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So last week, termed-out assemblyman Jose Solorio took me aside, offered me a drink, and tried to bend my ear as to why I should start supporting Jordan Brandman in the Anaheim City Council race.
Wait, let me back up a little. This was at a recent fundraiser for candidate John Leos, a “labor Republican” backed by an unlikely combination of OC Labor, the OC Register, Mayor Tom Tait, Lou Correa, Jose Solorio, and me. John gave his little speech, the Mayor gave his, and Jose said a couple of words, concluding “and sometimes I get in trouble for supporting a Republican like John, but that’s all right!”
Without missing a beat, I chimed in, “John’s the closest thing we have to a Democrat in this race.” I wasn’t expecting the laughter and applause I got for that interruption, or the high fives afterward. I realized, that even though I hadn’t thought it out that way, my comment really WAS a slap at Jordan Brandman, the nominal Democrat in the race.
And Jose realized that too. So he called me over to the bar, offered me a drink (I wasn’t drinking that day) and proceeded to tell me why I, as a Democrat, should behave and support the registered Democrat in the race. “Sure, you’re not going to agree with everything he does. But think about issues like abortion rights, think about gun control, don’t you want a Democrat in office doing the right thing on those issues?”
“What does abortion and gun control have to do with this race? The Anaheim City Council isn’t gonna make abortion illegal or roll back gun laws! But this Jordan fellow IS gonna keep giving away taxpayer money to corporations and billionaires, just like the worst Republicans, but slicker and with a smiley face!”
“You SHOULD be wanting to help a Democrat get ahead, and thinking about those other issues – this can be a steeping stone to getting another Democrat in the Assembly, in Congress some day…”
Yes, exactly the concern. I don’t know how well I expressed the fact that it’s precisely BECAUSE I’m a Democrat that I want to see THIS Democrat defeated, defeated by two decent Republicans (or a Republican and a Green if that’s possible.) Jordan’s power-kissing corporatism is precisely what I don’t want my Party to stand for.
And one funny undertone was that any criticism I could lob at Jordan also applied in spades to Jose Solorio, and he knew it. In fact it wasn’t long before he was all, “You guys are always trashing me for being MODERATE… The Party needs MODERATES like me…”
Really, it’s time to either define or stop using this loosie-goosie word MODERATE. I do not call it “moderate” when a Democrat stands firm on certain.. ok, essential, but ancillary issues like women’s reproductive rights, but regularly sells out the economic interests of the people he’s supposed to represent in favor of the corporate interests with the campaign money, persuasive lobbyists, and rotating-door keys. A Democrat’s or progressive’s NUMBER ONE PRIORITY needs to be looking out for the people’s needs OVER that of insurance, Big Pharma, the prison-industrial complex, banks, etc. Brandman, Solorio, Daly, should not be called MODERATES, but CORPORATISTS. And as a progressive Democrat, I’d prefer that they’d go and be MODERATES in the Republican Party instead.
And then, at Los Amigos…
So then, when we read in The Voice of OC Monday that Jordan ventured over to last week’s Los Amigos meeting, under the protection of Loretta Sanchez, and made them a couple of shiny liberal promises, we get the impression that, having seen the recent polling showing Jordan in danger of coming in a losing third, his handlers have ordered him to shore up his progressive and Democrat base. And I wish Loretta wouldn’t squander what progressive cred she does have helping out this notably unprogressive young politician.
Dr. Moreno sees it a little differently – his impression is that Loretta thinks Jordan’s election is in the bag or likely, and she wants to take one final opportunity to wring some progressive concessions out of him before it’s too late, in front of a crowd that will hold him to his word. Both could be true. But this crowd – the stubbornly non-partisan progressives at Los Amigos, who helped him get on the School Board four years ago – don’t trust Jordan as far as they can throw him, having been burned by the ambitious hack quite enough already.
It’s a little cringeworthy how afraid Jordan was to set foot in the Los Amigos meeting without hiding behind Loretta’s skirts – reminiscent of how Claudio Gallegos had to drag him to last summer’s Peace March and promise to be his escort. Watch Dr. Moreno set the record straight on Jordan’s recent record of snubbing the group, and see the embarrassing intercessions of his protective chaperone:
What Jordan got out of this uncomfortable visit, at the least, was a Voice of OC headline letting Anaheim Democrats and progressives know that he “Vowed to Support Living Wage and Council Districting.” But what really did these vows, both of them extracted painfully by Loretta, add up to?
