An Update: Letourneau’s petition of 14 signatures was not blocked by the chair and passed without opposition. Henry Vandermeir completely debunked charges made by Letourneau in the VOC column. The meeting had 60 people attend.
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OC Democratic and LGBTQ activist Jeff LeTourneau has penned a column in Monday’s Voice of OC calling on Democrats to rebuke Anaheim Council member Jordan Brandman for his vote on determining which of Anaheim’s newly formed voting districts would go to voters in November 2016.
They dirtiest open secret in the Orange County Democratic Party is the long term infighting between LeTourneau and DPOC Chair Henry Vandermeir. Rather than be a gracious loser in the two-man race, Letourneau has taken nearly every opportunity to undermine Vandermeier’s stewardship of the party. And the behavior has cost LeTourneau influence in the party he once had.
In the VOC column, LeTourneau says Vandermeir will try to block a resolution he’s trying to pass tonight to make Brandman change his vote. LeTourneau writes:
I’m issuing a call to action and urging all Orange County Progressives to attend tonight’s Democratic Party Central Committee meeting, starting at 7 p.m. at 1916 Chapman Ave in Orange at the Carpenters’ Union Local 2361.
I have been informed by Chairman Vandemeir that he will attempt to block the resolution but he too will and must be held accountable for efforts to disenfranchise the governing body should he be foolish enough to try.
There’s one problem with Letourneau’s charge; it’s a lie. We received this statement from Vandermier this afternoon:
Once again, Mr. LeTourneau has taken it upon himself to purposely divide the Democratic Party Central Committee by publicly accusing the DPOC leadership of trying to block a resolution regarding last week’s Anaheim vote.
Nothing could be further from the truth as Mr. LeTourneau well knows.
In a private conversation after Saturday’s Truman Awards dinner, I told Mr. LeTourneau that I supported the resolution. While my initial response was to make sure it went through the proper process that our bylaws outline, after he informed me that the second reading was next week, I agreed to put it on the agenda for Monday (tonight). He then thanked me and walked off.
To my dismay, I then read his ‘opinion’ column in the Voice of OC accusing me of the exact opposite of what I told him I would do. This type of divisive manipulation by Mr. LeTourneau has been an ongoing problem within our committee and shows his complete lack of integrity and desire to work with the party.
In his column, Mr. LeTourneau conveniently leaves out a few details. He was witnessed seeking signatures to support his resolution at this Saturday’s Truman dinner, which pissed off a number of those attending what is supposed to be a festive occasion. When Anaheim’s Al Jabbar referenced Brandman, who did not attend due to illness, in welcoming remarks — two Democrats sitting near LeTourneau noted Mr. LeTourneau booed loudly. Both sets of behavior demonstrate no class.
Mr. LeTourneau’s lead paragraph of his piece begins with these words: “Democratic public officials, as well as candidates, must be held accountable for their political actions when they flagrantly undermine our party platform.”
We suggest he start within his own family.
Former DPOC North Chair Greg Diamond, a blogger for the Orange Juice and Letourneau’s brother-in-law, remains a staunch supporter of Republican Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait and Anaheim Councilmember James Vanderbilt, and wrote an apologist blog post in support of disgraced Anaheim Council candidate Doug Pettibone while denigrating the party’s endorsed candidate for Mayor, as well as candidacies of State Re. Jose Solorio, former State Senator Lou Correa, State Rep. Tom Daly, Brandman and Centralia Trustee Conner Traut. LeTourneau himself has been a strong supporter of Tait to the detriment of Democratic candidates. He’s also part of Bao Nguyen’s campaign for Congress, so this entire action may be about inflicting shots on someone who raised twice as much money as Letourneau’s endorsed candidate (Letourneau tried to suggested Loretta Sanchez had endorsed Nguyen at a North Hollywood event last week which Sanchez’s campaign shot down).
If you want to start lecturing people about being a good Democrat, time to start acting like one.
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Additional comments from Vandermeir distributed at last night’s meeting:
Once again, Mr. LeTourneau has taken it upon himself to purposely divide the Democratic Party Central Committee by publicly accusing the DPOC leadership, mainly me, of trying to block a resolution regarding last week’s Anaheim vote.
Nothing could be further from the truth as Mr. LeTourneau well knows.
In a private conversation after Saturday’s Truman Awards Dinner, I told Mr. LeTourneau that I supported the resolution.
While my initial response was to make sure it went through the proper process that our bylaws outline, after he informed me that a second reading for the Anaheim Council was next week, I agreed to put it on the agenda for Monday (tonight). He thanked me and walked off.
