10am: The Orange County Register reports this morning that former Anaheim City Council member Jordan Brandman has died. He was reportedly found dead at his home and police do not suspect foul play. A cause of death has not yet been reported. We’ll have more details as they emerge.
We are saddened and shocked. The troubled young man did need some kind of help. We don’t know how it happened or exactly when either, but I think I should point out – (could be a total coincidence, I’d been on the verge of writing about this until I heard the news) – it was exactly ten years ago at 8 this morning that a Council meeting took place, on a Monday morning, an “EMERGENCY” meeting that Jordan had called himself, with the sole purpose of stripping Mayor Tait’s agendizing abilities to prevent him from speaking out so much against the 2013 proposed Stadium property lease. I guess I won’t be writing about that now or any time soon, but here is the video of that meeting.
No, I am not talking shit about the recently deceased, I am just reporting facts. Maybe some of you think what he did ten years ago was a GOOD thing, heroic even, shutting up Mayor Tait about the 2013 stadium giveaway. He certainly had the support of Kris Murray, Lucille Kring, Gail Eastman, Arte Moreno, the Chamber, and the rest of the establishment. And maybe the timing is pure coincidence.
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11 am: Dan Chmielewski at The Liberal OC, an old friend of Jordan’s and his most loyal apologist till recently, has just written:
Former Anaheim city council member Jordan’s Brandman has died. Anaheim Police discovered his body after a family member requested a welfare check because Brandman would not answer his phone. Multiple sources tell TheLiberalOC Brandman died of an apparent overdose.
‘“It’s going to come out anyway, Dan, you might as well report it,” said a Brandman friend I spoke to. ‘“He trusted you enough to come out to you, you might as well report it.”
News of Brandman’s passing spread quickly among his friends this morning. There is sadness, anger, and regret. And for some, including me, it’s not a surprise. And there’s significant anger directed at Los Angeles Times reporters Gabriel San Roman and Adam Elmahrek for their expose on Brandman last summer which Brandman’s friends believe pushed the former councilman over the edge.
I don’t believe Dan that anybody is mad at Gabriel and Adam, why should they be? They told the story that Jordan WANTED told. It was actually a pair of stories, and if you want to read them, I’m providing links through which you can bypass the Times’ paywall:
- “An Anaheim Politician’s Fall Reveals Disney Exec and Secret Cabal’s Power” and
- “A Politician Allegedly Said He Wanted to Shoot Up Anaheim City Hall; Officials Kept it Quiet.“
It was Dan Chmielewski who characterized that pair of stories as “Jordan’s Revenge Story,” and in a follow-up post wrote this ominous epigram in bold: “If You Seek Revenge, You Should Dig Two Graves; one for Yourself.” Dan’s “Two Graves” post is a pretty morbid and threatening piece including the passages:
“It would not have surprised me to wake up one morning then to learn he had taken his own life. And to be honest, I would not surprise me if it still happens…”
“…In reading the story, I’m not convinced Brandman is in a good place mentally. The story, which I’m sure Brandman hoped would hurt those who tried to help him, actually makes him the bad guy….”
“…Where the story doesn’t go are how Brandman’s behavior has cost him lifelong friends. If he’s truly seeking atonement, he has many calls to make. And I’ll guess he never will because those bridges are already burned…”
“… [Jordan texted me] ‘I’m alive and grateful to be. Thanks for saying you’re sorry by the way.’ I didn’t apologize but sent back a thumbs up to acknowledge the first part of his text. I’m not sure what he expected me to apologize for. This [Times] story, I believe, effectively ends Brandman’s possibility of holding public office again. When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging, especially if it’s the second of two graves you’re digging for revenge. If his job with BIA is based on political relationships. good luck with that.”
Jordan’s most loyal apologist for over a decade here wrote a piece mainly intended to clean everything up for MELAHAT, and throw JORDAN “under the bus” Greg’s gonna write some more about this. I have nothing more to say for now.