He was ALREADY “faux in favor” of districting, and I think you’ll agree after watching the great video below, it’s hard to see how his highly hedged position has changed. I watched him give that August 8 speech on districting that he constantly references. For one thing he didn’t write it and stumbled over the words. For another thing it was nearly identical to the statement that Disney had put out that morning – both were written by Curt Pringle. Both consisted of nice words in praise of the idea of districting, followed by a plan to study the hell out of it for a year or two so that it MAY finally go into effect by Nov 2014 or 16, while we continue to waste money fighting the ACLU over the same matter, and the current power brokers stay in power. And it’s exactly what the Council majority actually set in “motion” that day – Districts SOME DAY. Until then, the status quo. Jordan and his handlers understandably don’t feel the URGENCY about this that progressives like Los Amigos do – they’re doing just fine under the status quo.
Watch this video, thoughtfully taken by Hoagy Holguin – it begins with a concise list from Dr. Moreno of progressive grievances against Jordan; it paints a priceless portrait of a waffling politician, and it ends – keep your ears open – with Loretta scolding “Just stop while you’re ahead, Jordan!”
So we got Jordan’s vague, confusing promise to proceed with districting, extracted by Loretta, versus Leos and Kring’s pledge to settle with the ACLU (extracted by Mayor Tait in the case of Lucille.) And with Leos and Kring we also have the promise to put hotel subsidies to a vote of the people, which we would NEVER get from Jordan.
Then, what about this pledge to support a “Living Wage?” Dr. Moreno called that “huge” in a friendly moment, but is it? The Voice’s Adam admits that “what a living wage ordinance would look like isn’t yet clear,” but even if Jordan were allowed by his handlers to “agendize” the item, which is all he promised, it wouldn’t get more than Jordan’s and John Leos’ votes – Mayor Tait ain’t THAT liberal. So, no danger really of Disney and the resorts actually having to cough up extra money for their workers.
One more short video of my friend Alejandro Moreno questioning why Jordan wouldn’t show up without the protection of Loretta:
Police brutality?
WHAT police brutality?
The most astonishing, revealing part of Adam’s article was this:
Moreno asked Brandman whether he believed that “police brutality” existed in some neighborhoods.
Brandman first reacted with shock. “Police brutality?” He asked in a befuddled tone.
The candidate then said that he has heard stories, but hasn’t “firsthand observed this.” He said that when on the City Council, he will have access to the police chief and police reports to make his judgment.
Some attendees criticized Brandman for relying so heavily on police officers’ version of the events…
… “To say that I don’t know it’s happening means you’re not living in the community,” Moreno said.
You think? It wasn’t just one brain fart either – last night at the Anna Drive forum he repeated his belief that there’s no police brutality in Anaheim. ON ANNA DRIVE HE SAID THAT! Even the three Republican recipients-of-police-money candidates Leos, Chuchua and Kring admitted there’s police brutality, Chuchua offering a tale of HIS OWN SON who was told by Anaheim cops to “run so they could shoot him.” (hat-tip Ricardo)
Why does Jordan think there was even a forum on Anna Drive? Why does he think there was a Peace March that Claudio dragged him to? Why does he think the August 8 meeting was held at the high scchool?
What Anaheim does Jordan Brandman live in?
*
Meanwhile, on the Investigation into Misuse of School Board Resources Front:
So, yesterday, the DA began looking into the long-festering allegations that Brandman, a school district trustee, has been improperly using district resources for his campaign. Fellow trustee Katherine H. Smith, one of the main driving forces behind the investigation, is frustrated beyond words at claims of political timing – the fact is, she’s been blowing the whistle on Jordan for months but has constantly been stonewalled by higher-ups.
Katherine feels that what she’s doing is the best for Jordan; she has known too many politicians who think that rules don’t apply to them, and believes that if he doesn’t learn his lesson now, he’ll be getting in a lot more trouble once he gets higher on the ladder he’s so intent on scaling.
And this is a lot more than the mere usage of a laptop which was the only item Jason was able to report on a few weeks back. Namely the DA is looking into three allegations:
- Contributors to Jordan’s campaign meeting with the District to do business with them, at Jordan’s referral;
- the use of a rarely-used air-conditioned “side office” belonging to the District for both business and campaign purposes; and
- something Cathy has no firsthand knowledge of, but has long been rumored and is being investigated – the work of district staff, possibly including the Public Information Officer, on Jordan’s campaign.
