
Eric Bauman (Photo courtesy Bauman campaign)
Watergate was a scandal where dirty tricks were used by Republicans against Democrats to win an election. Today, in the case of the horrendous homophobic attacks against Eric Bauman, longtime out chair of the Los Angeles Democratic Party, the attacks are apparently coming from supporters of his Democratic opponent in the race to be the next chair of the California Democratic Party.
Issue attacks are one thingâsuch as what Bauman calls a blatant âwhopperâ that his support for the universal healthcare bill, âThe Healthy California Actâ (SB 562), is less than stellar. Bauman is a registered nurseâfollowing in the footsteps of his late mother, an unmarried lesbian nurse. He met his husband of more than 30 years, Michael Andraychak, in 1983 in the ICU ward during the AIDS crisis. Bauman has worked toward securing a single- payer healthcare law with then-Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, out former State Sens. Sheila Kuehl and Mark Leno, and more recently, SB 562 co-authors Ricardo Lara, and Toni Atkins to make, in his words, California a âhealthcare sanctuaryâ state!
But it is the blatant homophobia used as a bazooka in the politics of personal destruction that has shocked many in the Democratic Party.
When Bauman first heard from volunteer phone bankers about outlandish rumors that he had engaged in âinappropriate behavior with 14- and 16-year-old boys,â he âblew it offâ as an âold sawâ used against gay or lesbian candidates.
âRight away, when the other side doesnât feel like theyâre running away with it, the next thing you know,â Bauman told the Los Angeles Blade, âthe accusations of pedophilia come out; the accusations that weâre promiscuous; the accusations that we have drug problems. I mean, itâs an old saw that plays over and over and over again. Iâve watched it dozens and dozens of times in my political career and itâs despicable!âÂ
Bauman wrestled with how to respond, thinking the false rumors were confined to a small group of people.
But then âa light bulb went off,â he says. âWhat theyâre accusing me of is being a child predator! And I lost it. I started crying uncontrollably. Michael put me on the phone with my uncle. Then he put me on the phone with [his best friend, former Assembly Speaker] John Perez. There was no consoling me. And finally Michael did the proverbial scene from the movie âAirplaneâ where the nun slaps the guy in the face. He didnât slap me in the face but he said, âDamn it, stop this shit now. Letâs go for a walk and letâs get past this.â And that worked.â
But it made Bauman think: âhow many people are accused of things or are victims of abuse and they hide in shame and so it continues?âânoting how cyber-stalking can become dangerously viral. âSo I thought the only way to stop it is to get out in front of it and stop it.âÂ
He decided to send out an email to every delegate entitled âI can no longer stay silent!â The email, Bauman said, fumed: âThis is despicable! This is not the Democratic Party! These are Trumpian tactics and it has to stop!â
âI’m a pretty tough guy and I can take the attacks, lies, distortions, and mud that has been slung at me pretty well,â Bauman wrote in the email. âBut to accuse me of child abuse, especially of this nature, is beyond the pale and 100% unacceptable.â
Bauman was âheartenedâ at the massive positive response, including from his opponentâs supporters.
âBut there were peopleâand this happens to rape victims all the timeâwho accused me of doing it myself,â Bauman says. âThere were a good number of people that posted that in Facebook groups. That was disgusting! And then there were other people who said, âWell if Bauman wonât expose the person who said it, then why is he hiding it?â Then you had these people who constructed these triple-straw man arguments: âEither Bauman put this out there himself because no one else has seen it or Bauman knows who it is and for some reason, doesnât want to tell who it is, maybe because they know that itâs true.â This is on the Internet!â
The tactics then shifted to attacking Bauman as a Jew in a delegate chat room after the campaign posted a loving YouTube tribute from Andraychak called #TheEricIKnow.
âThey post this image described as âa 16 year old Palestinian girl laying dead in the street with an Israeli flag stuck in her back and the Star of David is replaced with a Swastika,ââ Bauman says. âReally? This is an election in the Democratic Party. And as somebody who has fought for 30 years to build and strengthen this partyâthis is insane!â
Kimberly Ellis, Baumanâs top rival, denounced the tactics. âThese rumors are despicable and thereâs no place in our politics for such outrageous behavior and I denounce any such type of cruel maligning of someoneâs character,â Ellis said in her own email to state Democrats, the L.A. Times reported.  âThough thereâs certainly a lot of passion on both sides, Iâm proud of the mutual respect and courtesy weâve shown each other in our interactions.â
Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California, is among those disgusted by the dirty tricks. âJust as we are at the precipice of breaking a glass ceiling with the ability to elect a gay man to the highest ranking position ever for any LGBTQ person in the nation in any major party, I am sickened that there still are people in California’s Democratic Party who would resort to these false smears to favor their preferred candidate,â Zbur told the LA Blade. âWe call on Democratic Party leaders to investigate who launched and participated in this despicable campaign and assure that anyone who participated is removed from positions of leadership in the party.”
The election for California Democratic Party chair happens on May 21.