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“Can a leopard change its spots?” they say to each other with a knowing, world-weary nod, intending it as a rhetorical question; and later when they tire of that cliché, they mumble, “Fool me once, shame on…” before trailing off in delectable ennui.
But serio, what’s going on this week? It’s all too discombobulating for this one poor blogger, so think of this as a discussion thread – both council candidate Jordan Brandman and multinational corporation Disney want us to think they have been suddenly remade and can be trusted. What are they both – either – up to?
Brandman and Anaheim’s District 2
Monday night the Democratic Party of Orange County (DPOC) made its endorsements. Two of the Anaheim endorsements were no-brainers: Ashleigh Aitken for Mayor over the slippery Galloway, and Dr. José Moreno in district 3 over trickle-down SOAR warhorse Mitch Caldwell. (And the unproven but unopposed Grant Henninger in the Hills.)
But the district 2 endorsement, on the other hand, was very much a brainer: Jordan Brandman, although the only Democrat in the race, and beloved by many several in the Party, has a record that gives many Democrats and human beings pause (as has been documented on this blog for years.) In fact many of us fear the possibility of his re-election this year as an unmitigated disaster for Anaheim. However, since his DPOC endorsement was probably a foregone conclusion, a couple of progressives did manage to wring a few concessions or pledges from him.
First, on the DPOC floor, our Greg Diamond demanded what could be considered the VERY MINIMUM – NOT to endorse or support his friend klepto-repuglican Kris Murray for Todd Spitzer’s Supervisor seat – a pledge which Jordan managed to soften to “IF there is a Democrat running against her.”
North OC Vice Chair and progressive firebrand Jeff LeTourneau, on the other hand, somehow really REALLY wants to believe in Jordan, and tells me, with shocking faith, “I believed he has radically changed. He moved out of District 3, and has severed, or has been severed from his Disney, SOAR, and many of his other harmful backers.” And this shiny new JORDAN MACH 2 went on to make these promises to Jeff:
- To support the living wage ordinance (which he spoke out against a few months ago, and which is up to voters anyhow)
- To back the city’s position that the new building location for the Disney hotel was a new project and any subsidies have to be re-voted (by a council including himself, Kring, Faessel, and maybe Caldwell and Trevor O’Neill? Gee, wonder how that would go)
- NO MORE SUBSIDIES… unless they include a Community Benefits Agreement (a la LA) acceptable to the DPOC and Labor (hmm… sounds like taxpayer-subsidized good jobs to me but I digress), AND
- To support a community policing board with subpoena powers.
Several thoughts now:
1. It feels wrong and weird to make a guy agree to a laundry list of positions like this, rather than knowing that he has the basic values that would lead him logically to these positions, and similar positions on other future unknowable issues. It brings back two unpleasant memories of 2012:
2. Of exactly six years ago when Loretta Sanchez escorted Jordan to the scary lion’s den of Los Amigos, and pretty much made him promise to back district elections and a living wage.
3. And also, same year, even worse memory, of Lucille Kring assuring me, Tom Tait, Jason Young, David Zenger, and Cynthia Ward, that she was against subsidies, and for district elections and police reforms, positions which she quickly reversed herself on, later justifying herself to the OC GOP, “At least it wasn’t in my campaign literature.”
4. Can we deduce from Jordan’s recent behavior that he’s changed at all? He DID help me, Cynthia and Steve White defeat the Lincoln Widening earlier this year, that was good and unexpected, but not really klepto-relevant. He has shown up to the last few City Councils, made sure everybody saw his tall gawky frame… and then not spoken a word on any burning local issue, sort of in the manner of the value-less Lorri Galloway.
I’m glad they at least wrung these pledges out of him – if he does end up winning we’ll have to hold him to them. But I know I can trust Duane Roberts (who as a progressive I’m supporting) OR James Vanderbilt (whom conservatives should vote for.) And let’s keep an eye on who donates to Jordan, if it’s really any different from the past.
But look at me being so cynical and uncharitable – of course it’s possible that Jordan could change:
And then, within the same period of days, we hear that Disney – first provoked last week to temporarily stop construction of their subsidized 4-diamond hotel by OUR cool new City Attorney’s revocation of that subsidy because of their location change … now wants to rip up all previous agreements with Anaheim including the outrageous 45-year moratorium on gate taxes.
Huh? Why would they do that?
Because they say these agreements are “divisive.” Well, yeah. But I mean… REALLY why?? What are they up to? According to all accounts they are still planning to spend record amounts of money to get the council they want this year.