We’re accustomed to nothing coming of Tony Rackaucka’s “investigations” into well-connected OC politicians – does that category include Jordan Brandman? Will anything come of this? Probably not before the election, but let’s see. You heard it on the Orange Juice first!
Bless Jordan’s heart, but…
Bless his heart, but he shouldn’t be a politician. He does obviously want everybody to love him, but he’s naturally most strongly drawn to and identifies with the most powerful interests in town – right now that’s Curt Pringle, Disney, developers, the police. If he gets to Sacramento next decade, if he gets to Washington later, it could be anyone. Katherine Smith is right that for all of our sakes this political career needs to be nipped in the bud.
If you are a Democrat or progressive in Anaheim who wants to vote for the two candidates who most share your values, you should vote for Duane Roberts and John Leos. If you are more pragmatic and your priority is defeating Jordan and helping break Anaheim out of the “Pringlehold” it’s been in, you should vote for the frontrunners, the Mayor’s choice, Leos and Kring.
And that’s my endorsement!
Useful analysis, Vern. As you know, being a Central Committee member I’m not permitted to endorse anyone but Jordan, who is the party’s endorsed candidate, so I’m staying out of the “who should one vote for” question. I am going to take issue with one thing that you’ve said, though — because I still have higher hopes for Brandman than do you.
I think that he’ll win this race — but that he will be politically wounded from it. That may or may not matter — we’ll know more about that when we see how Solorio and Daly fare in the years to come — but while he’s certainly in danger of the sort of future that Ms. Smith suggests, I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion.
In some ways — and I am not urging this, just making an observation — the best thing that could happen to Jordan Brandman personally and politically this year would be for him to lose.
Imagine that scenario: it would be a complete shock to him. He would have taken the safe (but compromised) path of Solorio, Daly, and many preceding them — and it would not have worked! His operating assumption seems to be that if you take that safe path, the one thing that you get out of it is that it WILL work. Learning otherwise would be a real tonic for his sensibilities and his soul.
As I’ve said before, I like Jordan. Unlike Solorio, he seems to take no relish in serving the dark side of politics; he just accepts that it’s a nasty world and one has to do what one must do. He’s smart, humane, and from what I understand from others he’s a true and good friend. He just thinks that being a pawn of commercial interests is necessary to succeed in politics. Perhaps he’s right; I certainly hope not, and not merely for selfish reasons.
Jordan has had all sorts of advantages this year — beyond even the swelling war chest. County Party chair Frank Barbaro misses no opportunity to tout him as “the future of the county Democratic Party.” He has Solorio pushing him; he has Loretta (for what I agree with Dr. Moreno are benign reasons) pushing him. What if, despite all of those advantages, he discovered that the public rejected him at the polls?
That would lead to serious soul-searching — and I think that he would have to come to the conclusion that the easy path, the path lined with gold, is not necessarily the safest path for him after all. It’s not the safest path for him because, at base, he’s not a complete jerk. HIs supporters seem to want him to learn how to be one, but he’s not quite there and may never be. He retains some, perhaps suppressed, empathy. And if he wants a role model of how to be a real moderate, rather than a stumbling block, in Orange County, he does have one available to him in Loretta Sanchez. No one I know, even her detractors, considers her to be the equivalent of a Solorio.
Solorio certainly has a point that we have to support up-and-comers, which is why I’m so happy to support people like Jay Chen, Sharon Quirk-Silva, Dr. Moreno, Jill Hardy, Bao Nguyen, Cyril Yu, and some of the Santa Ana Barons. We don’t need to do so completely indiscriminately — I, for example, cannot imagine supporting Jose Solorio for any higher office (with the possible exception of Supervisor, and there only because he wouldn’t be legislating much) because he’s shown himself to an untrustworthy fifth column within the party. Jordan should take a good look at Solorio in choosing his path.
Jordan is smart, a good speaker, and has a lot of the skills that local Democrats want in a leader. But, in some respects, he’s blowing it — partly by listening too closely to the blandishments of people who want to use him for their ends. We are, in a sense, fighting for his soul — trying to keep him out of the can of Pringle’s. You can see that battle even in the Los Amigos clip, where people are just tapping him with a clue stick rather than bashing him over the head with it. They want him to do right, to do good.
