On November 10, 2018, I posted an announcement in the Our Revolution Southern California Facebook group addressing a smear campaign that had been launched against my co-founder Don Ford and me. It stated the following:
UPDATE ON OUR REVOLUTION SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
There has been a lot of confusion surrounding the status of our chapter. So I’ll give you a brief background.
An attack was organized by a neighboring chapter and a small alliance of partners. The majority of which are in favor of abandoning the Democratic party, a goal that is in direct opposition to the Our Revolution National goal of transforming the party.
Because the attack was directed solely at my co-founder, the status of our chapter is in limbo. There are no complaints against me and I alone signed the Memorandum of Understanding. The actual complaints themselves have not been made known to us, only the existence of them.
These complaints were lodged by the same people who have plagued the chapter’s co-founder for the past two years. As such, we have escalated the matter to a member of the board and are awaiting a response and potential investigation of the claims in the letter. If they are in line with the last two years of attacks then they can be called nothing less than a smear.
In the meantime, we are an unofficial chapter but have not been sent any legal notices to stop our operations. So we kindly ask for your patience while we work through this and your continued participation in the promoted events and actions.
In Solidarity,
Jenna Beck, Co-Founder
Our Revolution Southern California
Since posting this announcement, much has happened, much has been learned. The group who organized against us has become more desperate, careless, and cracks have formed. The smear letter that was sent to Our Revolution National Organizing Director Kyle Machado was leaked to me in January and, as a result, I was able to write a comprehensive rebuttal.
The smear campaign has been so pervasive that even my local contacts who should have been untouched by such nonsense have been approached with the libelous claims. Members of the Democratic party who have previously and, in some cases, currently serve as delegates have carelessly circulated the slander without any regard to how that may affect their own reputations later.
It stops today.
On Friday February 22, 2019, I sent the rebuttal letter to leaders at Our Revolution with a few key stakeholders in local California politics on the CC line. Today, I am publishing the redacted version with sensitive communications and witness names removed for their own protection. Over a few months, I’ve watched many of my contacts attacked by this network simply for taking photos with me and with other progressive organizers and activists who didn’t subscribe to their toxicity.
It’s now time to blow away their smoke and smash their mirrors.
The document is 304 pages in PDF. Enjoy.
UPDATE May 28, 2019: Over the weekend, an article by investigative journalist Charles Davis was published in Huffington Post titled “Tulsi Gabbard’s Top Online Fundraiser Is A Las Vegas Shooting Conspiracy Theorist” exposed Niko House as a prolific conspiracy theorist. He and his network have done immeasurable damage to progressive candidates and organizers, including presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard. We hope that by educating the public of this network’s tactics, that candidates and organizers will avoid the toxicity that comes with associating with this group.
