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PW OPINION PW NEWS PW LIFE PW ARTS •GUEST OPINION• BY ROBERT M. NELSON CHAOS REIGNS THERE’S SOMETHING FOR DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS IN BOB WOODWARD’S ‘FEAR: TRUMP IN THE WHITE HOUSE’ The nation flirts with crisis. Donald Trump has upended conventional rules of politics. Normalcy is, at best, a blur on the political horizon. What happened? Where are we going? In troubled times, exploring the past identifies new reference points where we anchor our thoughts and illuminate a future. Is there a guide? In 1972, an apparently botched burglary attempt occurred at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC. Pursuing the story, a pair of Washington Post reporters exposed the Watergate scandal, resulting in the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Bob Woodward’s new book “Fear: Trump in the White House” is important for understanding the currently polarized political crisis. Woodward is one of the two reporters (the other Carl Bernstein) who unraveled the Watergate story. He traveled this path before, and he and Bernstein wrote a book about it in 1974 called “All the President’s Men.” Woodward’s latest book is important because, simply, he is who he is: a widely accepted truthful chronicler of events, not a fabricator of “fake news.” Much like “All the President’s Men,” Woodward’s first book, “Fear,” his 19th, has lessons for Democrats and Republicans alike. The Electoral College Democrats believe they lost the 2016 election by accident — a fluke known as the Electoral College. True, Democrat Hillary Clinton won the popular vote and lost the electoral vote. Was this an unanticipated accident? Woodward reports the Trump campaign understood this possibility at the very beginning. Trump insider Kellyanne Conway, who Democrats often dismiss for her embrace of “alternative facts,” advised Trump’s strategy team at the start that they should concentrate on the electoral vote and ignore the big states, Woodward reports. Trump made Conway his campaign manager. Conway was right. The Democrats ran their 2016 campaign as a profit-making enterprise benefitting political consultants in the big states which had high-priced advertising markets. The analytic data told the Republicans they could get more bang for the buck in small states. Scouting the Opposition Woodward explains that the Trump campaign identified weakness in the Democrats and highlighted these negatives. Of Clinton, Conway tells Trump, “You are running against the most joyless candidate in presidential history.” Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon adds, “Even when telling the truth, she sounded like she was lying to you.” The Democrats countered in 2016 with a smooth, well-manicured corporate campaign managed by the Podesta brothers, John and Tony, and David Brock. Longtime Clinton insider James Carville lingered in the background. According to Woodward, the Trump campaign had the opposition well scoped out. At critical junctures in the campaign Trump’s people offset his tremendous weaknesses by claiming far greater weaknesses in their opposition. Errors Exploited Woodward takes us inside the Trump campaign as it addressed the infamous “Access Hollywood” tapes, where Trump bragged about groping women. The recordings were thought by many, including Trump’s running mate Mike Pence, to be a fatal blow to the Republican campaign. However, Bannon and Conway deflected the problem to Trump’s opponent. At a presidential debate between Trump and Clinton, Bannon, with much fanfare, placed four women in the audience who had accused Mrs. Clinton’s husband Bill of far worse behavior. One said to the press, “Mr. Trump may have said some bad words but Bill Clinton raped me and Hillary Clinton threatened me.” This quote became a continuous loop on FOX news the next day. Every tactical error of the Democrats was exploited. Woodward reports that the Trump campaign analytics team had found that the Obama family was Mrs. Clinton’s strongest asset — the public loved all four Obamas. Trump’s people were surprised that the Democrats did not use the Obamas more effectively on the campaign trail. Out of Control Since the election, the Trump Oval Office has been seen as a cabal of backstabbing, conniving ideologues. Woodward reports this is true. The Trump team is a thousand points of discordant right-wing light, finding a modicum of coherence in Trump’s persona. When it comes to his own family, Trump views his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner as perfect expressions of the Democratic opposition. He refers to them as “moderate Democrats from New York,” according to Woodward. In Oval Office strategy discussions, he uses them as a barometer predicting how national Democrats would react. Woodward presents Trump as an out-of-control, self-centered egomaniac, insulting to his closest loyal advisers. Chaos reigns in the confines of the Oval Office. There are no dampers on extreme behavior. Trump is dangerous. Woodward, once again, has done his country the greatest service. Hope flickers faintly. The 2018 elections are less than a month away.■ Robert M. Nelson is a member of the California Democratic Party Central Committee. 6 PASADENA WEEKLY | <strong>10.11.18</strong>
