August 27, 2018 — Today, the campaign for Dr. Kev Abazajian for Irvine City Council announced that they have filed an appeal with the California Democratic Party regarding a violation of the Democratic Party of Orange County (DPOC) Bylaws at their endorsement caucus on August 20.
At the endorsement caucus on the evening of August 20, the endorsement process did not include a “no endorsement” option, as required in the endorsement vote for Irvine City Council.
The portion of the DPOC bylaws violated by the endorsement caucus on August 20 is Article XXI, Section 3. A: “The option of ‘no endorsement’ shall be provided in any endorsement caucus.” As stipulated in the California Democratic Party Bylaws, Article VIII, Section 4. b, “Any claim of by-laws violation must be filed with the State Party Chair within seven (7) days of County Committee endorsement.” Our campaign filed a challenge of the endorsement on August 22 with the Chair of the California Democratic Party, Eric Bauman. The challenge is supported by several DPOC Central Committee members. There has yet been no response from the California Democratic Party.
One week prior to the caucus, the campaign requested from DPOC Chair, Fran Sdao, to be provided the process for the August 20 endorsement caucus in order to avoid confusion at the time of the caucus. That process was not revealed to the candidates nor the Central Committee until the evening of the caucus. The original process did include a “no endorsement” option, as required by the bylaws, and also provided a mechanism by which Kev could have been endorsed, or for no endorsement to be made. The complexity of the process caused confusion at the caucus, and a motion was made on the floor by Central Committee member Florice Hoffman that violated the bylaws by not having a “no endorsement” option. The DPOC Central Committee will be meeting on the evening of August 27, but have notified the campaign for Kev that the leadership will not be taking up the Irvine City Council endorsement process again.
“Democrats must feel that their party leaders respect due diligence in following their bylaws to make sure due process is protected, and fairness prevails.” Kev said. “What happened on August 20 did not do that.”
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Dr. Abazajian is running for City Council in Irvine or call. He is a Professor of Physics & Astronomy at UC Irvine and lives in Irvine with his wife and son. The election for Irvine City Council is on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. For more information visit KevForCouncil.com or call (949)424-5141.
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Editor’s note: The instructions on the party endorsement for Irvine city council was indeed confusing to the voting members and candidates alike. After Abazajian was eliminated from the first round of voting, Hoffman’s move to suspend the rules and endorse the remaining two women — Farrah Khan and Lauren Johnson Norris (who are not running on any sort of slate whatsoever) — for endorsement.
Frankly, it undermined the endorsement process as it’s highly likely Khan would have received enough votes to get her to 60% required for endorsement but based on the remaining votes, there was really no path forward for Johnson-Norris. Johnson-Norris also received a vote from Carina Francke-Patone whom Norris employs as a campaign consultant (shouldn’t conflict of interest required a recusal there?), and most of the Irvine-based members went for Abazajian and Khan, mirroring the Democrats of Greater Irvine straw poll. Norris was at 21 votes, Khan at 28 — 36 was the threshold to get to 60%; the suspension of the rules and the free pass undermines the party’s endorsement — not that it will prevent either Norris or Khan from touting the endorsement all the same. It’s more evidence of the county party’s tone-deafness when it comes to candidates and elections in Irvine.