We have a Cancer in HB
Hon. Mayor Michael Posey
Huntington Beach City Council Members
Cancer comes in many forms and degrees of seriousness, but when diagnosed treatment is mandatory.
We have a cancer in our town, not one of body but a cancer in the bones of our politics.
Gracey Larrea-Van Der Mark is a local housewife and mom that just wanted to get involved in her 6 kid’s schools, to volunteer her time.
In her early life Gracey was an LA liberal that kept an open mind. After moving to HB a chance encounter with a conservative neighbor changed her mindset on politics.
Since becoming conservative she involved herself in local activism, to actually see on the ground how to help make her city a better place.
Gracey was appointed to the OVSD and HBCSD oversight committees, Both boards oversee the spending of bond money for each district; she didn’t know that the clock was ticking on her appointments the moment they were made.
Across the nation it’s become commonplace for ideological people and groups to slander anyone that differs from their narrative; debate in the classic sense has been lost. Ms. Van Der Mark’s conservatism and her vocal activism were the catalysts for OVSD president Gina Tarvin to begin a defamation campaign against her. For the last month Ms. Tarvin and her supporters have brutally smeared Ms. Van Der Mark, tarring her with the false charge of racism.
Additionally, one of Ms. Van Der Mark’s children was threatened by anonymous private message that referenced the accusations against her.
Lets review all the “charges” against Ms. Van Der Mark, look at the actual video, and use facts to invalidate all of her detractor’s claims.
Ms. Van Der Mark Attended a “White Privilege” seminar in Santa Monica last summer. Believers in White Privilege think that white people have an invisible advantage over minorities that whites wield against them. These beliefs are in fact Racist and are 100% false. Ms. Van Der Mark videotaped the event so that others could see what she witnessed.
On April 3rd at the Huntington Beach Community Forum a supporter of Ms Tarvin’s planted the first smear against Ms. Van Der Mark and claimed the following, that she was a racist for attending the event and espousing the following beliefs:
1) In the video Ms. Van Der Mark used the term “colored people” in relation to a group of Hispanic and Black people attending the event, she naturally felt that the term covered every colored person there. Her detractors have used this as their main charge of racism against her.
The NAACP is the oldest civil rights organization in America. If the term “Colored People” is appropriate enough to be in their group’s name, in the very way they identify themselves, then it is the gold standard for the public. The people who are slandering Ms. Van Der Mark with this charge are in essence calling the NAACP a racist association. They can’t have it both ways.
2) Ms. Van Der Mark’s accusers claimed she used the word “Jewish” in a derogatory way, here is the explanation in her own words: “After the presentation was over I walked over to one of the ladies who was helping run the event, she asked that I not film the exchange and I honored her request. I asked her why they were talking negatively about white people and white privilege if they themselves were white. She responded saying that they were not white, they were Jewish and not privy to white privilege”. There again, Ms. Van Der Mark was only referring to these people in the manner they had chosen for themselves. Also, by videotaping the event Ms. Van Der Mark’s intention was to show people exactly what the White Privilege event was about in the words of the participants and narrate it for the viewers.
3) Ms. Van Der Mark’s accusers claim she is associated with, and traveled to the event with, members of the “Alt-Right”. Although no coherent definition of the Alt-Right exists this allegation is completely false. Ms. Van Der Mark came to the event alone, she did not arrange to meet anyone there and had no prior conversations with anyone about it.
4) Holocaust Denial: Ms. Van Der Mark feels it’s important to be informed. In that vein she consumes information about topics she deems relevant. Awhile back she was studying the Holocaust and asked several people to send her links to videos, she put these videos in a Youtube folder that was named automatically (by Youtube) after the first video in the list…“Holocaust Hoax ?”. This is where their charge of “Holocaust Denier” comes from, the name of the folder.
5) Islamophobia Claims: Ms. Van Der Mark has also studied Islam. The website “Access Islam” was recommended to her and that it was funded by the Educational Broadcasting Corporation, a PBS-linked corporation. On social media Ms. Van Der Mark pointed out that Access Islam is funded by the US dept. of Education and was branded an “Islamophobe” for that. At the bottom of the “about” page of the Access Islam site it clearly states “Funding for ACCESS ISLAM was provided by the U.S. Department of Education in 2005”. Her concern, that I also share, is that Islam is being prioritized over other religions in our schools. Access Islam’s website has full lesson plans, videos and other teaching material that conveniently leave out any reference to Jihadism. I have studied the Koran and Radical Islam and can say with 100% clarity that Access Islam is pure propaganda. Ms. Van Der Mark’s fears are justified.
