Assemblymember Betsy Butler, a candidate for the 50th AD, and WeHo Mayor John Duran at Stonewall Democratic Club meeting Jan. 18, 2012 (Photo by Karen Ocamb)
(Editor’s note: Earlier I posted a piece by Lisa Davidowitz about her support for openly gay 50th AD candidate Torie Osborn and what happened at the contentious West Hollywood/Beverly Hills Democratic Club endorsement meeting on Wednesday. Openly gay, longtime civil rights and criminal attorney and West Hollywood Mayor John Duran, who supports Osborn’s rival incumbent Assemblymember Betsy Butler, angrily interrupted Osborn’s acceptance speech after she won that club’s endorsement. Here’s a post by Duran on why he was so outraged. – Karen Ocamb)
John Duran on Why He Was Outraged by WeHo/BH Democratic Club Endorsement
The West Hollywood/Beverly Hills Democratic Club is like most local political clubs: 100 members or less, maybe 25-30 who are active, well-meaning Democrats who gather monthly. Very grassroots. Local. Everyone knows everyone in the room.
But what occurred on January 25th at our local club was inexcusable. The Torie Osborn for Assembly campaign purchased over $1100 in new memberships on December 29th. The new members were from places far away from West Hollywood. Places like Glendale and Norwalk and communities outside of the Assembly District. About 40 of those people showed up at our meeting. People none of us had ever seen before (and will probably never see again). They are probably Democrats. They are probably allies of Torie. But they are not part of the West Hollywood community. At least when West Hollywood candidate John D’Amico’s campaign enrolled 12 new members last year – they were all West Hollywood residents and Democrats.
The room on January 25th was stacked with these “new members.” The endorsement committee of our club had recommended a dual endorsement. That was rare. But the committee was evenly divided 50/50 between incumbent Assemblymember Betsy Butler and Torie Osborn. And both women were good candidates – so our club was going to take the high road and endorse both.
I was the first speaker on this issue. I urged the membership to support the dual endorsement recommended by the committee for the sake of club unity. While we might disagree over Betsy Butler and Torie Osborn – we all agreed we had to work together to re-elect President Obama.
I urged people to not allow these outsiders to hijack our club. One West Hollywood club member spoke against the motion. Two more club members supported my position. The other side with the 40 “new members” - silence. Not another speaker from their side had the courage to speak against the dual endorsement. The motion failed to get the required 60% vote.
The outsiders made a motion to endorse only Torie Osborn (after a motion to endorse only Betsy failed).
But then something really reprehensible occurred. The outsiders made a motion to eliminate discussion/debate! They used the majority in the room to not only support their candidate – but to prevent those of us who were long term club members from even discussing our own recommendation! The silent outsiders passed a motion to silence us. And now we were not even allowed to speak! At our own meeting! Their motion to endorse Torie passed by ONE vote for the required 60%.
That is when I blew a gasket! What political chicanery! Trickery! Deceit! Sure. It was all done within the framework of the rules. There are no residency requirements for the club. There are no participation requirements for the club. You can register for one night, vote for an endorsement and never come back again. All of this according to the rules.
I did shout at Torie Osborn. That her campaign had divided our club. That those of us who were actual club members would not forget the hijacking that occurred. One woman called me “a misogynist” -completely forgetting that I was supporting the other woman in the race.
Perhaps some good will come from all this. Perhaps both Democratic and Republican clubs will evaluate how their endorsements can be bought by campaigns and outsiders. Perhaps they will do what San Francisco clubs did by requiring people to participate in at least 3 meetings during the year in order to vote. If they don’t reform themselves – over time – they will lose credibility within the community. I will point out that neither West Hollywood Councilman John D’Amico nor myself were endorsed by the club due to the same machinations. And yet – we are both electeds today.
Torie Osborn’s campaign may smugly tout the ill-gotten West Hollywood Democratic Club endorsement along with the other clubs where the same tactics were employed. But they will not have the heart or soul of West Hollywood – which operates outside of their “win at any cost” strategy. It didn’t work for the other losing campaign that lost to John D’Amico last year. And it won’t work this time either.
Mayor John Duran
West Hollywood, CA
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
I support MAYOR John Duran (not the language but his reasons). My club, Stonewall Young Democrats, where I have dedicated 4 years of work was hijacked as well with a $1,125 check.
But oh the lord knows, I will be working my tails off for Betsy Butler.
Ari Ruiz
With all due respect Ari, you’ve been at every one of the same endorsement club meetings I have. If you have residences in WeHo, Beverly Hills, the San Fernando Valley, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica, you must be doing very well indeed.
If not, practice what you preach.
