Fellow Dems: DPOC-Hopeful Dan Would Prefer Steven Choi in AD-68 to (Non-Candidate) Me

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Brian Chuchua (l) and Sean Panahi (r) frame Dan Chmielewski choosing losing to Choi over supporting Dr. Moreno’s & Zeke Hernandez’s candidate — because he’s looking down at me.

Dan Chmielewski published an article yesterday at GlibOC that actually surprised me.  He would rather see Steven Choi or Deb Pauly in the Assembly than see — in his rich fantasy life — me in office.  That’s quite the platform for him to use in running for DPOC Central Committee again Paul Lucas, Florice Hoffman, and others!  (“Go Choi and Pauly –keep Diamond out of Sacramento!”)  I’m sort of impressed with how well he holds a grudge — but this is more evidence, if any is needed, that he should not be elected to the DPOC Central Committee next week.  Because what he has written is nuts.

Note that I’m not running for the Assembly, of course — but I am doing a lot of work on behalf of No Party Preference candidate Brian Chuchua!  Chuchua has the support of a broad coalition including Democrats Dr. Jose Moreno, Zeke Hernandez, and Sharon Quirk-Silva (as I understand it — Brian says that she did so but I’ve never verified it because I don’t want to use it when she herself is running) to Republicans from Chaplain Bill Cook to Doug Pettibone to former Commissioner Larry Larsen.)

I’m supporting Brian because in a county where plenty of people give lip service to social justice causes, Brian is one of the few people who actually makes things happen.

He’s done it by putting his money on the line, his time on the line, and his reputation on the line.  And while Brian was a long term Republican before disgust with Kris Murray and Curt Pringle drove him out of the party, the places where he’s put his efforts are ones within that sweet spot where good Democrats and good Republicans overlap — and in opposition to the bitter spot where bad Republicans and Democrats overlap.

Not that many people walk the walk like they talk the talk.  Genial, elfin-looking Brian has been the guy who pays attention to what’s going in in Anaheim and elsewhere in OC and has actually generated many of the ideas and issues that Cynthia Ward and I have pursued with CATER and otherwise.  Cynthia — who supports Pauly but considers Brian as her second choice — does come up with her own ideas, but what I’ve been able to do has been overwhelmingly inspired by Brian.

Dan, in a sort of breathtaking act of ageism, argues that Brian is my puppet in his post “It’s Not Chuchua for Assembly, It’s Diamond for Assembly.”  His proof seems to be that Brian — who, despite a storied career in business and as a soldier in Tom Tait’s motley army in Anaheim, is not much of a writer or public speaker — has me do his writing for him.  (You know, as if I were a “PR Professional.”)  Well, yes, I do — although he suggests content, orders changes, and signs off on it, being more active in messaging than some consultant-managed local candidates I could name.

Here are some selections from Dan’s screed:

[Diamond and others say that Chuchua] has some sort of real chance to beat the conservative Republicans in the race.  No he doesn’t.  If you’re a Democrat or an independent who doesn’t want a conservative Republican representing you in Sacramento, your only vote needs to be for Sean Panahi.

I don’t know whether Chuchua or Panahi — a political unknown who sneaked into the race at almost the last minute — has a better chance at making the top two, if Republicans don’t win both slots — although Brian has run a lean and effective campaign that (as we planned) is coming together at the right moment.  But I have no doubt about one thing: if one of them did make it into the Top Two, Chuchua would have a MUCH better chance of beating any of the leading Republican candidates (Choi, Pauly, and Harry Sidhu.)

Dan’s arguing otherwise is an insult to DPOC Central Committee Members and longtime local activists Christina Avalos and Anne Cameron, who have both run in this district as “sacrificial lambs” and been beaten soundly.  It’s just not a Democratic District.  There are plenty of good Democrats in the district, but they’re in the distinct minority — and both registration records and election results show it.  Panahi — who has an A rating from the NRA and did not even seek the DPOC endorsement — has nothing going for him that his predecessor sacrificial lambs did not.  Therefore, voting for him — although I’d do so if I lived there and Chuchua wasn’t in the race — is not going to block anyone from getting into office.

Chuchua, on the other hand, can win — thanks to expected support from Democrats (except for, or despite, Dan) and independents.  Even Dan might be tempted to pull the lever against Pauly.  (OK, maybe not.)  Even in this district — given his similar anti-corruption positions to Pauly but his less hostile attitude towards Mexican immigrants, Latinos, and Muslims — he’d have a great shot against her.

As for Sidhu versus Choi, it’s important to keep one thing in mind about Brian: he only intends to serve six or so years (likely give or take two.)  That means if you’re Choi, you’d rather see Brian elected than Sidhu both because he’d be easier to oppose as an incumbent and because he’d leave on his own in fewer than the twelve years Sidhu would take.  And if you’re a Sidhu voter, you’d rather see Chuchua than Choi elected for the same reason.  (Brian expects that he can serve 12 years, health-wise — he just doesn’t expect that he’d want to.)

