Alameda County Dem officials called Ahern a fascist and Nazi

Rep. Eric Swalwell, ALCO Supervisor Nate Miley, and others, take heat from local Dems for endorsing Ahern

—DEMS IN DISARRAY—Three members of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee last week labeled Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern as fascist and a “Fascist Nazi.” The provocative comments followed a discussion about the local party’s plans to help Ahern’s opponent this June, the party-endorsed Yesenia Sanchez, and ire toward a number of high-profile Alameda County Democrats who have endorsed Ahern’s re-election.

—Alameda County Democrats continue to battle disunity within their ranks as Democrats, like Rep. Eric Swalwell, Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, and Dublin Mayor Melissa Hernandez, have all endorsed Ahern’s primary campaign. The central committee plans to send each official a letter noting the local party’s officially endorsed candidates.

—“It’s unacceptable for any Democrat in the county endorsing Ahern, let alone he’s a Republican, he’s a fascist,” said Soli Alpert, a central committee member from Berkeley.

—Alameda County progressives have long sought to replace Ahern, but until this year had never mustered a candidate to oppose him. In addition, to Sanchez, a second challenger, JoAnn Walker, has failed to capture the imagination of donors. While Ahern has sent out at least three mailers this primary season with several more believe to be in the pipeline, Sanchez has yet to send one, a worrying trend for local progressives.

—“It’s real important to counter the fact that we got this Nazi whose putting mail in people’s mailbox and we’re not able to do that to get him out,” said Kathy Neal, a central committee member from Oakland. Neal alleged that an unnamed labor union is actively distributing Ahern’s campaign literature while canvassing door-to-door. Neal hinted at a Democratic candidate using a similar blue and gold color scheme as Ahern’s literature is doing the same.

—“I look at that list, I was very disappointed that many that we have elevated into office are working against us, especially with a Republican,” said San Leandro Councilmember Corina Lopez, a member of the central committee. “To actively promote a Republican into office, especially one who has a thin blue line on his campaign literature is absolutely despicable in my mind.”

—Last fall, a similar appearance of local Democrats acting insubordinate arose after some central committee members filed charges for removal against Fremont Councilmember Raj Salwan for endorsing 10th State Senate District candidate Lily Mei, a recently registered Democrat. This came after Mei was found by the central committee to be anti-LGBT. Salwan later escaped removal from the central committee.

—“We endorsed Aisha Wahab in SD10 and there are members of our committee that are still endorsing Lily Mei,” said Melissa Shuen-Mallory of Fremont, and one of the members who filed charges against Salwan. “I hate to be a broken record, except, you know, can we also take stands against homophobes, as well as fascists?” she added, referring to Mei and Ahern.

—While local Democratic officials like Salwan could be subject to removal, it was believed state and federal elected officials were under the purview of the California Democratic Party. Royce Kelley, the central committee’s treasurer and resident parliamentarian said a bylaw change made last year could put ex-officio members like Swalwell, Miley, and also Rep. Ro Khanna, who has prominently endorsed Mei for the 10th State Senate, in jeopardy of charges being filed against them. Doing so requires at least two voting members of the central committee and a two-thirds majority for removal. Earlier this year, that same bar proved too high to remove Salwan.

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