State party chairmanship race is roiled by rumors
Top candidate to lead California Democrats urges backers to fight stories spread online.
A top candidate running to become chairman of the California Democratic Party on Tuesday urged his supporters to push back against what he said Sunday were false rumors that he is “engaging in inappropriate behavior with 14- and 16-yearold boys.”
“The politics of personal destruction is despicable,” Los Angeles County Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman told party members gathered for their monthly meeting. “It is one thing to attack someone for their record, for their votes, for their positions, for their donors. This is beyond the pale.”
Bauman, who is in a fiercely contested race for the chairmanship with activist Kimberly Ellis, said he began to hear the rumors late last week as his supporters phoned delegates ahead of the state party convention, where the election will be held this month.
He emailed delegates about the rumors on Sunday, saying he thought he needed to speak out. On Tuesday, Bauman urged his supporters to help him fight back by countering the rumors in the private Internet chat rooms where he said they are being spread.
“I want to ask you all to do the following — if you see or hear that, please push back,” Bauman said, urging members of the crowd to write posts with the hashtag #theericiknow. “Don’t let them get away with it. If this is what takes over our party … then we’re even more lost than we are right now.”
Bauman has been chairman of the county party since 2000, and the crowd Tuesday night was full of his supporters.
Ellis quickly denounced the rumors when her rival made them public in an email to party members over the weekend. During his talk Tuesday, Bauman did not blame her for them, but many in the crowd said they believed her campaign was behind an effort to discredit her opponent.
“These rumors are despicable and there’s no place in our politics for such outrageous behavior and I denounce any such type of cruel maligning of someone’s character,” Ellis said in her own email to state Democrats, sent two hours after Bauman’s message Sunday.
“While Eric and I have substantive differences, we also have had the opportunity to spend a significant amount of time together on the campaign trail,” she wrote. “Though there’s certainly a lot of passion on both sides, I’m proud of the mutual respect and courtesy we’ve shown each other in our interactions.”
The contrast between the leading contenders to become the next chairperson was clear at a debate between the hopefuls Wednesday: Bauman said the party must expand on its existing successes, while Ellis countered that it had lost its way and needs to be fundamentally overhauled.
“I’m running not just to bring a new vision to the party. I’m running not just to bring new perspective, not just to change the tone, tenor and culture of our politics,” said Ellis, the candidate who received the loudest cheers and applause from the hundreds of delegates at the party gathering in a San Diego union hall. “I’m running to be chair of the California Democratic Party to redefine what it means to be a Democrat and get this party back to basics.”
The California Democratic Party, the largest and most liberal in the nation, has enjoyed years of electoral and financial success. But it is at a crossroads: The progressive forces that coalesced behind Bernie Sanders in last year’s presidential primary and railed against the Democratic establishment are now seeking to redefine the state party.
For Bauman, who entered the race viewed as the front-runner and has since seen it tighten, it presents a challenge. He is an establishment candidate who has spent nearly a quarter-century serving in leadership positions in various Democratic groups.
“We’re the only state party in the country that actually knows how to do it right,” said Bauman, vice chairman of the state party. “I believe I have the experience and the relationships to raise the California Democratic Party to the next level.”