Councilman Jordan Brandman, who represents west Anaheim’s District 2, has tendered his resignation. According to sources, the resignation came as Mayor Harry Sidhu prepared to agendize for August 10 consideration a resolution censuring Brandman and calling for his resignation.

Brandman’s resignation comes in the wake of controversy over vulgar remarks he made in the early morning hours of February 12, 2020 during a text conversation with a West Anaheim activist. Those text remarks came to light in July of this year. The texts were grotesque figurative descriptions of how to deal politically with then-Councilmember Denise Barnes, who represented west Anaheim’s District 1.

In a letter submitted earlier today to Mayor Sidhu and City Manager James Vanderpool, the embattled councilman wrote “It has been an honor to serve the residents of Anaheim, especially my friends and neighbors in Council District 2. Working alongside the mayor, council colleagues, and our talented city staff, my desire has always been to improve the quality of life for every resident in our city. I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish together.“

Brandman continued:

“Like for most, there are periods in our lives when we are faced with competing career and personal priorities. For that reason I have decided it is in the best interest of me and my family to focus on them at this time. I look forward to remaining an enthusiastic resident of Anaheim and am excited about the future of our city.”

“Like so many, I became aware of the texts when they became public. I was shocked and appalled. I immediately had concerns about the former Council member’s ability to effectively serve going forward,” Mayor Sidhu stated in response to Brandman’s resignation.

“I gave Jordan some time to own his words, take responsibility for his actions, do what was best for Anaheim and address his own well-being,” Sidhu continued. “As mayor, I have an obligation to pursue the right outcome for residents and our city as a whole. I made Jordan aware that at this point I would bring this matter to the Council for potential censure and a call to resign.”

“What we see now is the result of that process. I thank former Council Member Brandman for the positive contributions he made to our city during his service. I also thank him for recognizing today the need to step away and allow the rest of the city to continue doing what’s best for Anaheim,” said the mayor.

Vulgar Text Screenshots Surfaced After A Year
At the time of the text conversation in question, screenshots were shared with some other West Anaheim residents, including Kathy Chance. More than a year later, Chance decided to share them with Councilmember Jose Moreno. They made their way to Vern Nelson, a blogger and Democrat activist who was trying to organize a recall of Brandman. In 2020, Nelson mounted a failed attempt to qualify a recall against Anaheim Mayor Sidhu. Nelson has been convicted of five DUIs. In 2017, former Councilwoman Lorri Galloway claimed Nelson made unwelcome sexual advances on her in 2012, an allegation that Nelson denies.

The texts, Brandman made hostile and denigrating comments about Barnes – although its unclear from the two screenshots why he made the comments.

“Let Harry deal with it since he cares so much about my District,” the excerpted texts begin.  “No, not that but what my mother would say.”

“Unf——believably selfish c—” Brandman continued, apparently referring to Councilmember Barnes. “Sorry for using those words but they were my mothers favorites.”

Brandman was referring to his mother Mara Brandman, a longtime Orange activist, former city planning commissioner and sometimes city council candidate.

“As my mother would say, ‘im gonna rip her f—— t— off,” Brandman continued. “That’s really what my mother would say.”

Mosley’s replies are redacted from the screen shots.

Several months later, Councilmember Barnes was defeated for re-election, following a political swing left-ward that included her switching parties from Republican to Democrat a few months before the election.

Brandman was a rising star in Orange County politics at one time. He was a member of the Anaheim Union High School District Board of Education when he was first elected to the council in 2012, when elections were still held at-large. He ran for re-election from District 3 in 2016, but was narrowly defeated by Jose F. Moreno, a Chicano Studies professor at Long Beach State University.  Shortly afterward, both Brandman and then-Councilman James Vanderbilt moved from District 3 to District 2. In 2018, Brandman beat Vanderbilt to return to the council.

Texts Became Fuel For Broader Political Effort Against Council Majority
Although private communications when Brandman sent them, once the obscene texts entered the public domain, they became illustrative of how District 2 councilman’s erratic behavior and troubled private life were undermining his ability to effective serve his constituents.

Their surfacing also became fuel for the Brandman recall effort – itself part of a broader political effort by a group of progressive activists – including Councilman Jose F. Moreno – to delegitimize the current council majority and ultimately displace it in the November 2022 election.

Special Election Not Feasible For Filling the Vacancy
The city council has two options for filling the District 2 vacancy created by Brandman’s resignation: appointment or special election.

According to the city charter, the council is supposed to fill vacancies by appointment, and it required to do so within 60 days of the vacancy being created – meaning by October 4. If it is unable to agree on an appointee within that time frame, then the vacancy will be filled by a special election.

Government Code section 36512 states that a special election to fill the vacancy would have to held on the “next regularly established election date” but “not less than 114 days from the call of the special election.”  Those election dates are spelled out in Elections Code section 1000. Per the not-less-than-114-days rule, the earliest a special election to fill the vacancy could be held would be April 12, 2022.

In other words, filling the vacancy by special election would leave District 2 residents unrepresented on the council for more than nine months – which is not a realistic option.

The last time the Anaheim City Council dealt with a vacancy was in 1995, when then-Councilman Tom Daly’s seat became vacant upon his swearing in as the city’s directly-elected mayor. The council deadlocked until the appointment window had almost expired, before settling on a compromise applicant: Tom Tait, who was a planning commissioner at the time.

City councils traditionally choose to fill vacancies by appointment. For example, in the past few months, both Huntington Beach and Orange have filled council vacancies by appointment.

One reason is cost: it spares the city the cost of a special election in which voter turnout is low.

Another reason is as old as mankind: politics. Council majorities – however fluid and regardless of political orientation – would rather appoint a like-minded colleague than chance the election of an opponent.

On the current council, left-wing Councilman Jose F. Moreno is usually political minority of one. It’s a certainty he will push for a special election, since it presents an opportunity to elect a political ally. If a vacancy had occurred during 2017-2018 – when Moreno was part of a council majority – we reliably assume he and his council allies would have filled it by appointing a political ally.