So, yes — a vote for Chuchua could keep out Choi’s duplicity and hostility to veterans, or Sidhu’s crony capitalism and terrible fiscal judment, or Pauly’s xenophobia.  But a vote for Panahi would not.

So when Dan writes that “Diamond is on the DPOC Central Committee; his failure to back the only Democrat in the race is, in my opinion, shameful” — he’s saying that it’s “shameful” to try to elect someone who can block some really bad policies and fight for positions often consistent with Democratic values, as his Latino Democratic endorsers can attest, even though he has a lot of Republican positions as well.  (He just tends not to be a jerk about them.)

No, that’s not shameful; it’s smart politics.  It’s the flip-side of what Republicans like Dan’s buddy “Junior” (“skallywag” and “Shivas Irons” here) are trying to do when they push for Lou Correa, who will give them “half of a loaf.”  (Maybe a third.)  When OC Republicans push for the more conservative Loretta Sanchez over Kamala Harris, as they will, will that be “shameful” of them?

Now get a load of this:

If voters somehow buy the message that Chuchua is the guy, Diamond will finally have a full time job that pays something and will do everything leaving a list for Chuchua on how to vote.  Because if you participated in any of the hearings about the 10 or 11 plans submitted by Diamond for district elections in Anaheim, Chuchua was only there to raise his hand to say “I live in Anaheim, and I support this.”  If Chuchua gets elected to the Assembly, Diamond becomes the de facto assembly representative.

Even if I were part of Brian’s office — and it’s not something that we’ve much discussed, though I know that he will want my input even if I’m still down here — I would not likely have that sort of influence over Brian because he has his own ideas about policy.  (It’s not like political cartography, where I have advanced knowledge and he doesn’t.  On the other hand, where I drew lines was largely determined by Brian’s knowledge of Anaheim — something that ageist Dan simply refuses to believe.)  I would probably have a moderating effect on him due to my ties to the state and local Democratic parties, so that I could tell him which Democratic positions that didn’t offend him really matter and which do not.  (I know, for example, that I could never talk him into supporting high-speed rail.)

But fellow Democrats: look at what Dan is saying here!  Starting from a false premise, he’s saying that it would be bad to have a strong liberal Democratic adviser determining votes,  Again, it wouldn’t happen — if you know Brian, as Dan doesn’t, it’s absurd — but why should that be considered a negative for Democrats if it were  true?  Hell, I think that Dan is an infectious wart on the genitalia of our party, but if Steven Choi were to pick Dan to be in his staff, I’d take consolation in the possibility that at least Dan might have a moderating influence on some issues!

But not Dan!  He’s guided by revenge!  He’s made of grudge!

Back to Dan:

Meanwhile, Panahi is everything a Democrat would want in a candidate; he’s a practicing attorney with significant energy to carry forward progressive principles.

You know, I did oppo research on Panahi — but Brian and I decided not to use it.  I think that I know a hell of a lot more about Panahi than Dan does, and that A-rating from the NRA is just a start.  And yet Dan says that he is “everything a Democrat would want in a candidate.”  Really.  Having had no contact with DPOC, not seeking our endorsement, not having a snowball’s chance in Dan’s mouth of winning in November — that is “everything we would want.”

My Democratic friends, I hate to break it to you, but Dan the PR professional is bullshitting here.  He flat out does not care whether what he says is true.  He cares only that it is useful at the moment.

Chuchua has virtually no name recognition in Orange, Tustin or North Irvine.

I’d sort of like to know how Dan thinks that he knows that.  Because he lives there and talks to his small social circle?  No, he’s wrong — he is known because of his yeoman’s work with OCVMP — he’s one of the half-dozen people in the county without whom there would not BE a Veteran’s Cemetery on its way.  Now, Dan recently just told the veterans to get stuffed, so he may not be aware of these ties — but some of us are not so cosseted as he is.

He’s barely more coherent than Steven Choi.

Like many people, Brian’s not a polished public speaker — review of tapes of which being what I presume leads to Dan’s absurd and benighted judgment here.  But the content of what he’s said has been strong — and those who have dealt with him in smaller discussions will tell you that he’s plenty coherent.  I’ve sat with him in meetings, ones where I’ve been quiet, and his opinions and analysis are met with respect.

(Democrats, how DARE Dan say this sort of thing?  I hate to say it, but I guess that your sixth vote for DPOC should go to Florice — which whom I’m often at odds — rather than Dan.)

I don’t want Greg Diamond representing me in the Assembly; a vote for Brian Chuchua would accomplish that.

Thank you, Dan!  I think that you just picked up a lot of votes for my friend and colleague Brian Chuchua — a man with whom I often disagree but whose heart and conscience and analysis I always respect.

Fellow Democrats, political friends or political foes, if you agree that you’d rather have Deb Pauly or Steven Choi in the Assembly rather than me — even though I’m not running — then you are right to vote for Dan next Tuesday.  I’m just so glad that there are six other people running for seven Central Committee seats!