Anaheim is far from a City of Kindness

 

I got a few phone calls from friends Friday asking if I had seen the Orange Juice blog.  I hadn’t.  So, I headed on over and started to read Greg Diamond’s fever dream about former Anaheim Council member Jordan Brandman’s death and my post that was up at 10:28 am on Saturday September 30 (not 11AM as they reported).

I was walking my puppy when I got the news; I immediately made some calls to mutual friends.  People were very upset; the Register’s brief story appeared a few hours earlier and the friends I spoke with were all close to Brandman and his father.  The cause of Jordan’s passing is still unclear.  Anaheim Police saw no signs of foul play, which I’m sure they are trained to look for.  There was no public reference to suicide or an accidental overdose.  And the one thing Diamond is right about; I won’t reveal my sources because they don’t need to be added to his “Jordan may have been murdered” bullshit as they are still grieving.  But Diamond wants to know how I knew what I posted.

There are lots of things he just doesn’t know.

Diamond doesn’t know I worked with Jordan’s father on CleanTechOC, which is now SustainSoCal about 10 years ago at the invitation of now Congressman Mike Levin.  The goal for this organization is to turn Orange County and now Southern California into The Silicon Valley for Green/Clean renewable energy.  Mr. Brandman was very proud of his son and happy to know Jordan and I were friends.   Diamond doesn’t know Jordan and I share a number of friends.

Brandman’s passing is tragic. Let the man rest in peace.  Let his family and friends grieve.

For what it’s worth, I am not part of the Anaheim cabal.  I did not write a July 2023 post about the LA Times stories featuring Brandman in an effort to encourage his early demise.  That’s ludicrous.  Nor did I write about the frontpage coverage or its companion story (where past wellness checks by Anaheim PD were first reported and Brandman initially denied then corroborated) on orders from former political consultant Melahat Rafiei.  Diamond’s absurd and vile allegation has no basis in fact, reason, or decency.

Jordan was my friend. I called him multiple times after he resigned from his city council seat.  He was always grateful for my call but evasive on my questions about his mental health.  I’d ask if he was getting the help he needed and he never gave me a direct answer.  After our May 2022 text message exchange, I pushed hard on him to get help.  He pushed back even harder.  For those I spoke with on September 30, the biggest regret is they feel they didn’t push hard enough to help him.  They did, actually.  And the harder they pushed, the harder he resisted.

My experience with Jordan on push back was not unique. For better or worse, Jordan lived his life on his terms.

Diamond is attempting to assign blame for Jordan’s death on me and others, when in reality he and his fellow basement-dwelling bloggers abused and tortured Jordan online and in person for years.  Many shots were delivered when they knew his mental state wasn’t good. Vern Nelson and the gaggle of ankle biters went after Brandman like jackals — blasting him, stalking him and bullying him regularly.  There’s no mention of Vern and his wife Donna showing up at Brandman’s place – at night – while he was moving.  No mention of the finger puppet show where the point of the performance was for Diamond to give Brandman the finger.  No mention of the constant homophobic and antisemitic comments from their ally Dennis Fitzgerald that they never criticized.  No mention of the recall campaign (which they would have found a reason for without the text messages story) that ended when Jordan resigned.  No mention of the Weasel head that Diamond photoshopped on Brandman’s head on a photo I took.  Yes, the Jordan’s Vicious Texts story was legit, but if Diamond thinks they were acting as “journalists” he’s delusional.  Journalists going the extra mile to be equally vicious back in comments of a stry they wrote would have been fired from a better outlet.

(editor’s note: this is the first page of US mail I received last Friday; the return address was listed as “Jordan Brandman, Heaven.”  I’ve reported this to the DA’s office as a hate crime. The other two pages are vile.)

 

Diamond’s “suspicion” that Brandman was worried about his financial state is pure projection.  Jordan’s compensation at BIA alone allowed for a comfortable living. He wasn’t obsessed about his finances.  Greg made that up.  But for a kitchen-table lawyer who’s had a stroke that he admits affects his thought organizational issues, has been late filing legal documents blaming internet issues, and is dependent on his wife’s and her adult kids income for a roof over his head, I’m sure Diamond worries about where his next client or check might come from.  Because when you need a lawyer, by all means, make sure you hire one who does business through a Yahoo email address and a track record for losing cases.