The fundamental core of our legal system is “Innocence before being Proven Guilty”, Ms. Tarvin and her followers completely disregard this basic right and instead use “The Accusation is the Proof” as their guide…with them conveniently acting as accuser and executioner. Some of the accusations would be laughable if the episode weren’t so serious, the level of rational logic coming from Ms. Van Der Mark’s accusers is childlike at best.
For example: The OVSD board ejected Ms. Van Der Mark from the oversight committee saying “we received complaints” when in fact they received 9 emails (and 5 support emails), most likely from Ms. Tarvin’s supporters; hardly substantive reasoning for ejection from the board. Also, this week she was ejected from the HBCSD board with no notice or due process.
You might ask why I’m defending Ms. Van Der Mark ? Because the defamation campaign against me in December of 2016 was the prototype for what Gracey is suffering through now, perpetrated by the same small group of people. At the time I was happy to step aside from the Planning Commission and avoid dragging the city through unnecessary drama, but it has relevance now and the entire story will be ultimately be told.
And, I am not going to allow these people to destroy another good person ever again.
“Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.” Saul Alinsky’s 13th and final Rule for Radicals
This defamation campaign against Ms. Van Der Mark follows nearly the same pattern that was used against me:
- A whisper campaign is started on the local facebook pages that takes one quote or video clip out of context, then that clip is used as an indictment for a litany of “offenses”.
- The OC Weekly publishes multiple articles on their website (usually not in print) that mirror the unproven narrative from the forums.
- The OC Register and LA Times dutifully publish articles parroting that same narrative.
- Local leftist groups pressure city council to remove the “offending” person.
- If the “Offending Person” dares to fight or get angry because they’re being defamed, then that is further used against them. The people who perpetrate the smear can say or do anything they want, the person being slandered is expected to stay silent or risk more defamation.
- Rinse, repeat.
Liberal Progressives say that their beliefs and assertions are self-evident, that by their very utterance the public “gets” their logic. This is false. I studied logic in college and can say that very little of what passes in this episode and many others passes the basic test for rational thought.
Ironically, Ms. Van Der Mark commented to me that “when I was a liberal I could say whatever I wanted, it was only when I became conservative that everything I said was scrutinized”… White Privilege ? no, that’s Liberal Privilege.
Instead of focusing on Ms. Van Der Mark we should be turning the attention to Gina Tarvin and her followers and holding them accountable for their malicious actions. In particular Ms Tarvin’s endless support for domestic abuser Victor Valladares. Again, she can’t have it both ways.
What i’m asking you ? to raise the level of debate in our town by choosing to ignore or excoriate any citizen that goes down the path of defaming and destroying their neighbors. You are the highest elective body in Huntington Beach, our leaders, the tone in our town is set by your actions and words. All debate is acceptable, and in fact it’s required. But this isn’t debate, this is a concerted act of political violence by one group in our town designed to destroy an enemy. Lets call it what it is: Social Terrorism…smear campaigns based on lies, tribalism and a desire for power.
Please join me in setting a higher ethical tone in Huntington Beach. We have enjoyed so much success for our citizens in the last few years it would be unconscionable to allow these people and their vindictive tactics to set our progress back.
Yours,
Michael Hoskinson
PS: In the coming weeks I will be sending you additional material that will add context and history to this issue.
PSS: Since this article was published and Councilman Brendan wisely chose to keep Gracey on the Finance Board all of these articles were published parroting the same lies told by Ms. Tarvin and her supporters. Since their smear campaign didn’t work they’re coming unglued.
https://voiceofoc.org/2018/05/romero-estrada-people-of-color-need-to-reclaim-the-politics-of-the-oc/
http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-brenden-decision-20180514-story.html
“From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia…could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No,if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide.”
Keep up the good fight, brother. We can’t let the cultural marxists destroy our nation.
JL, thanks very much, the best news is that as predicted they are massively overreaching and will give the public a clear view of who they are. Then the public will need to decide.