Ari, the Stonewall vote was 154-55. Yes, everyone, you read that right. 154-55 in support of Torie Osborn. And yet, Ari, you want to blame that demolition of your candidate on, what, 40-some odd new registrants dedicated to pro-LGBT activism? Odd.
Unfortunately, Mayor Duran is–shall we say–stretching the truth here. Duran accuses Torie’s supporters in the room of shutting down debate. The first motion, to endorse Betsy Butler, ALSO was not debated, and the request for that motion came from the DAIS. Why? Because club leadership knew that they were running out of time and were about to be kicked out of the meeting room. Consequently, there was no debate and the motion failed. When the motion to endorse Torie Osborn came up, Betsy Butler supporters like John Duran desperately wanted debate–NOT because they wanted to make their opinions known, but because they were trying to run out the clock and make sure the endorsement couldn’t be considered.
John Duran should know better than to be that deceitful in a public forum such as this.
Deceit is when Osborn says the she has “won” all her endorsements., when she bought all those memberships. Maybe she thinks she’s on “Let’s Make a Deal! I have participated in buying memberships in the past – sadly it’s commonplace – but I’ve never seen it done to this extent. It’s Osborn’s it’s the hyprocrite thing that bothers me.
I support Mayor Duran in his actions and am proud to call him my friend. It is refreshing to see an elected really speak their mind.
Butler’s people and the ” regular” voted to go along with the
Nomination Committee’s recommendation. The Osborn group did not. Playing hardball is fine – complaining when people call you out on it isn’t.
‘
Norman, I didn’t notice outrage coming from you or Mayor Duran when Councilmember D’Amico bought at least a dozen memberships with his own personal check to bring people in to overturn the Nomination Committee’s recommendation in the West Hollywood City Council race, nor did you hear me complaining about any of your former boss’ actions when I was on staff for his opposition. Unless, of course, your complaint about memberships isn’t the fact, but the scale? In which case, why don’t you define an acceptable number, and ask the club to change its bylaws to fit the example.
In addition, my comment about Mayor Duran’s deceit was not based on memberships–it was based on the allegations that Osborn’s supporters sought to silence debate. That’s not true. Instead, Butler’s supporters tried to engage in dilatory motions to run out the clock on the impending motion to endorse Osborn, and it was the Chair’s idea to dispense with debate–a motion that passed easily when the motion up was to endorse Betsy Butler, but all of a sudden created outrage when the motion was to endorse Osborn.
We both know what happened, Norman. We’re both professionals, and we both know the game. You and the Mayor are entitled to your opinions on the matter, but the facts are the facts.
Norman,
I do not disagree with your position on the issues, but how can you support his actions? Interrupting a meeting, screaming when someone else has the floor, its improper, and disrespectful, and we both know it. I know I have had some screaming matches at some of these meetings and I have had to apologized, which Mayor Duran hasn’t, but I also never did it to this level, and I am not an elected official.
As a constituent of Mr. Duran, I’ve experienced him as imperious and ill-tempered. He and other Weho councilmembers are happy to have elections in March with a 15% – 20% turnout so they can continue on in their fifedom and side with developers against residents who have to live, drive, and park in Weho.
His behavior comes as no surprise.
After years of attending these endorsement meetings I’ve learned that effective candidates organize their base to come out and support them while ineffective candidates and their surrogates complain about the results.
Look, I understand the concerns about the endorsement process because I’ve had them myself, but it really is just sour grapes to blame your opponent for being better organized than you are. The club membership rules were posted for everyone to see – this was a completely level playing field.
If club members – and I assume Mr. Duran is a club member – has an issue with the endorsement process or membership rules it is completely within their power to change the rules.
As bad as Mr. Duran was at the meeting, I’m more disappointed with WeHo/Beverly Hills Club president Raffel, who should have disclosed to the media that she endorsed Butler before falsely accusing Osborn of cheating . Raffel also failed to mention it was Butler’s campaign – not Osborn’s – who objected to the dual endorsement recommendation from the board – and it was that objection which set off the series of votes which ultimately lead to Osborn receiving sole endorsement from the club.
There’s a very good reason young people keep turning out to these meetings for Osborn, while Butler has trouble recruiting much support at all. Butler has never lived or worked in the district. In fact she’s abandoning MY district and moving north because didn’t want to face competition from a couple of Tea Party conservatives in 2012. Torie Osborn, on the other hand, is a 25-year resident of Santa Monica with deep roots in the lgbt and civil rights communities.
So I ask you, what’s more divisive, a candidate who abandons her old district and constituents to the the Tea Party to move into a “safer” district which already has two great Democratic candidates, or a local grassroots organizer who cares deeply enough about her community to put her life on hold to run for public office?