So – one observation. Beginning with a sarcastic question – does this mean Disney is not going to build Star Wars Galaxy Edge? Because we were told ad nauseam by the 2016 kleptos that they wouldn’t be able to afford it unless they were guaranteed decades with no gate tax. And the answer of course is NO, of COURSE they’re still building it. The Brandman/Murray/Kring arguments were lies that they now hope we forget, just like their shrill warnings a couple years earlier that Arte Moreno would take the Angels and leave Anaheim if we didn’t let him have the stadium parking lot for $1 a year to develop. Remember that? They hope we don’t.
Another question everyone’s asking – is this Disney’s way of getting out of having to pay a Living Wage after that measure passes in November, and will it work? And is it really that expensive for them to pay their workers decently, that they would gratuitously give up all these giveaways?
And can we now (if we elect another honest council this November) enact a gate tax just to pay Anaheim taxpayers back for that $50 million parking garage we-all built for them a couple decades ago?
Mayor Tait, who’s been fighting this corporate welfare for many years, is of course not so cynical in public at least:
“Yesterday I met with the President of the Disneyland Resort, Josh D’Amaro. He told me that Disney is formally cancelling the $267 million hotel subsidy and the 30/45 year tax exemption with the City of Anaheim.
“I applaud the Disney leadership for such a wise, bold, and … kind action. I deeply appreciate their recognition that these agreements are toxic to the relationship between Disney and our city. These agreements would have put a substantial strain on Anaheim’s long-term financial health.
“As we all hit the reset button, I look forward to everyone working together for the continued success of Disneyland and for the well-being and prosperity of the people of Anaheim.”
Other observers not required to participate are less Panglossian, like attorney Mohamed Aly:
“Stop celebrating.
“If I were Disney’s counsel, I would do exactly as they’ve done and signaled will follow: First, end the subsidies to avoid paying higher wages. Second, flip one seat on the council. Third, get a tax credit or bond issuance, instead of a “tax rebate,” that will fully supplant the subsidies that they willingly gave up, but won’t subject them to the living wage ordinance.
“The Voice of OC explains:
“‘It’s possible that rescinding the two subsidy deals would mean the minimum wage initiative, if passed by voters, would not apply to Disneyland, said city spokesman Mike Lyster…
“‘The first deal, passed in July 2015, would create a 45-year exemption on taxing admission tickets and parking at Disneyland, known as a gate tax, in exchange for investing an additional $1 billion in the resort…
“‘The second deal, passed in July 2016, would give back 70 percent of hotel bed taxes to Disney for a period of 20 years, worth $267 million in tax revenue…
“‘Disneyland does receive a third public subsidy, which unlike the other two, is not a tax rebate. As part of a 1996 partnership agreement related to the expansion of the park to create California Adventure, Disney agreed to invest $1.95 billion in the expansion and other improvements to the resort. The city in turn issued $510 million in bonds to finance an expansion of the Anaheim Convention Center and the construction of a $108.2 million parking structure for California Adventure…
“‘The wage initiative defines a tax subsidy as a rebate, meaning it only applies to deals where the city returns tax revenue to businesses.’
“If I were Mayor Tait, I would see through Disney’s maneuvering and not accept Disney’s withdrawal of the subsidy agreements to the detriment of Anaheim residents.”
So… what do OJ readers think?
I wonder if Disney is FINALLY afraid someone might actually be willing to make them stick to the agreements, and worse still, audit them.
And also, Brandman is supported by the cops and the firefighters – two long-time key members of Anaheim’s kleptocracy.
I wouldn’t trust Brandman as far as I could throw him.
Odd Spitz just hosted a town hall on voting fraud. Direct question-How many cases of fraudulently cast votes in the last election? Answer from Registrar- zero. In all of Orange County. Wonder why Odd had this online town hall? Dog whistler?
Shall I move this to the Open Thread, or are you just here to disrupt things?
I don’t see anything in news, or press releases, about him chasing “voter fraud” – i.e. Mexicans voting.
I see that same “campaign residency fraud” press release which we have already taken positive note of. And now it is on his website:
https://www.toddspitzer.com/38.php
But Greg’s right, this is not an open thread.
BTW, how about a separate post on the residency fraud PR?
Something positive from Spitzer.
If they’ve ripped up all the past agreements that means they are gonna work to get the council. They want and redo them all probably worse than before. I’m surprised Jordan got the Dpoc endorsement wasn’t too long ago they censured him
We have a lot of member turnover, but his guardian Melahat is forever.
Leopards don’t change spots. Yessir. DUI #6 coming up. Slippery Lorri Galloway because she alluded your #metoo grasp. Diamond has yet to give acdine to any candidate or party function.
I am a weenie. Oh, sirs, please please please don’t trash this comment! Or I’ll call you bad names privately.
I was on the verge of paying for a couple Truman Dinner tix, had the extra dough. Then me and Donna thought of what else we could do with that money, and kinda thought … no.
