Torie Osborn doesn't seem too upset about the Mayor John Duran made at last week's Democratic Club endorsement meeting in West Hollywood. In fact, Osborn is now asking the nearly 2,300 viewers of the popular video to pay up.
A recent campaign email titled "VIRAL VIDEO: WeHo Mayor Threatens Me" includes the tagline, "Click here to see the video—and help us turn this shocking incident into a campaign opportunity," linking directly to Osborn's ActBlue fundraising page.
Next to the embedded YouTube clip, a message on the page reads: "Watch the video on the right, and then donate $3 below to help us fight these attacks and advance our grassroots momentum!"
By the time the 50th Assembly District candidate won the endorsement of the West Hollywood-Beverly Hills Democratic Club—at the end of the nearly three-hour meeting on Wednesday—Duran could no longer contain his frustration. Storming out, he said, “West Hollywood will not forget this,” plus a few choice words.
Duran and some other club members saw a recent enrollment of new, pro-Osborn members as a move to stack the endorsement vote in her favor. After the meeting, at which the club voted to endorse Osborn, 43-28, the candidate defended the tactic.
“We’re in it to win it," Osborn told Patch. I have a grass-roots army that’s working with me. ... People joining clubs in order to vote for who they vote for is part of the grass roots. It just is part of the tactics. People do it all the time. I’m proud of my troops.”
A representative from Osborn's campaign did not immediately respond for an updated comment.
West Hollywood is joining the in the November 2012 election due to redistricting. Until then the city is represented by Mike Feuer as part of the 42nd Assembly District.
Stay up to date on West Hollywood news and events, by following @WehoPatch and “like” on Facebook.
Osborn's tactic in posting this video is foul. Even worse than the baseless claim that someone who doesn't support her is a "misogynist." WeHo voters saw this same trivializing "victim" tactic in the last city council campaign. Here's hoping your as successful as Horvath was.
I applaud Duran for standing up to this kind of manipulation and drawing attention to it. I find Torie Osborn's reaction to this -- the "misogynist" name-calling -- to be the real offense here. Osborn's follow-up attempts to capitalize on this by playing the victim is even more disgusting. Nearly as bad as her attempts to exploit the memory of her long-dead friend in WehoNews.
Though my question now would be did the video actually go viral or did Osborn's email fundraising campaign boost the figures. Which is the cause, which is the effect? I don't expect you to answer that. I think readers should ask themselves that.
One point I want to make. I'm disappointed in club president Lillian Raffel, who made a beeline to the media (including Patch) to complain about her club's endorsement. Raffel failed to mention she not only endorsed Betsy Butler, she was a Butler delegate for the CA Democratic Party. I later learned she didn't even disclose this to club members. She certainly never brought it up at the meeting. Raffel also claimed no one had ever paid for multiple club memberships with a single check before - a claim that proved to be untrue when Patch discovered a candidate for the West Hollywood City Council had done exactly the same thing the year before. At the time, some members and other candidates complained, yet nothing was done to amend the rules. So for Raffel to suddenly yell "foul!" because the candidate she didn't support utilized the same rules isn't just hypocritical, it's unethical. Frankly, the time for Raffel to have voiced concern about a single check paying for multiple memberships was at the time she received the check, not a month later when her candidate lost (perhaps she was hoping the check was for Butler supporters?). For the record, the Raffel cashed the check.
Your claim that the Democratic Club didn't change its rules and, therefore, everything is above-the-board and free and clear doesn't carry a lot of water with those of us standing on the outside watching. We hated the manipulation when Horvath did it, and we don't feel any better about seeing another candidate do it. It's very interesting that, apparently, the Osborn campaign doesn't want people to see the clear parallel to the failed Horvath campaign. Leaving Horvath's name out of your post isn't really covering anything up.
Torie Osborn, Betsy Butler, and Richard Bioom are the candidates that are in the race. “TORIE OSBORN WILL BE ANOINTED" Bloom might have become a contender. When he made a deal with the devil joining with the developers, he became every woman’s man and every man’s woman and all of his credibility is gone. He is delusional though in thinking the rank and file of Santa Monicans love him. There is a certain reminder of Muammar Gaddafi here, and he sure did receive the full measure of his people’s love. Legislatively, Bloom will deserve the same judgment. This will be a prelude to Bloom’s‘Last Hurrah.’ The political graveyard is filled with hypocrites.” The facts speak for themselves. Santa Monica Mayor Bloom was compelled to moved out of West Hollywood. Bloom got no love from West Hollywood or any other Democratic Club for the simple reason of his known record.He was appointed as Mayor of Santa Monica by other Council Members like him that used his voting position to reward developers that donated thousands of dollars towards his election. If they quack like a Duck then they are a Duck. That being said, Bloom is quacking as loudly as he can.