As it stands, I’m not opposed to Jordan’s political rise. I would take him over John Leos for Assembly — but let’s face facts, John Leos isn’t going to be elected to the Assembly. Scott Baugh will fricassee him if he tries running as a Republican, and with his socially conservative policies on abortion and such (which don’t matter much on the Anaheim council) he is not likely to get serious support as a Democrat. I’d rather have Jordan in higher office than Kring, or than Tait, or for that matter than Correa or certainly than Solorio. But he’s not going to be able to soft-soap the people whose support he needs forever. A loss in this election, as I don’t expect to see, would confront him with that. Without that, I guess his awakening will have to come later.
That’s why I’m not willing to say that “he shouldn’t be a politician,” and so on. He is already a fine politician. Now he has to devote himself to becoming a GOOD politician — “good” referring not to his proficiency, but to his virtue.
Boy, do *I* come off as naive here….
Without commenting on Jordan (you know how I feel about this) I would like to share a shameless plug for an event that begins in a few hours, Vern asked me to share.
From 5:30 to 7:30 tonight at the Good Food Court at Center Street Promenade (opposite City Hall) we are invited to celebrate Mayor Tom Tait’s birthday. He is hosting a fundraiser for candidates Lucille Kring and John Leos, and checks can be made out directly to the candidates, at $99 for the event (such the deal) please come and support the Mayor.
Vern is entertaining the guests this evening so be sure to stop and tell him you saw the event on his blog, I do not get to go, Cinderella misses the ball. But please go lend your support, and say Howdy to Vern. Really, specifically say Howdy all night see if it creeps him out. Just a thought.
Boy howdy! I better head back around the corner myself momentarily…
Another tour de force by Vern Nelson.
Brilliant and incisive.
Well done, Vern.
I believe the video shows a complete disconnect from the community, in particular the Latino community that helped elect Jordan and other local elected officials.
Here, it’s all about a few politicians serving themselves and taking for granted a Latino constituency that will be told there is no alternative… so take it or leave it.
As Greg says, take the “Dark side, take “someone who is a pawn to commercial interest” over the community’s interests, and we’ll hope that we’ll save his “soul” through his “repressed empathy” or hopefully a loss will fix him.
I think he is old enough to make his choices and if he wins, he’ll favor those who helped him; SOAR, DISNEY and the corporate community.
I’m saying he’s lying that he is his own man but if I’m wrong then good for the Anaheim community.
Not much more needs to be said about Brandman than the fact that his main defender on the OC blogosphere is Matt “Jerbal” Cunningham, who will shill for anyone for money. I use the word “shill” accurately as, not only is he secretly getting paid, but his new blog is still anonymous even though we all know it’s him. We know that Jerbal is now working (“wordsmithing” as he calls it) for Curt Pringle. Hence, even though he still pretend to be a “conservative” he shills on his blog for Brandman and Chavez Lodge, while attacking all who oppose them – John Leos, Lucille Kring, Mayor Tait, Save Anaheim’s Jason.
I won’t link to him here because I don’t want to get his readership up into the double digits. But I was reminded of his existence today when he linked to this story, focusing on my line “John Leos is the closest we have to a Democrat in this race.” Jerbal obviously feels that the fact I said that will be real damaging to John among Republican voters. That’s of course if anyone read Jerbal’s blog, or if any Republicans or anyone else in the county took Jerbal seriously.
Obviously I meant that as a compliment coming from a Democrat, and I meant that John is someone who will look out for the little guy, working people, minorities, attributes we tend to associate with Democrats rather than Republicans – despite some of John’s other strong Republican positions. And anyone who takes the time to click on Jerbal’s link and read my story will know that. Unfortunately, I have got exactly zero traffic thus far from that link. Poor, poor, pathetic Jerbal. Oh well, let Pringle keep throwing his money away on the County’s least credible blogger, he can afford it.
Part of the problem may be that I disabled the link on his pseudonym that would send people from here to his story, as I normally do with those are trying to sell questionable products through this site without adding to the discussion here. I meant to let you know, but it just didn’t seem that important.
Oh, I was being tongue-in-cheek when I wrote “unfortunately.” I was GLAD that Matt’s apparently getting zero traffic. So you think a couple of people MIGHT actually have read his piece, clicked over here, and our software not picked it up, huh?
Vern, it’s amazing how you can “know” so much that isn’t true. Do you arrive at this knowledge via discussions with others who are equally lacking in knowledge? And for a blog that’ only been around for 3 weeks, my new one is getting pretty good traffic, thank you.