John J. Duran can throw as many temper tantrums as he wants, but it’s not going to change the fact I’m proud to support Torie Osborn for the AD50 because her campaign is about hope, inclusiveness and yes, even change you can believe in.
Memo to Torie Osborn; Money can’t buy you love, even if it can buy you club endorsements. You got an endorsement with 43 votes. You purchased 40 of those votes with a single check weeks earlier. That is as insipid as paying for sex. Yea, you got the endorsement, but you didn’t get the love.
Proposition for you Ed: if this is such an issue for you, will you come with me – a fellow dues-paying member in good standing of the WeHo/Bev Hills Democratic club – to the next club meeting and propose a membership rules change that will solve this issue once and for all?
C’mon Ed, I’m a Osborn supporter, you’ve endorsed Butler, let’s walk down that isle together and get it done!
Sorry, Ed, but you and I both know that money does you no good if you don’t have the actual people willing to give up their evenings and weekends to attend these meetings because they’re that dedicated to getting a candidate elected. You know this first-hand from your hard work organizing for John D’Amico.
Betsy Butler and Torie Osborn both have money. What Butler lacks that Osborn has is forethought, organization, and a dedicated network of activists and supporters.
And lastly, nothing can change the fact that the vote at Stonewall was 154-55. Nothing can change the fact that Torie won the endorsement of the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley, which has a fixed membership and cannot be packed or organized. Nothing changes the fact that the Santa Monica Club forbids exactly this practice, but Torie Osborn still won it with about 75% of the vote. And nothing changes the fact that Betsy Butler was allegedly the candidate eliminated in the first round of voting by the endorsement board of the Pacific Palisades Democratic Club, even behind Richard Bloom.
If you have no local grassroots support, then you have no local grassroots support. And no amount of complaining will fix that, any more than complaining by Torie’s camp will fix the fact that Torie has no support in Sacramento, which has a heavy–outsized, to some–influence on the California Democratic Party endorsement.
All’s fair in love and politics — and it all looks “perfectly legal” here as well. 60% with one vote to spare? That’s one Ruthless Cannonball, with a vengeance worthy of Bobby K himself — not to mention brutal efficiency. The candidates are virtually identical on the issues so now it comes down to the narcissism of small differences and everything is played out up close and personal in that global capital of narcissism where we all live, work and play. Personally though, I have to be offered a lot to shift from an incumbent who’s our friend (I live in Venice, which was in the “old” district and is in this “new” one) and doing as well for us as can be expected. Paraphrasing Todd Rundgren (in “A Wizard, a True Star”), I can wait another year (or four more, when the incumbent is termed out, unless the term limits initiative is passed in June — then it might be eight more) before Utopia is here.
Just FYI, Thomas, the new term limits initiative has no grandfathering. So if Asm. Butler wins, she will get four more years in the Assembly regardless. If, however, Ms. Osborn wins, she will get twelve years max if the June term limits bill passes.
Does anyone notice that Mayor Duran does not actually apologize for his actions? He yelled at people, and admits to it in the article, but does not apologize. Now the fact is, most of the people commenting on this article, we all know each other, and 9 months out of the year, we are usually all friends. We are all hacks, and have all worked within the framework of the rules to get what we want.
I have, Dante has, Ari has, etc. Neither side is corrupt, nor is either side squeaky clean. Torie is stacking clubs, Betsy is using her friends in Sacramento to stack CDP. NEITHER is against the rules.
What is true, is that Mayor Duran is right, we need to fix problems in the club system. I would add we need to fix problems in the CDP as well. But don’t blame the candidate for doing it, because, lets be honest, everyone tries to. And everyone of us has attempted to do this or something like it when we are on a campaign.
That being said – Mayor Duran’s actions were reprehensible. As someone who has had to apologize for his own actions in the past, I say to John, “No matter what you believe in, and whether you were right or wrong, how you said it WAS JUST PLAIN WRONG. You not only owe Torie and whomever it was you yelled at (rumor is that it was Debra Evans,) but you also owe Betsy and her camp an apology, because you sure didn’t make her supporters look good.”
It is with both amusement and sadness that I observe Torie Osborn’s campaign from a distance. She’s a very smart person. She knows how to play the game — she’s been at it a long time. I’ve watched her for 28 years.
In 1984 I served on the Executive Board of the West Hollywood Incorporation Committee, so while I no longer live West Hollywood, I am still interested in what happens there. At that time, I was very active in more than a few civic and LGBT causes. In the course of that activity I had occasion to work on some of the same ones as Torie. It was my opinion then, and still is today, that no matter how interested she is in doing good, no matter how much good she may do, she is far, far more interested in and dedicated to doing well.