We should have a post on what campaigns hereabouts warrant the most money. You should give $5 to Gil just to bring up his number of donors and bring down his average contribution.
What’s “acdine”? Is it a drug? It’s true that I haven’t given that particular drug to any candidate or party function. There was one notable event, though, where the unguarded punch bowl was — oh, wait! He was trying to say “give a dime”! Well, if some crablouse gives me an opportunity to set the record straight, it would be a shame to miss the opportunity, so:
When I worked in NY, I gave $9,000 in 2004 to the Kerry-Edwards campaign and a PAC supporting it. I’ve spent thousands of my own money — including paying I think it was $250 for an endorsement! — on races where I ran as a sacrificial lamb to *serve* my party, which would otherwise be unrepresented. (I’m doing so again this year — not because I *wanted* to run — I didn’t — but because I was asked and no one else would.) For most of the past decade my spare money has gone to my kids and grandkids in the Philippines, where it makes more difference than it could possibly make here; here, my efforts go towards steering my party towards becoming one that those who aren’t political geeks, sycophants, handlers, and hustlers can respect — with some success. If I were to give money this year, it would probably go to Jacky Rosen’s U.S. Senate campaign in Nevada, because that’s probably the most important race in the country. My non-monetary political efforts will be spent here.
For the record, Dan Chmielewski is (and for as long as I’ve been here has always been) welcome to comment here. When your IP address matches his, and you can spell his email address correctly, your posts can stay up here too. Until then, identity thief, they stay up only when they’re amusing, so work harder on that.
I tried to help him by re-writing his second paragraph, which was originally just about what assholes we were, and how we would not print his comment.
There are strong hints that that’s not actually from Dan — such as his misspelling Dan’s last name.
I’m not one to be goaded into printing comments by dares. Anyone who is willing to contribute to discussion here gets a chance. But some people are here to undermine discussion, and they can go to hell or to Lib OC, whichever they prefer.
Dan won’t print my comments on LibOC where I mention Duamond’s And LeTourneau’s ______s.
[Ed. Note: And just that easily, as he wished, that got Fake Chumley’s racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic ass banned. Glad you enjoyed yourself here while it lasted, Fake C!]
I sat next to Jeff for a minute last night, at Anaheim Council. I teased him about how damn naive he is.
Because I had just talked to Jordan. Jordan has shown up to every council meeting for a few months, making sure everyone sees him, but NOT SAYING A WORD PUBLICLY, which really makes me not trust a person.
He was all friendly, shaking my hand, telling me how good it was to see me. I asked, “What do you think about what Disney’s doing right now? Do you have any idea what they’re up to?” He repeated how good it was to see me. I asked if he was going to speak in comments at all, and he said no, he’s been knocking on voters’ doors and speaking to them privately. I asked, “how do any of us know what you really believe then?” And he repeated how good it was to see me and trotted away with Gaona.
I asked, “how do any of us know what you really believe then?
That’s easy. He believes in promoting himself politically and getting a job with no real work involved where everyone will just luv’ them some Jordan. Unfortunately he sees personal validation through political success just like Sidhu (though for different reasons).
He was able to start telling people he wasn’t for corporate welfare because he knew that Disney was backing off the thing (for now, at least).
Yet Brandman’s past performances – the lies, the double dealing, the plagiarized report, and a series of do-nothing jobs for politicians all reveal a person who is ethically compromised.
And that, Vern, is why I no longer shake his hand. Doing so makes him feel like he’s successfully put one over on you. (Plus I’m mostly pissed about the Anaheim City staff that he has bullied and abused.)
I’m really surprised that Zenger believes that Jordan is “ethically compromised.” That’s pretty kind. What was the supposed “compromise” — between “blithely unethical” and what opposing value or trait?
well I have an idea! I think the city “continue” or postpone the acceptance of the removal subsidies until after the election. and if our mail boxs are stuffed with bright shiney mailers from PAC’s trashing candidates not supported by Disney and proclaimimg all the accomplishments of the likes of Jordan Brandman, Mitch Caldwell and Harry Sidhu. we will then know The Mouse has no intentions of reforming their evil ways. then the Council should accept the removal of the subsidies and pass a rewritten version of the living wage initiative that would include all Disney workers with a starting wage of 20 dollars per hr.going up by 1 dollar a year until it got to to 25 dollars per hr, after that yearly raises would be tied to the rental rates of appartments in Anaheim. i think that would be fair.
Absolutely. Nothing should be done until after the election.
A must read for Anaheim residents:
https://voiceofoc.org/2018/08/santana-disney-fireworks-impact-on-neighborhood-health-needs-study/