Too bad that in the end, the best you can manage is to call me names.
Am I right in thinking that “a blog that’s only been around for 3 weeks” typically gets pretty much no traffic, meaning that your claim is literally stating that you’re getting more traffic than pretty much nothing?
I give you your due congratulations. By the way, my grandson is looking pretty much like he could be an NBA star, for someone who’s only been around for about half as long as your blog.
No, Greg. I mean it gets good traffic. Man, you can be thick.
You wrote ” for a blog that’ only been around for 3 weeks, my new one is getting pretty good traffic, thank you.” Intriguing by the conditional statement, I decided to drill down. Thanks for clarifying — presuming that I know what you think constitutes “good,” but I won’t pursue that.
Oh, one more thing: My new blog isn’t anonymous. It says on the “About” page that I am running it (apologies for confrontting you with a truth).
Pretty anonymous for an Orange County political blog, though, one might say!
Not really.
I’m not very practiced with WordPress.com. The box for displaying the author name on the post is checked, but nothing. I am trying to rectify it because I’ll be adding bloggers and want to avoid confusion.
Just put up a “mouse ears” logo. We’ll get the idea.
Disney has a deal with OCEA where neither will attack Brandman OR Leos. Pringle and other Chamber / developer interests aren’t under any such strictures to refrain from attacking Leos. And they’re holding out for Brandman AND Chavez Lodge.
When the site first went up it was anonymous and stayed that way until very recently. Now that you have disclosed it is the work of Matt Cunningham, how about the full disclosure? It needs to read that you are part of the team of (who is your client?) and if part of a PAC needs to disclose that as well. Being paid to blog is fine, but disclose that with the usual disclaimer, it is something you used to do routinely. Matt, since you have been known to blog for pay, but fail to share that information, it leaves readers with the question of when you are sharing your personal views, vs when you are using your professional skills. You could put to rest a lot of the bickering by simply publicly disclosing when you are part of a team, and when you are airing your own opinions.
Very courteously put, Cynthia. Matt, are you being paid, and if so, who’s paying you? We’re all going to know soon enough.
Cunningham, Cunningham, Cunningham. It’s amazing how you can ALWAYS be on the wrong side of everything. In my last six years of blogging and activism, I’ve made friends – temporary allies – with dozens of Republicans and conservatives, generally in fighting for the public interest against the schemes of big money boys. But no matter what, Jerbal is always on the other side.
He was on the wrong side during the OC Fairgrounds Swindle – not in a big enthusiastic way since he wasn’t getting paid, but he used his perch at Red County mostly to ridicule Swindle opponents.
Of course he and his wife were stridently against gays getting equal rights during Prop 8 time because they were getting paid. Real conservatives weren’t lowering themselves to finding partisan advantage by agitating to have the government tell us who we Americans could or couldn’t marry.
He was against the Fullerton Recall of those three useless RINOs. He lobbed bombs at Julio Perez for the benefit of corporatist DINO Tom Daly He enthusiastically backs every developer’s scheme to develop our little remaining open space, especially if they pay him for it as they are in Orange.
He backed the one-sided giveaway in Anaheim of $158 million to one hotel developer, and concocted some half-assed argument about how opposing such corporate welfare and wanting to put it to a popular vote is a “progressive” idea and not “conservative” – sounding like he ripped some page out of a Glenn Beck book.
He backs the OCTA scheme to take two of our taxpayer-owned lanes on the 405 and turn them into toll lanes – in opposition to nearly every conservative and Republican in this county who’s weighed in on this except for the loonie libertarian theorist Don Hansen and Matt’s wife’s hinky boss Bill Campbell.
Now he continues the lengthy self-parody coda to his career by shilling for the two Anaheim candidates that all conservatives AND progressives agree are the worst – corporatist DINO Brandman and lying dirty-cop corporatist RINO Chavez Lodge.
That’s Jerbal. ALWAYS on the wrong side of history, and always on the side of scams to rip off the public, especially if he’s getting paid for it. (But even, as a natural reflex, when he’s not.)
PS I also won’t bring any attention to his trashy new blog because it contains malicious and INACCURATE personal attacks on friends of mine, but getting into detail will bring too much attention so I won’t.
Wow. You have become Art Pedroza. Must be something about running this blog that renders its proprietor prickly, ill-informed, self-righteous, self-important and given to conspiracies and substituting insult for argument. It is really is laughable, Vern, how consistently wrong you are about so many things.
