For the second time this year, a local Democratic club is turning its back on the San Francisco Democratic Party. But its reasoning may be murky.
The San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club announced it would withdraw from the party in a public statement on Wednesday, taking aim at party leadership for allegedly failing to back up the Latino community.
“The San Francisco Democratic Party has repeatedly failed to prioritize or even acknowledge critical issues facing Latinos,” the club’s leadership wrote in a statement.
Yet the criticism also follows months of blistering scrutiny of Kevin Ortiz, the Latinx Democratic Club’s co-president, who was accused of sexually assaulting Zahra Hajee, a former staffer to state Sen. Scott Wiener and Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, and another unnamed woman.
In a statement published to its website in January, the San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club said a monthslong investigation did not support the allegations against Ortiz. The club reinstated him as co-president.
The Democratic Party board was scheduled to discuss the club’s rechartering at its Wednesday night meeting.
In the wake of sexual assault allegations against Ortiz and Jon Jacobo, another Democratic organizer who was accused of rape, the local party instituted new guidelines to monitor sexual misconduct claims. Those included hiring an ombudsperson to investigate complaints and mandating chartered clubs to complete trainings on preventing sexual assaults and to discourage alcohol at events.
“It’s a groundbreaking policy to protect participation in our political space,” said San Francisco Democratic Party Chair Nancy Tung. “It’s unfortunate that the leadership of the club did not give us the courtesy of informing us or trying to have a transparent conversation to improve the relationship prior to this press announcement. Given that, all I can say is I wish them well.”
This isn’t the first club to quit the San Francisco Democratic Party of late.
The former Rose Pak Democratic Club, now called Rose Pak Asian American Club, also quit the San Francisco Democratic Party earlier this year by refusing to be rechartered. The club removed the word “Democratic” from its name, claiming that the local party has been increasingly detached from the Asian American community.
Catie Stewart, a political communications consultant, said she doesn’t buy the idea that Ortiz isn’t — on some level — withdrawing from the Democratic Party for personal reasons.
“Not for one moment,” she said.
While Stewart said she doesn’t know every detail of the Democratic Party’s efforts with Latinos, “I can say for sure Ortiz has a bone to pick. This is more of those bullying tactics. From the lawyering up to now this, he’s using his position of power to bolster himself and to discredit the claims of Hajee and others who came forward because of his actions.”
The SF Latinx Democratic Club’s press release took aim at the local party for being silent on national immigrant issues and Trump, especially regarding the ongoing legal battle over birthright citizenship.
However, the party’s February meeting included a resolution opposing Trump’s agenda and addressed the immigrant community and the city’s sanctuary status — it was their most prominently publicized statement that month.