To my dismay, I read his ‘opinion’ column in this morning’s Voice of OC accusing me of the exact opposite of what I told him I would do.
Not only do his actions continue to divide this committee, but now, by publicly perpetuating this lie, he has damaged the DPOC’s reputation within the Latino Community which we have been working so hard to cultivate for the 2016 election.
As this committee is well aware of, this type of divisive manipulation by Mr. LeTourneau has been an ongoing problem within our committee for the past three years and shows his complete lack of interest in working with the Party and in fact, indicates his willingness to damage this party’s reputation for his own personal reasons.
Instead of celebrating the results of a successful Truman dinner, Mr. LeTourneau has, once again, created a negative atmosphere within this committee, this time over an issue that I believe we all agree on.
These types of actions are unworthy of a central committee member where everyone is a volunteer and works hard to move this party forward.
— Henry Vandermeir
While this hit piece doesn’t deserve comment I will state for the record that Henry specifically told me that he believed that the 10/75 resolution was not what he wanted to do, preferring to call a special meeting instead of following the by-law provision designed to deal deal with these situation. When told that there might not be time as it may come back this week for a second vote, his ONLY response was “Oh, I didn’t know that.” As the 2nd reading is two weeks from tomorrow I took him at his original word.
The real issue here is that had Henry and Ray Cordova not shut down the resolutions committee for the last 11 months, we would have and and should have had a resolution sent to Jordan in advance, we should have testified the night of the vote and we should have had a press release ready the next morning! There are consequences for doing nothing! Under Henry’s leadership the best we can hope for is a shot at defense after the fact. Not a good way to grow the party.
And finally, excuse me if I was working on the most important issue in Anaheim on Saturday night in a room where crucial political leaders were gathered instead of having a good old time! I promise to never do it again……..
The Truman dinner was a celebration. Not a signature gathering event.
Per your first sentence, that’s not what Henry told me. Given your long standing grudge against him, I believe Henry.
And one more thing. I DEFY YOU to list anyone who said they heard me boo Jordan at the dinner. Pure horse pucky!
Sorry, when people ask to go off the record, it stays off the record.
Oh.
My.
God.
You found a way to make this about Tom Tait.
I mean, come on. You’re simply unstoppable.
Tait came up during our party meeting last night.
well, looks like the glitch preventing you from commenting has resolved itself.
Contrary to what Paul Lucas said on OJ, I did not speak last night and Henry offered zero opposition. It must be the weed talking
Thanks, Jeff, for your tireless fights for justice, and I’m glad that nobody, even Henry, was able to disagree with the resolution.
Jordan should either change his vote on this, or join his friends in the Republican Party.
Thanks Jeff for being a discourteous lying pendejo when it comes to what the DPOC chair says and does.
Still a Republican Vern?
No pendejo. You know I’m a Democrat.
Oh really.
Like the Dr. Jose Moreno type. Who switches parties to get votes?
In HB or Anaheim Vern? Finally got around to re-registering?
What a joke. Instead of trying to get more Dems (moderate or otherwise) folks like LeTourneau spend their time tearing down Dems because they don’t fit his mold.
No wonder the OC Dem party is a joke in local politics.
Uh,… It’s a little bigger than that, Hackett. A little bigger than “not fitting Jeff’s mold.” Or, wouldn’t you think, it wouldn’t a been a unanimous resolution by acclamation?
It is putting off Anaheim’s ONE majority Latino district for another two years (till a non-Presidential low-turnout year) after such a long hard struggle to get districting. Usually your comments make more sense. This WAS a big deal.
Vern, the district lines aren’t going to change in two years. So it really isn’t. It will still be a latino majority district.
Given the number of latinos in Anaheim they should already own the council. I know of no geographic feature that causes low turnout.
The resolution was more about suggesting Henry would block it which he didn’t do. When will apologize for the lie? That all said, 14 signatures and about 60 people at the meeting … Many of whom couldn’t vote. Only about 5 hardcore Jeff supporters. Meh
Dan, I haven’t been on the website in a week but the last two times, I went straight to the bottom and saw again, comments against your articles that I believed over the articles themselves. If you can’t beat what people are commenting then what are you doing?
PS Your articles all seem to be aimed at pointing fingers for the sake of making noise. It’d be better if you tried to make friends with the people you mildly resent as opposed to making a deliberate effort to resent them more.
“Mildly?” You underestimate the man’s resentments.