Gee, and here I thought you would be complimenting me for my good manners in not bringing up Urell or First Five.
And equally laughable is how you have annointed yourself the judge of who is and is not a conservative, especially on something like marriage. And I’ll apologize again for bringing you into the vicinity of the truth, but I didn’t work on the Prop. 8 campaign. My wife Laura.
But you’re a fool if you think that has anything to do with our recognition that marriage has its own intrinsic nature, and is not subject to being re-defined according to the whims of the age or the dictate of government.
That’s another Pedroza-esque quality you have, Vern: the inability to disagree with someone else’s opinion without tearing them down personally. For example, you cannot simply present your case about why you think I am wrong about marriage — you have to claim (falsely) that I only hold that position because I was getting paid to.
Oh, this sounds like fun, Matt — please spell out your position on marriage!
I sort of wish that this weren’t happening in comments to a story on Jordan Brandman, but some things can’t be helped.
I sure hope he doesn’t take you up on that – I’ve heard plenty of his tortured sophistry on that subject.
Note that while he says I’m wrong about a million things, all he can come up with is that HE didn’t get paid for fighting marriage equality. Note also that I DIDN’T say he got paid, I said THEY referring to his and his wife. Same damn gay-hating household. Also getting paid a lot was his good friend Jeff Flint, in one of the first big gigs for his Schubert-Flint consulting firm, whose inaugural bash Jerbal organized. Ah, how I remember how terrified a few of us good Americans had him when he thought that event would be overrun by gay yippie terrorist protesters. Good times, relive them here: http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2008/08/jubals-terror-unfounded-schubert-flint-not-overrun-by-gay-yippie-bloggers/
Good times, except the fascists won temporarily, with the help of lies and Mormon cash, and for several years now our gay brothers and sisters have had to live as second-class citizens. For now….
ALWAYS on the wrong side of history, that Jerbal. One wonders how he would have justified segregation back in 1965. One wonders how he and Laura would have fought against women’s suffrage back in 1910. One wonders how he would have justified the peculiar institution of slavery back in 1850. One wonders how he would have stridently blogged against colonial independence back in 1770.
No, one does not need to wonder: One can easily search out Jerbals from the past.
Vern, you got it wrong on my involvement in Prop. 8. Stop trying to split hairs.
And you keep getting your facts wrong. I didn’t organize that Schubert-Flint open house event. Schubert-Flint organized. And I remember it well — you called up ans asked to be let into the event, saying you were with me and that I said it was OK to let you up. Of course, you were lying, and I told them as much.
Your truthfulness hasn’t improved with the years, Vern. You were lying then, and you’re still at it. Calling me adolescent names doesn’t change that.
LOL. You’re right about that, I did try to sneak in saying I was your guest. And I still claim the same excuse: You wrote real big on your blog, “Come to Schubert Flint’s Grand Opening!” And how was I to know that invitation was not directed personally at me?
Just like old home week.
We can assume support for Suncal and pedophile priests can’t be too far off!
…just asking?
I whole heartedly agree with the characterization of Mr. Brandman. His obsequious and ring kissing is constant. If someone has power or money Mr. Brandman will sure to pucker til it hurts, Republican or Democrat.
It is sad that Democrats in Orange County including Mr. Solorio and Mr. Brandman would rather bow down to the elites than stand up for the many thousands of working class folks that live in central Orange County. To them it is easier to follow the money than follow their conscience.
All this Prop 8 talk has got me thinking. When is Mr. Brandman coming out of the closet? Everyone knows the man is gay and nobody quiet frankly cares.
So why hide it Jordan? You’re a democrat for God’s sake. Imagine all those AUHSD students who could have looked up to you as a gay role model. But instead you have chosen to not only remain in the closet but advocate against gay rights.
Don’t hate yourself for who you are Jordan, embrace it.
I’ve made a great effort to leave that out of my writing about Jordan, but … I will leave the comment up. Especially in the wake of the gayest Democratic Convention in history, and the school board run of the out-and-proud John Santoianni.
Leave it up if you want. Was that Pedroza? Usually gay-baiting Jordan seems to be his beat — reason enough to avoid it.
No it wasn’t Pedroza. It was someone who knows Jordan very well. And it doesn’t look like gay-baiting to me.
Does the person claim to have sex with Jordan or to have first-hand reports from someone who has had sex with Jordan or to have a direct admission from him on the topic? If not, then how does he or she know?