Except, if people really live on, then let’s hope Jordan Brandman finds some peace. And if people are reincarnated, the let’s hope Jordan Brandman comes back less damaged. And makes better friends than Pringle, Nocella, and Chmielewski.
“And there’s significant anger directed at Los Angeles Times reporters Gabriel San Roman and Adam Elmahrek for their expose on Brandman last summer which Brandman’s friends believe pushed the former councilman over the edge”
What a sanctimonious asshole. Predicable as it is sad.
RIP, Mr Brandman.
I updated the piece in recent minutes, and commented on that. Gabriel and Adam told the story Jordan wanted told. It was Dan who responded with a cruel and morbid post that all Jordan’s friends should resent.
‘All Speculation’!! until the Coroner’s Report is Released.
Will there even be a Coroner’s Report? Chmielewski writes that the police “do not suspect foul play” in the death of someone positioned to be a major witness in any trials related to the members or activities of Anaheim’s Cabal. If they don’t suspect foul play — perhaps if a note was left, which (if so) may or may not have been by his hand that day — then they should be a lot more curious. Then again, what would the Anaheim Police know about Anaheim politics?
My story on this will be (if all goes to plan) coming out within the next couple of hours.
It was the press and police who said they suspected no foul play. You wrote it in the first paragraph here before Dan wrote anything.
We know now that “when it’s an influential individual,” the Anaheim police “keep things under wraps.” We know that from when the APD visited Jordan three years ago.
Also Dan protested, unprovoked, to Neshanian over the weekend, that “he is not taking down any stories he wrote about Brandman over the decade.” What Dan has been doing though is removing the “Jordan Brandman” TAGS so those stories are hard to find.
Sad that someone that young loses their life. Condolences to his family at such an awful time.
With that being said, is there a more miserable and despicable piece of shit than Dan Chmielewski? If Jordan’s friends and family have anger towards anyone it should be Dan.
For years Dan was Jordan’s biggest apologist, but when he no longer provided any benefit to Dan he turned on him. This is a perfect snapshot of just who Dan is. When karma catches up to him I hope I’m around to see it.
To be fair, it’s less that Jordan “no longer provided any benefit to Dan” (meaning his formal and informal clients) but that he posed a serious threat to them. As noted above: more on this soon.
Jordan was a troubled man. I pray he finds Peace.
RIP.
Someone shoukd put melahat sidhu Ament and Flint in suicide watch.
The best thing for me to say for me is nothing.
Yes one could see the decline in Mr. Brandman. But let’s not forget when Jordan Brandman was on top he did evil, unforgivable things. I knew Mr. a long time, my wife and I helped elect him to the Anaheim Union High School Board we owned a house next to his I was there watching when he carpet Bagged into district 2 from district 3. Mr Brandman was a reverse Robbin Hood, He stole from the poor and gave to the Rich. It does not make me happy that he had died but Mr Brandman was not a good man.
That’s very said to read that you think he was evil. I knew him as a young intern in the Governor’s Office many years ago. He was a kind, smart young man. I considered him my friend and I was much older than him. I’m saddened to hear of his passing and I know his family is devastated. There is a lot here, and I will remember him as an amazing, fun, smart and kind young man. I was proud of his accomplishments RIP dear friend!
Politics and power twisted the kind young man you knew.
Maybe politics twisted him. But it seems more like a pre-existing attraction to the political/fixer way of life: easy jobs, no resumes needed, no skills required, no actual reports written, public attention, playing with the Big Kids, etc. I’ve seen a lot of people just like him in politics (mostly Young Republican types) down on the County Work Farm, so is it chicken or egg?
On the subject of Brandman’s friends (if had any genuine ones – ones who weren’t looking for a government subsidized payoff) blaming the reporters, I have to notice the utter absurdity.
Even if there were any who uttered that idiocy I wonder if they were supposed to play therapists and realize that it was in Brandman’s interest to say nothing and tell him that no, his version of events were better left unpublished.
