New District, Old Politics: Jordan Brandman's Council Campaign Awkwardly, Predictably Kicks Off
{A Protester waves a sign in front of Brandman at Caldwell's house in 2013}
Having dropped out of the congressional race to replace Loretta Sanchez, councilman Jordan Brandman is in the awkward position of campaigning for re-election in new district he once considered shelving and discarding. "I am excited to announce that I will be a candidate for re-election within the city's newly created 3rd Council District!" Brandman announces in an email. He includes an invitation to his birthday boy fundraiser on March 24 at the home of Mitch and Sherry Caldwell, a well-traveled spot for Anaheim establishment politics.
Brandman's fluff is too easy to dissect. He touts the expansion of the Anaheim Convention Center, hiring more cops and creating "good-paying" jobs. Good enough to afford attending his campaign kickoff? But the real kicker is his recasting of the districts drama. "The City Council unanimously implemented a map of six city council districts that will guarantee equitable neighborhood representation, along with our directly elected mayor," he touts.
There's no mention, of course, of his role of wanting to stick incumbent Latino councilman James Vanderbilt in District 3 before he bolted to District 2. (Chess piece carpetbagging is cool, though, so long as it's the people's carpetbagging, right?) If Vanderbilt didn't move, it would have allowed for postponing District 3 elections until 2018. When that didn't work, Brandman toyed with shelving the rest of the People's Map, taking District 3 along with it. Only after all that tomfoolery exhausted itself did the council majority decide to implement the map and put all districts to vote except for 2 and 6.
District 3 is the most heavily Latino and when a council member gets elected, that means they represent all Latinos in it, not just the percentage of voter eligible ones. It's also home to the Colony which has a reputation of powerhouse politics in the city. Brandman's campaign messaging is the same booster slop fed to voters in every election. There's plenty of substantive district-bound issues to be considered that The Other Anaheim will highlight soon. In the meantime, Brandman's kicking things off with a birthday fundraiser at the Caldwell's home.
Mitch Caldwell is on the advisory committee of Support Our Anaheim Resort (S.O.A.R.), sits on the planning commission and is President of the Anaheim Neighborhood Association. His home played host to an elitist wine tasting fundraiser three years ago for SOAR's political action committee with a guestlist including former Mayor Curt Pringle, Orange County Business Council President/CEO Lucy Dunn and current council members Kris Murray and Lucille Kring. This is where Brandman's trek back to his council seat begins.
In other words: New district, same ol' politics.