Undoubtedly in the next few minutes, she (or her proxies) will dismiss these comments as petty and irrelevant, just as she did me for so many years because she thought I was in no position to benefit her in any way. But that changed one day when she was Executive Director of the Liberty Hill Foundation and learned that I had a 7-figure sum of money available for donation. Well, all of a sudden, I was no longer the pond scum I had been. She actually picked up the phone and called me. She poured on the charm. All was sweetness and light. The facade was glaring in its transparency.
Y’all can conduct yourselves however you see fit. I have no skin in this game. I cannot vote in the 50th. I’ve met Betsey Butler only a few times and I’m sure she couldn’t pick me from a line-up of one. In our few, short conversations, she seems ok enough. Judging by where we were the few times we met, I’m sure her politics are good — or at least good enough. Based on what I know of Torie and on what I’ve read about Torie’s behavior over the last few months, I’d vote for Betsey in a heartbeat.
OK, I’m done. I’m going back to San Diego now. Good luck. You’re going to need it.
I am flabbergasted by Mr. Ruiz’s suggestion there was something ill-gotten about Osborn’s Stonewall endorsement. The Stonewall meeting was packed with people turning out for various races – three contested Assembly races, a DA race, and and a fierce and bitter congressional race. There is no way any one campaign in any one race could have packed or stacked the room. There were too many people from other races who did not know Butler or Osborn. For Ruiz, an officer of the club, to suggest the vote was manipulated is deceitful. He should resign his position immediately and focus full-time on his beloved photo ops with politicians.
So John Duran is upset that someone plays his dirty games better than he does? And we’re supposed to be surprised that this goes on in weho? Maybe all the pro smoker addicts John Duran loves have entered his brain
ahh so, Torie is a dirty politician – nice to finally hear it.
If john duran had as much real outrage about the nonsmokers he wants to force to inhale someone else’s poisons as he pretends to have over this fake “outrage”, we might have a better world. How come he can’t just admit he lost, his puppet didn’t get fakely elected the way he wanted cause the other side was better at turning out fake members and fake voters as he was.
I’ll “say” it again: What no one, including Assemblymember Butler and Mayor John Duran, has yet it explain is why Butler didn’t stand her ground and run where she’s lived for the past number of years. Wouldn’t we have been better off supporting her candidacy where she lives and keeping both that district as well as the 50th Dem?
And did she really think it would be easier to go into the 50th just because it’s a safe Dem seat?! That doesn’t necessarily translate into a safe Butler seat. I mean, did Butler really think that the person who has been running a focused, successful, ground campaign for over a year prior, and has lived in that district for decades and has tons of local support, including being E.D. of two different local well-respected organizations, was just going to roll over and play dead for her?
I think the divisive one here is Butler; look what she’s doing to the Dems in this area — splitting them up somewhat viciously because she decided it would be easier and safer to move than to stay and stand her ground. I’d have been happy to support her where she was, and support Osborn at the same time. Instead, Butler’s forced people to choose between two solid people in the 50th, while leaving her old district out in the cold. (And how betrayed do those folks in her current district that worked their butts off for her when she first got elected feel to see her move just because she thought it would be easier to get reelected in the 50th, leaving them behind?) Butler would have had a whole lot more unified support behind her if she stayed where she was and stood her ground.
Kathy,
Torie is the divisive one. Assemblywoman, yes, Assemblywoman – Betsy Butler is the incumbent in the 50th AD.
Where she lived, Marina Del Rey, is now being covered by Assemblymember Steve Bradford and she didn’t want to run against him. Now, you want her to move more south because is more convenient for your candidate Torie is another thing. You’re perfectly fine for her moving to another district unless of course is the 50th. Hypocrite.
While its completely understandable that Betsy didn’t want to run against Bradford, it’s not understandable why she chose to abandon the 60% of the constituents she currently represents in the Southbay to move into AD50. From a strategic standpoint, it’s an awful choice – we a need 2/3rds majority in the Assembly to overcome Republican obstruction. So what does Betsy do? She moves north to a safe district where a Dem will win no matter what, instead of south to AD66 which now has TWO Tea Party candidates running for the now open seat.
That’s the REAL problem, and there’s nothing hypocritical at all about pointing that out.
For you to suggest that moving to AD 66 is fine (even do she does not live there) but moving to AD 50 is not (because your candidate wanted an easy win) is being a hypocrite. YOU GOOTA BE KIDDING ME!
I cannot also believe, that you a Occupy LA supporter would be supporting the LA City Hall Machine that comes with Villaraigosa’s support of Torie.