Jordan did have genuine friends within the gay community, even before he was out (perhaps, some hypothesized, even to himself.) I’m not sure about the status of those friendships at the end of his life, though.
Jeez, here is Gustavo simplifying and romanticizing the story of Jordan’s life, for the KCRW audience:
https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/el-sereno-grocery-ahmanson-anaheim/jordan-brandman
How many things did he get wrong?
Not a single thing, Vern. But, hey: Gracias for listening. You never did do that exit interview with me I offered — c’est la vie!
Is he still pronouncing Harry Sidhu’s surname as “Sid-Hugh”? I heard him being interviewed by Steve Chiatakis maybe a month or two ago. Chiatakis kept pronouncing it correctly, but Gustavo obstinately kept mispronouncing it. I think that I heard the slight his of Chiatakis’s soul leaving his body when he finally had to adopt the mispronunciation in order to prevent his guest from seeming even more like a dork. I’ll bet that Gabriel knows how to pronounce “Sidhu” — or does Gustavo make him mispronounce it too?
(85 words — within the safe harbor for non-bloviating!)
Well, I’ll do this, although I’m trying to not say anything bad about Jordan on this thread. But the two biggest things Gustavo got wrong:
He romanticizes the Adam-Gabriel story as some cautionary tale Jordan is telling: “Mothers, tell your children not to do as I have done…” I’ve just read that article for the 4th or 5th time and I don’t see that anywhere. Jordan justifies nearly everything he ever did, and mainly just tells the sad story of how his once close “friends” (lobbyists and other politicians) shunned him once he was out of power.
Also, Gustavo seems to think Democrats abandoned Jordan and then Republicans embraced him. He was always embraced by both parties. I can go look for that 2012 Pringle flyer “Republicans for Brandman.” And the DPOC backed him to the end, just because… he was a Democrat. Sure he got censured a few times for some of his worst actions, but he was always forgiven, and he was endorsed by the Party in 2012 and 2018 both. He was only opposed by progressive Democrats like Moreno and conservative Republicans like Tait; the mushy bipartisan middle always found him JUST RIGHT.
Of course the interviewer Steve Chiotakis gets things off on a weird foot calling Jordan a “whistleblower” – where the heck does that come from? Is history being rewritten this quickly? It is, for the thousands and thousands of KCRW listeners.
Every story needs a sad victim. And Brandman was always a victim. Anti-semitism, anti-gayism, etc. Poor Jordan, like Dorian Gray, perpetually young.
He came across as a poor little orphan, born on the foam, like Aphrodite. He was needy, sure but really a heart of gold. Mothers couldn’t resist.
On the other hand, even if we set aside his abominable record, he never had a job he actually earned, that wasn’t the product of some manipulation by others. And that include that make-work job for Daly and his subsequent attempt at a fraudulent report.
The evil that men do lives after them.
I wonder how much if anything Jordan shared/ whistleblowers to/ with the FBI?
Can Gus be any more smug. Humility, pass it on.
All one needs to do is look at this article to realize Gustavo is a two cent hack!! He wrote the incident happened in Irvine. It didn’t. It happened in Laguna Hills. Pfft.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-01-27/racism-orange-county-high-schools
https://www.ocregister.com/2022/01/25/video-reveals-laguna-hills-high-fan-making-racist-remarks-about-portola-player-during-basketball-game/
Gus wrote this propaganda without any reference to Farrah Khan or Melahat Rafiei controversies. Mujajajajaja! Real journalism by a real journalist. Not. Just a flack catcher.
https://www.altaonline.com/dispatches/a40982129/orange-county-ada-briceno-democratic-party-gustavo-arellano/
https://twitter.com/ada_briceno/status/1708233540322927093?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Gustavo is probably unaware that Ada set up a fake Latino candidate in Fullerton’s heavily Latino D5 in order to protect the non-Latino candidate.
Just add that one to the Great Pile of Unawareness.