District 9 supervisor hopeful Trevor Chandler said he will not participate in next Tuesday’s candidate town hall organized by the Latinx Democratic Club and nine other local organizations amid concerns over “unresolved issues with some of the debate’s hosts.”
“I believe the Latino and Hispanic communities are essential to D9’s past, present, and future, and I am committed to earning every vote. I am proud that my very first window sign went up on Calle 24,” he wrote in a text message.
Nonetheless, he continued in his text, his work on a special committee on sexual harassment and assault by the Democratic County Central Committee, the San Francisco branch of the Democratic Party, and “the serious, unresolved issues with some of the debate’s hosts” meant he would “not be participating.”
Chandler declined to elaborate, but a person close to his campaign said his statement was a reference to two people: Jon Jacobo, who used to be Calle 24’s vice president, and Kevin Ortiz, who is the president of the Latinx Democratic Club. (The moderator on Tuesday will be Maria Antonieta Mejia from Univision-14.)
Jacobo is no longer involved in any of the hosting organizations, and he recently resigned from his position as executive director of affordable housing developer TODCO, after the San Francisco Standard published new accusations of sexual misconduct, citing filed police reports. Jacobo has no known involvement in the debate.
As for Ortiz, who is the co-president of the Latinx Democratic Club, the San Francisco Standard reported similar allegations against Ortiz earlier this year, referencing tweets and multiple unnamed sources but no police reports, and it appears the allegations stemmed from a single anonymous online account. Ortiz’s attorney, Jim Quadra, blasted Chandler’s decision, and called the allegations rumors and not evidence.
“It is surprising that a self-proclaimed civil rights leader chooses to ignore the concept of due process,” he said. “Moreover, it certainly does not bode well for the work of the DCCC Special Committee on Sexual Harassment that one of its members does not know the difference between unfounded rumors and evidence.”
He suggested Chandler was trying to “appear politically correct” rather than to do “what’s actually correct and inform Latino voters how he intends to address the struggles our community is facing in San Francisco.”
When asked if he had any evidence to support his campaign’s allegations about Ortiz’s wrongdoing, Chandler said, “As my statement says, there are serious unresolved issues.”
“I look forward to finding additional opportunities for all of the District 9 candidates to speak directly to the Latino and Hispanic communities’ urgent and important concerns,” continued Chandler.
Chandler instead accepted the invitation from the group D9 Neighbors for Housing to participate in a free forum the same day at the same time.
The other candidates, including Roberto Hernandez, Jackie Fielder, h brown, Stephen Torres, Jaime Gutierrez and Julian Bermudez will participate in Tuesday’s town hall.
Fielder said sexual violence is one of the most important issues to discuss in the Latinx community. “It is extremely important … that’s why I plan on raising this issue amongst many others that are important to the Latino community,” said Fielder.
“I understand Trevor’s denial towards joining a meeting with organizations that were once affiliated with Jacobo, but these organizations are still important to our community,” said Bermudez. “It’s not appropriate to simply refuse an invitation and still expect the community to support you. The Mission matters.”
The newly elected chair of the Democratic County Central Committee, Nancy Tung, announced the creation of the special committee on sexual assault and harassment in April to review recent accusations of sexual misconduct within the city’s Democratic political community. The committee is composed of six members, including Chandler.
At the committee’s inaugural meeting, several attendees blasted the inclusion of Chandler and Bilal Mahmood, a candidate for District 5 supervisor, as members of the committee. They said candidates running for office should not be allowed to sit on the committee, to avoid politicizing its work.
Jacobo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The nine other organizations hosting the event include MNC Inspiring Success, La Colectiva de Mujeres, Calle 24 Latino Cultural District, Mission Street Vendors Association, Good Samaritan Family Resource Center, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco, Mission Cultural Center for the Latino Arts, Caminante Cultural Foundation Inc. and Original Day Laborers.
The town hall will take place at MNC Inspiring Success at 362 Capp St. on Tuesday, June 4, at 6 p.m.
If he shows up to this event, it will be woefully clear that he has no idea how to respond to concerns within the Latinx community. Instead his policies put our community at risk. That is the real reason he won’t show up.
These people – all of them – look completely absorbed with themselves. What a joke.
Nice to see some local politicians taking sexual misconduct seriously.
You’ll notice that our progressive politicians do not.
The DCCC special committee’s handling of the Ortiz allegation is shady as hell. And that that they disallow public statements on “cases previously criminally investigated and closed” sure seems an awfully narrow inclusion.
Chandler boycotting the debate and instead attending a Yimby function is the latest episode of the special committee’s partisan shit show.
I wish that events like this were better advertised. I haven’t seen it on any calendars or websites or social media accounts. If it weren’t for this article, I’d have no idea it was happening.
David,
Don’t feel bad cause I’m a candidate and I wouldn’t have known about it if Oscar hadn’t phoned to ask my feelings about Trevor skipping the thing.
In fact, I was the Only candidate for the position who has qualified for the Ballot !!
I know that Manny has promised to invite the candidates one by one and the League of Women Voters Forum will I’d imagine invite all to Koret at the Civic Center Library.
I asked Torres and Fielder who were sitting next to me if they’d join a ‘Candidates Collaborative’ and agree one and for all that none of us will speak at events that do not include all of us.
Candidates have 4 more days to finish their paperwork and pay up or shut up.
lol
h.
If Trevor Chandler is indeed genuine and sincere in his concerns to do with rape, sexual violence and assault, then he will immediately insist on an investigation by Nancy Tung’s newly formed (kangaroo) sexual assault investigative body of major politico and money bundler Jesse, now “Jay” Cheng. If Chandler does not, then he is full of poop. Candidate Chandler and his campaign received and benefitted from thousands of dollars from the Astroturf political orgs that Jesse “Jay” Cheng orchestrates. Also: no candidate running for elected office should be allowed to sit on this “investigative” body. Why? Because as we can all see: claims of rape, sexual violence and assault are being politicized by this new body and not investigated. That’s gross!
Most unbecoming in a candidate running for elected office who has zero track record of policy making or public service. Is candidate Chandler looking for ways to avoid talking about his ideas, visions and practical plans for our beloved Mission communities and for San Francisco. Blech.
Funny how all these organizations pretend to represent the Mission, or speak for Latinos (or as they hilariously call them “Latinx”…how many real Latinos use the term “Latinx”??)
They are simply a very small number of special interest nonprofit groups which scam money from the city and promote socialism.
A clue…anytime an organization calls itself “Democratic” in the name, it is the very opposite.
Their names are:
Latinx Democratic Club, MNC Inspiring Success, La Colectiva de Mujeres, Calle 24 Latino Cultural District, Mission Street Vendors Association, Good Samaritan Family Resource Center, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco, Mission Cultural Center for the Latino Arts, Caminante Cultural Foundation Inc. and Original Day Laborers.