This may not be gay baiting, based on your knowledge of the writer, but I don’t want others to think that it’s OK to make these sorts of insinuations without my jumping down their throat — even if the comment remains up. That’s different from censorship.
Jordan says that he’s not gay. I’ve spoken to gay friends of his who say that while he may ping their gaydar, he tells them that he’s not gay and that they have no evidence that he has ever engaged in any activity that would prove him to be gay.
So where does that leave us? He could be gay and hiding it from others, he could have gay tendencies that he suppresses for reasons that you or I or anyone may or may not respect (as if it is our business to judge), he could be gay and unconsciously hiding it from himself, or he could be one of those men who seems gay but isn’t. Unless you’ve had sex with him or know someone who has, you can’t really know which it is.
So, to me, the more pertinent question is why you are anonymously being such a complete asshole here.
You’re still taking gay as being an insult, and it’s 2012 and post-Charlotte. The person who wrote this is gay himself. As he wrote, ” Imagine all those AUHSD students who could have looked up to you as a gay role model. But instead you have chosen to not only remain in the closet but advocate against gay rights.”
I’ll see if I can get him to come back on here and defend himself.
No, I take the public declaration of one’s sexual orientation to be a matter of personal choice, period, except in rare situations involving self-hating based hypocrisy among public officials.
I recall thinking that the case that Jordan actively “advocated against gay rights” is weak, but in any case if this guy thinks that Jordan is gay he should be able to say how and why he knows. We can do that with ex-Senator Larry Craig, for example, while we apparently don’t quite have the goods on current Senator Lindsay Graham. I wouldn’t write that Sen. Graham is gay without someone having more evidence than just an assertion of it. Noting that he is widely believed to be gay is a different matter; I have no problem admitting that that’s true of Jordan. But sometimes what is widely believed to be true is wrong.
I had a grad student at the U of Illinois in the early 90s who I thought was an out-of-the-closet gay man, so in one hallway conversation I made reference to it in front of some other grad students. The guy was mortified, denied it strenuously, and I just said that I was sorry and had obviously heard something mistaken. Another grad student later came up to me a day or so later and said that everyone did know that this student was gay, but that he didn’t seem to accept it about himself yet and it wasn’t clear whether he had ever acted on it.
(Years later, I heard from a former student that he had finally come out as gay — but that supposedly he was not actively so at the time — and was, in fact, resisting it. For all I know, Jordan could be in that same situation.)
This is Anti-Bullying month — and we hear a lot of stories about people who kill themselves over bullying. It’s not hard for me to imagine that this grad student, if he had the misconception that his secret was safe, could have done so — and then, even though I had not intended to harm him, I would have felt (and in part been) responsible. I was wrong in (innocently) outing him — and possibly endangering him. If I can hold myself as a heterosexual man to that anti-bullying standard, I think that I can hold gay men to the same standard.
Anti-bullying month would be a perfect time for a closeted school board member to proudly come out.
It would probably make people think more highly of him as well. It’s 2012.
I don’t disagree. I hope you’ll agree that all of this is his choice — and that no pressure should be exerted on him to “come out” if, as he has maintained, he actually isn’t gay.
Thank you Greg Diamond, for all of your remarks here. Richard and I are in the same place as you are, we love Jordan as a person, and truly feel that there is a battle for his political soul right now-and the dark side appears to be winning, which is heartbreaking to us. If elected, I expect him to do the right thing, but I also expect his life to be Hell when he does it, his “friends” do not tolerate dissent, and he is too decent to completely sell out the city for his supporters, it is not going to be a fun place for him, But it is his choice, and he is a big boy.
As far as his sexuality, I have no firsthand knowledge (obviously) other than his insistence that he is not gay, and frankly it is none of our business. Yes it is great when young gay students have a role model, but to force someone out because YOU think they should be a role model sucks. One way or the other, Jordan’s private life is just that, HIS PRIVATE life, and we all need to leave it be, it is no more part of the political discussion than Jason’s private life when Matt “outed” it with that half-information.
Stick to the business of politics, discuss the merits of Jordan’s campaign, there appears plenty to talk about without dragging the sheets out for the world to inspect. Good gravy, none of us should have our sexual habits discussed on a blog, move on.
I Voted for Jordan Brandman & Lucille Kring in 2012!…I use to think that the Police must know what they were doing!…
“I Was Blind But ‘Now’… I See”!!