I’ll thank Diamond for two things; reprinting my Brandman stories because I caught some typos and fixed them (and no, I didn’t delete a story or any tags so this idea I would is in his mind). And for reprinting something I wrote about the role of PR/PA pros in 2013.  I have no government clients (nor do I seek them); I have three technology-based Orange County clients, mutiple technology clients around the nation and four cybersecurity clients in EMEA. We win awards for our work and we do pro bono work for cybersecurity organizations that promote LGBTQ+ and minority/women groups.  And what I wrote 10 years ago about the role of PR and PA pros then is still true today and has zero to do with Jordan Brandman or the Anaheim Cabal.  I’ll acknowledge my legal first name is Daniel, and I’ll note Diamond’s “attempt” at humor around my name is proof that comedy is hard and he has no talent for it, among other things.

When Jordan sat down with me for the interview when he decided to come out, I thanked him.  He was nervous.  I told him, “It could be worse…Greg Diamond could be sitting here now.”  Jordan laughed and calmed right down. And we spoke about his journey to coming out.  Friends say what’s on their mind even if its hard to say and harder to hear.  Writing a post critical of Jordan didn’t mean we were no longer friends.  I’m sad he’s gone.  But Jordan was never friends with the folks who grace the Blog post and comments section of the OJ blog.

Jordan’s last self-written Facebook post was from October 30, 2020.  He stopped posting shortly after that.  Here’s what he thinks of the OJ boys.  And he deserves the final word on this matter.

Jordan Brandman

It’s a truism that politics is a contact sport. I certainly have my share of scars to prove it, and I’ve thrown a few elbows, too. It’s rare for an ad to get under my skin, but one finally did last night. Vern Nelson released a – typically – poorly produced and executed video last night attacking Avelino Valencia, who’s running for City Council in District 4. In it, appropriates a traditional song and grafts on a disgusting mock narrative of “Avelino ‘Vendido’ Valencia.” Vern’s artwork is poor, but he gets his point across. From the implied wanted poster to the black-and-white overlay to the implication that Avelino is a bandit riding into town, it draws on all the worst, racist caricatures of our brothers and sisters of Mexican heritage.

I’m shocked he had the self-restraint to not draw on a handlebar mustache and sombrero. It’s disgusting, it’s racist, and it’s wrong.

For years, Avelino has served Anaheim residents and done it with integrity. I’m not talking about his service as a city commissioner, although that’s laudable. I’m talking about his job as a caseworker for the State Assembly. His job – literally – is to take calls from Anaheim constituents and get them the help they need. Every day, he spends hours on the phone with bureaucrats in Sacramento trying to get laid-off residents the unemployment insurance they’ve paid into and desperately need, to get struggling small businesses help with their sales tax bills, and even to help families make sure their relatives in youth facilities and correctional facilities are getting the healthcare they need and deserve as human beings. It is truly the Lord’s work, and anyone who demeans the service of someone who does this work is spitting in the face of the many Anaheimers whom he’s helped.

Vern calls Avelino a carpetbagger, I suppose because for all his claimed moral superiority he thinks fear of outsiders is good politics. Tell me, if Avelino grew up in Anaheim and graduated from Katella High School, how can he possibly be a carpetbagger from Long Beach? If he is married to a fellow lifelong Anaheimer – who herself teaches in our schools – is he a carpetbagger? His family, friends, and life are all Anaheim, as they always have been. Avelino’s not a carpetbagger, he’s a neighbor.

Yes, I’m angry. I’m disgusted. But I’m also heartbroken. Vern clearly believes that anything said in pursuit of the right (or his conception of it, in any case) is pure and admissible by extension. Well, it’s not. None of us has a monopoly on morality: the ends do not justify the means. As progressives and liberals, we should know better. Maybe we don’t.

…….

Clearly, Greg Diamond doesn’t know any better; nor does Vern Nelson.  Rest in peace Jordan.