• NEWS • PASADENA | ALHAMBRA | ALTADENA | ARCADIA | EAGLE ROCK | GLENDALE | LA CAÑADA | MONTROSE | SAN MARINO | SIERRA MADRE | SOUTH PASADENA HOT BITE HEALTH DEPARTMENT SAYS TYPHUS FEVER ON THE RISE BREAKING BARRIERS FRANCES ARNOLD BECOMES FIRST WOMAN AT CALTECH TO WIN NOBEL PRIZE TERROR FROM THE GRAVE ISIS RIGS CEMETERY WITH EXPLOSIVES P. 8 P. 8 P. 8 WEB EXCLUSIVE THE SHUNNING OF MINDY KITTAY HALF-MILLION-DOLLAR SETTLEMENT OFFER WOULD BAR EMBATTLED DIRECTOR FROM EVER RETURNING TO WORK AT THE ALTADENA LIBRARY BY ANDRÉ COLEMAN Alocal attorney contends that an element of a settlement offer made by the Altadena Library Board of Trustees to embattled Library District Director Mindy Kittay would bind future boards in choosing a qualified person to run the library. In a letter to Jeffrey Thompson, lawyer for the Library District, Kittay’s attorney Dale Gronemeier said his client, who is currently on administrative leave, would not agree to a $501,000 settlement offer if it included a clause prohibiting Kittay from accepting future employment at the library. “Director Kittay does not assert an entitlement to be the next fulltime director, but she will not agree to prevent the new board from bringing her back if it chooses to do so,” Gronemeier wrote. Kittay is willing to not apply for future employment at the Altadena Library, Gronemeier said. However, Gronemeier said she will not accept an offer that prevents future boards from offering her employment. Kittay has not been at work since January. Originally, she went out on sick leave and was later placed on paid administrative leave. Kittay came under fire by the board late last year after she began publicly calling out its five members for violating the state’s open meeting law, the Ralph M. Brown Act. According to Gronemeier, the board has violated the Brown Act 96 times since May 30, 2017 by conducting illegal meetings via email and failing to vote in public. The board, Gronemeier alleges, also attempted to restrict the public’s right to speak during board meetings. In an Oct. 26 email, board members discussed via email the possibility of limiting public comments to Altadena residents after the public began complaining about the way the library’s business was being conducted. The Brown Act prohibits a board majority from having any meetings or discussions outside of agendized board meetings where the public can comment. “The board was trying to manage this complicated situation without adequate guidance as to how to operate within the margins of the Brown Act, and as a result began to take some missteps,” Board President Betsy Kahn wrote in a column in Pasadena Now last month. A story about issues raised in the column appeared in this newspaper that week. But it may have been bigger than missteps. In emails dated March VICTOR A. REYNA JR. 1944-2018 PASADENA TEACHER AND COACH SUCCUMBS DURING ROUTINE SURGICAL PROCEDURE Longtime Pasadena resident and teacher Victor A. Reyna Jr., an award-winning tennis coach who also coached baseball and football, died Friday, Oct. 5, during what his family described as a routine surgical procedure at Huntington Hospital. He was 74. “He touched many lives, loved football and sports. And the things that he taught me throughout my life helped prepare me for facing any tough challenge,” said Reyna’s son, Victor Cass, a detective with the Pasadena Police Department. Cass is also an author who has written the official history of the Police Department, as well as novels. Reyna is the husband of longtime fellow educator, author and independent publisher Dr. Thelma T. Reyna, owner of Pasadena-based Golden Foothills Press. “Vic was a devoted family man who took great joy and pride in his children and grandchildren, who were the proverbial apple of his eye. We already miss his great sense of humor, kindness and generous heart,” said Mrs. Reyna. Memorial services are set for 9:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 15, at Mountain View Mortuary & Cemetery, 2400 N. Fair Oaks Ave., Altadena, Cass said. Born April 16, 1944 in Camp White, Oregon, Mr. Reyna grew up in Robstown, Texas, graduating from Brackenridge High School in San Antonio, where he was a two-sport letterman in varsity football and track. He attended Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M-Kingsville), where he met Thelma. The couple moved to Pasadena and he earned his master’s degree from Cal State, LA. Reyna taught math for 36 years, 34 of which were spent in the Pasadena Unified School District, largely at John Muir High School, but also at Blair High School and Rose City High School, according to a family statement. While at Muir, he coached football, baseball and tennis. In the 1980s, Reyna led the Muir High boys’ varsity tennis team to two Pacific League championships, once in 1980, and again in 1985, sharing co-champion honors with Arcadia High School. According to his son, Reyna was the only varsity boys’ tennis coach from a Pasadena team ever to win the Pacific League championship. In addition to his wife and son, Reyna is survived by his daughter, Dr. