution?
Hopefully people will follow the link to Calitics and see that the activists involved in the altercation are much more forgiving and understanding that holier-than-thou Pedroza.
And Hanna joined with Red-faced County/OC Blog editor Matt “Jubal” Cunningham in defending the actions of Monsignor John Urell, who covered up for molesters in the Catholic Church.
Please point to a single instance where Hanna defended Urell’s actions regarding molestors.
On top of that, Hanna, as President of the Rancho Santiago Community College District, oversaw the spending of $30 million on the Carona Sheriff Training Facility, and most of their bond money was spent at the Santiago Canyon College, which lies in a rich, white area, instead of at Santa Ana College, which is in the headlines this week for not fixing their fire alarms, which have been broken since 2005.
What does the bond money have to do with the fire alarms. Art? And what does race have to do with either — unless your like you, who can’t see past a person’s skin color.
You connect dots that are totally unrelated just to slime Hanna.
It would take you more time and effort, but a little research and fact-checking would go a long way toward making your posts informative.
Art,
An honest report of the “incident” would have also covered this follow-up to Julia’s post. I wonder why you chose to leave this out?
I spoke with John Hanna
by: Eden James
Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 02:33:12 AM PST
Thank you to everyone who posted supportive comments in the aftermath of the sign incident with John Hanna.
Since I told you earlier that I was planning to talk with John, I can now tell you what happened.
In the interim period, many people talked to me about how to respond, some going so far as to suggest that I call the police to file a report.
Something about that didn’t feel right. In my gut, I knew that what happened clearly crossed the line (to be kind) but that I needed to talk to John before taking any kind of action. I did not know John but I felt I needed to give him a chance to explain himself.
He did, both publicly and privately. I wasn’t in the room when the meeting adjourned, but from what Julia told me, John offered a very sincere apology to the Resolutions Committee and others present for his behavior.
Brian (Leubitz), who is on the Resolutions Committee, privately asked John to meet with me. Juls called me and I came over to the meeting room shortly thereafer.
John approached me and immediately and thoughtfully apologized for his behavior. He was quite forthright and direct. I sensed that his regret was coming from a very sincere place.
We talked for a good 45 minutes with him, Brian, Juls and a two of John’s colleagues. It was actually one of the most edifying and intellectually stimulating conversations I’ve had in Anaheim.
While consistently acknowledging that what he had done was wrong, John then went on to talk about what led up to this altercation and how it might have been avoided. For example, he respectfully suggested that we should have approached the co-chairs of the meeting before positioning our sign in the room.
It’s a fair point. I am mindful that we could have made a more formal request to place the sign and easel inside the room. Crunched for time, we failed to follow the expected protocol. If I had to do it over again, I/we would have followed it. I’m not sure what the outcome would have been, but at least it would have started the conversation on a more collegial level, perhaps leading to an amicable solution for everyone.
I don’t know John that well, but I got the impression from our conversation that he is a very thoughtful, very judicious and presumably fair individual who overreacted to a high-stress moment with an uncharacteristic physical response.
I accept his apology.
Hopefully, this unfortunate incident can be a potential bridge-building opportunity with the Resolutions Committee members. To that end, I have invited John Hanna to reach out to the grassroots and netroots and engage our communities in a dialogue about the resolutions process.
In the end, as many of you know now, the censure resolution itself was not officially heard by the Resolutions Committee. A number of members objected to it being considered, due to its submission as a late resolution, per party rules.
You can read more about the Resolutions Committee outcome in a piece Rick Jacobs posted at the Courage Campaign.
Thanks again for your support, everyone.
Onward.
Eden James
Managing Director
Courage Campaign
Art-
You weren’t even there, you are taking excperts from other blogs to make salacious claims in yours. Real classy.
The two people “assaulted” (i was there, it was not assault)have already accepted Johns apology and have moved on.
I know you need to be “edgy”, but your blog is now beginning to “Jump the Shark”
Go back and talk to your hot sources that give you such good information like on Joe Dunn running for District 3… oh wait, that was a joke you took serious…
What is it with you Art where you develop these obsessions for or against certain politicians. First John Hanna could do no wrong, now he can do no right. I am shocked your obsession with Janet Nguyen has lasted this long.
Why don’t you get all the facts before posting. No wonder readership is down to just about 500 a day when it was nearing 700 a month ago. Obviously the voice of reason who left has taken some readers with him. Claudio comeback, I want to read this blog, but not with num nutz hogging all the attention.
Claudio the “voice of reason”?
Are you frickin’ kiddin’ me?
He is constantly comparing Costa Mesa officials to Nazi’s putting Jews into the oven. Is that what you consider as a “voice of reason”?
The reason you love Claudio is because he was a shill for the Democratic Party. I am a Democrat myself, but when folks in my party do wrong they should be held accountable.
You clowns get upset if anyone says anything against people like John Hanna or Al Amezcua just because they are Dems. If they were Reeps you would be cheering Pedroza on.
You are as bad as Jubal and the other myopic right-wingers.
Nice work, Art. You weren’t there, you haven’t talked to anyone who was there, you haven’t tried to find out the entire story. You just find a negative in a story and blow it all out of proportion.
It’s true Hanna lost his cool, just as every adult has done at some point in their lives. But unlike most adults who’ve lost it, Hanna stepped back pretty quickly and made an unqualified and sincere apology. To those in attendance at the meeting (and yes, I was one of them) the class he showed in his apology far outweighed the negative impact of his earlier behavior. But don’t take my word for it — read the comment quoted by Chris above. Eden James and Julia Rosen were entirely satisfied with the outcome.
Eden and Julia showed class too. It is with sincere regret that I write this, Art, but can’t say the same about you.
Art, you recently justified to me your attack on someone by saying you cared about Santa Ana, which you feel is in crisis and that the person in question is doing nothing to avert disaster. Fine. But your half-baked report on an incident at the CDP eboard meeting has nothing to do with the crisis in Santa Ana. It’s just mudslinging for the sake of mudslinging.
You should be ashamed. But I doubt you are.
Gila,
I am sad to say, but you and your cohorts at Liberal OC have become the Blue County equivalent to Red County. Partisans unable to write negatively about their fellow partisans.
Yes, the guy assaulted at your Resolutions Committee eventually had a Kumbaya moment with Hanna, but while that assuaged Hanna’s guilt, it does not undo the action itself. Hanna did in fact lose his cool, but look deeper. He was trying to stop the protester from sharing his sentiments. It was an act against free speech.
Hanna is a nice person. This act was not what I expect from him. But Hanna the politician has been a HUGE disappointment this year, as we have chronicled here. But you continue to give him one free pass after another.
And actually Hanna does have a lot to do with Santa Ana. He is a Trustee at a college district that includes Santa Ana College. I though you knew that. I have taken issue with him on the way the bond money was spent, and on the overspending at the Carona Sheriff Training Facility, and the way the alarm problem at Santa Ana College was overlooked, since 2005.
I wonder if Hanna has endorsed Pulido and his cabal over the years? I will have to look into that. I would not be surprised if he has.
You Democrats need to wake up. When are you going to speak out against Pulido and his cabal? They too have taken actions that are counter to our First Amendment. They recently took the second council meeting of each month off the TV. Last night they refused to allow George Collins to place an audio microphone near the Council, as he had to film the meeting due to their taking it off TV. Where is your liberal outrage over that Gila?
I am tired of the local Democrat activists who give free passes to their fellow partisan hacks. We don’t do that here at the Orange Juice.
BTW, all I did with this post was directly quote blog posts from Calitics. And I included links to the original stories. And still you found a way to take umbrage. Amazing. It is funny to see you guys circling the wagons around each other.
Am I ashamed? Hell no. In my opinion, you guys ought to be ashamed. I for one have NEVER accosted anyone at a party meeting. And I never will. If people want to hold up protest signs, let them. At least they give a damn. That is more than I can say for most of you.
Art-
I know you don’t like to let facts get in the way of a good story but your rant at Gila demonstrated that you really have the load, shoot, aim method down to a science.
As Eden now acknowledges I was not trying to have him leave the room but to go to the back of the room. Over the many years I have been co-chair we have had a few people bring in signs and other props. They have almost always come up to staff or one of the co-chairs and asked where they could put their props. The answer is always, if there is room, move it to the side or back so it will not disrupt the meeting. When I asked Eden to move the sign to the back he thought I said to move it out of the room. Based on the noise in the room and my demeanor it was reasonable to think I wanted him out of the room but its not what I asked him to do.
The disagreement did not justify me grabbing Edens sign–if he was unwilling to move it to the back of the room I should have had security do that. Eden was gracious enough to accept my apology but that still does not excuse my conduct. But my point is I was not trying to silence anyone.
I’ve been co-chair of the Resolutions Committee for 15 years and never had a problem with people and signs until this.
The censure resolution was late and it faced the same fate some other late resolutions met. Our rules require that resolutions be on time and if not the resolution needs unanimous consent. Virtually all the committee members objected to this resolution. This decision was appealed on the floor of the executive board and at least 80% of the delegates voted to sustain the ruling that it could not come up at this meeting. It will come up at the next executive Board meeting and now people will have notice. So no one is being silenced, they simply have to follow the rules. But your comment that I am there to stop progressive’s cold is laughable. This meeting saw resolutions pass that came out of the progressive caucus including opposing a pre-emptive strike on Iran and calling for the immediate withdrawl from Iraq of our California National Guard troops. One of my best friends is Tim Carpenter, Political Director of the Progressive Democrats of America. Give me a break…
Gila, Chris, Claudio and others have never felt constrained to criticize me when they feel I am wrong. But they don’t call me names, they don’t misrepresent facts and they don’t use guilt by association.
Art, I have respect for what you have done to shine light on the City of Santa Ana. And against ALL advice, I have come onto your blog by name to respond to some of yours and Thomas’s posts and to provide information. I don’t mind your disagreeing with me on some issues-good people can disagree about any set of facts and I don’t tend to walk away from fights. But frankly, I am thinking people were right in warning me not to comment on your blog. You have insulted me, you have called me names, you have misrepresented my positions, you have misrepresented the position of my District and , generally, you have been mean and spiteful.
I don’t need the abuse and whatever value I have obtained from reading what you, Sean, Thomas and the late Claudio have written is pretty much outweighed by the invective you’ve put out against me.
So, if Thomas wants to call me about things I’ll be happy to take his calls. But as for now and until I see a sea change, I am DONE commenting or even visiting this blog. Adios.
Poor johnny poo can’t take the heat! Give the libs hell Art!
Once again, Art reminds me of the Pharisee in Luke:
He then addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.
“Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity–greedy, dishonest, adulterous–or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’
But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
By the way, Art: you misspelled Dianne Feinstein’s first name in your tags. Weren’t you crucifying Trung the other day for spelling and grammatical errors?
John, this may sound crazy, but Art has been much more offensive towards other Democrats who he disagrees with. Face it, you have made a few mistakes and Art is calling you out on them. Life goes on and you and Art will drink together again another day.
“Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.”
– H.L. Mencken
US editor (1880 – 1956)
John,
Sorry for the late reply. I just got home after a very long day that included a two and a half hour Housing & Redevelopment Commission meeting, and two hours at Ralphs.
I have said this before, and I will do so again. John Hanna the person is a great guy. But John Hanna the politician leaves much to be desired. I will be watching closely to see how your board handles the Santa Ana College Fire Alarm Fiasco.
Whether or not you read this blog, the revolution will continue. I now know that neither of the major political parties has much to offer to the Latinos of central Orange County.
This blogger will continue to plot his own, independent way. Of course my writers have free reign to write whatever they want to. And some of them are still partisans. But perhaps they too will one day put down the Kool Aid.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
John Hanna may be a nice guy and he may have apologized. Art Pedroza may lay it on thick, as always.
BUT the chair of the resolutions committee needs to have a thick skin and a cool demeanor and Hanna clearly doesn’t. He’s the wrong guy for the job.
Hanna deals with the loony lefties and their loony resos for 15-20 years, loses his cool once (like anyone here can claim they’ve never lost their cool) and you think he needs to go?
What an idiot.
I have said this before, and I will do so again. John Hanna the person is a great guy.
Sure you think that, Art. That’s why you write a headline claiming Hanna “assaulted” someone. You’re so insincere is almost laughable.
Hanna is a grown-up, and you’re an emotional adolescent. Good for Hanna for shaking the dust of your crummy blog off his shoes.
Mr. Hanna, as a Democrat, please do not endorse any more Republicans!