“Democratic” Pringle Puppet attacks progressive, working-class candidate. Will Vandermeir speak up?

.

.

.

[Ed. Note: Please see my reply to the first comment for some new emergency ground rules for discussion given a conflict that appeared here.  (Sorry to horn in on this fine bit of writing, Ricardo.)  — GAD]

“Now, just so you understand, the police, who we all respect — say hello to the police. Boy, they don’t get the credit they deserve. I can tell you. They’re great people. But the police and law enforcement, they know who these people are.”

No, this statement was not made by the Irvine-based PR-shill DPOC member, as part of his effort to discredit and dismiss a progressive, working-class Anaheim council candidate, Donna Acevedo-Nelson, who is the mother of one of the young Latinos killed by the APD.  Close though, it was Donald Trump.

chmielewski-mickey rat-trump

Let’s remember that the riots provoked by the multiple killings of 2012, and the militarized police reaction afterwards, shocked the world and tainted the pristine image of Disneyland, and it foreshadowed the police brutality against minorities that has occurred in other cities.

Most importantly for us, the locals, the riots brought into the open the problems of our town. It turned out that the problems are basically political, the question of who influences the governing decisions, who reaps the financial benefits, who determines the social order of the city.  The “economic engines” and their lobbyists have reaped most of the benefit, and the law enforcement has acted as their Praetorian Guard.  Subsidizing hotel developers and Disneyland in the manner and extent done until now is the crux of the conflicts and of the local political alignments.

In this context, Donna became a community activist and decided to run for the council, to bring a diverse perspective and solutions. Rather than encouraging people to get involved and prepared to participate in the relevant levels of city governance, criticism based on her suspected lack of academic or professional knowledge is shortsighted and discouraging.

Characterizing her as a puppet is malicious.  It is aimed to prevent a potential city council member who questions the political and economic interests of the “economic engines.” It purposively ignores that the current council majority ( Brandman, Murray and Kring ) is predominantly supported and influenced by the Disney corporation, Pringle & Associates, and developers.

Donna at first supported Lorri Galloway when she ran against Mayor Tait, she doesn’t seem to frequently participate in the OJB, and although she assisted in Greg Diamond’s famous finger puppet presentation, she seems closer to the Weekly fellows than Greg.  She will grow and get politically savvier during the electoral process, as she has done regarding police accountability.

Condescendingly calling Donna a “nice woman” and disqualifying her in derogatory terms is sexist.  His criticism has racist overtones taking into account the context of “they know who those people are,” meaning Latinos in Anaheim.  Chmielewski disagrees with Donna on how her son Joel was killed, and takes the police and DA at their word.  He probably also disagrees with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ reversal of the verdict in the wrongful death lawsuit for Manuel Diaz.

Henry Vandermeir, the chairman of the DPOC, had an honorable moment in Anaheim politics when he presented the DPOC censure on Jordan Brandman for his vote to postpone elections in District 3. I hope that Vandermeir will have another honorable moment, and tell this Irvine PR flack to stop being a Pringle puppet and a Trump sound-alike.

little people's park

About Ricardo Toro

Anaheim resident for several decades. In addition to political blogging, another area of interest is providing habitats for the Monarch butterfly. http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2013/12/caterpillars-crossing-in-a-city-at-a-crossroads/