Democratic Party Central Committee Calls on SDUSD Trustee Kevin Beiser to Step Down

The Union-Tribune reported yesterday on a lawsuit alleging sexual assault and ongoing harassment filed by a political consultant against San Diego Unified School Board Trustee Kevin Beiser. Later in the day, Voice of San Diego dropped a story based on weeks of investigation concerning three more accusations of sexual harassment.

I believe Beiser’s fall from grace has a silver lining for San Diego Democrats. Last night, the party proved it’s moved past the era of providing cover for malfeasance on the part of elected officials who happen to have a “D” beside their name, calling on Beiser to step down from his elected office.

I know it’s a low bar, but considering the alternative these days, namely mouthing allegiance to a predator-in-chief with two dozen or so credible allegations of sexual misconduct, it’s a good start. And let’s not forget the local Dem party's reluctance to act when similar situations have arisen in the past.

Beiser, who last year was president of the SDUSD Board, was first elected in 2010 and re-elected in November. He was widely expected to run for City Council next year.

The details in the published accounts present a tawdry and consistent pattern of actions by a well-connected political figure seeking to exploit up and coming activists for his personal pleasure.

From the VOSD account:

...I didn’t find it to be rape, because whenever I think of that word, I think it’s more violent,” he said. “So I just feel like I was violated. Raped? No, I don’t think I was raped. I don’t know how anyone wants to term that, but it wasn’t something I wanted to consent to. (It was) something I wanted to get out of, wanted to forget. I think I’m fortunate enough to say I’m not scarred for life. There are plenty of people who have it far worse after living their life after a traumatic situation.”

Beiser denied all the allegations in a statement released after both stories were published.

“We were first made aware of these allegations less than 24 hours ago.
There is no truth to these allegations.
We believe they are politically motivated and we intend to vigorously defend ourselves.”

But even the statement denying the charges raised more questions.

...All of the men who spoke to Voice of San Diego were deeply involved in local politics at the time of their encounters with Beiser – two have themselves run for office in recent years. None has run against Beiser or could be considered his political competition. Many of their interactions with Beiser took place in social settings that were related to the political world...

...Voice of San Diego conducted follow-up interviews with the four men individually, and has corroborated their accounts with others with knowledge of the events, such as friends and family members they told at the time.

What’s not in either story is the effort behind the scenes to avoid a repeat of the failure of the city’s largest political organization in dealing with substantive evidence of bad behavior among elected officials. That’s code for “not screwing up like we did with Filner.”

For a while, though, it seemed as though the past would repeat itself.

A senior figure in the party intervened last year with one of the victims in a manner that left him unnerved. This wasn’t a matter of what was said, it was what was implied. And plausibly deniable, of course.

An anonymous letter was sent out just prior to January elections for a new party chair accused one of the candidates of supporting Beiser despite being aware of the sexual harassment allegations. At that point, many people in the party had no reason to believe this was anything more than rumor mongering.  

A consultant with experience in pushing back against sexual harassment allegations was brought in weeks ago by Beiser to develop a defensive strategy. That individual reportedly departed after discovering inconsistencies in the school board trustee’s story.

This casts doubt on the “we just learned about this 24 hours ago” part.

Once the cat was out of the bag, the newly elected Democratic Party president moved swiftly.

On Tuesday evening the County Central Committee voted 58 to 4 to ask for Beiser’s resignation from the school board.

From the Union-Tribune:

It sends a strong statement that the San Diego County Democratic Party does not tolerate this type of behavior,” said President Will Rodriguez-Kennedy, “whether it’s sexual harassment, assault or abuse. And we will take swift action against any public official who uses their position or their power to abuse other people.”

Rodriguez-Kennedy noted that Beiser will have a chance to make his case in court.

“We are not a judicial body; what we are is a political body,” he said. “This is a statement of our values. We believe that someone who is accused of this will not have the faith of the public to execute their duties and …. therefore should step down and address this and have their day in court.”

Party activist Sara Kent praised the action via twitter, saying (in part):

Filner. Kasparian. Kalasho. It's the 1st time since I've been involved on these issues that the local Party has made me so proud.

Over the past two years, story after story has come out of political campaigns at every level failing to properly vet and handle sexual harassment and assault within their ranks.

This incident casts a light on how up and coming participants in the political process are all-too-often exploited.

Electoral campaigns, which have traditionally functioned in a manner that exploited people who have no political capital and are vulnerable to workplace transgressions, are having to face the music.

As Molly Redden wrote for Huffington Post not long ago:

Rank-and-file women in politics have posed the question, quietly and through backchannels, for years. Is the new guy in charge a creep?

But as the Me Too movement heightens the expectations for political candidates and their campaigns, another much more powerful set of people has begun to do the asking: top aides to the many Democrats considering running for president in the 2020 election.

“We’re starting to ask those questions very, very directly, in ways where, previously, you’ve maybe just hinted at it,” said a senior staff member to a potential 2020 candidate. “Now you’re stabbing right at it. It’s a complete cultural change.”

On a national level, campaign staffs for candidates (starting with Sen. Bernie Sanders) are organizing union shops.

On a local level, I’m reminded of Omar Passons 2018 campaign for County Supervisor pledging to pay its workers at least $15 an hour.  

If they’re gonna talk the talk about treating people right, the party needs to walk the walk. And San Diego Dems have taken a step in the right direction.

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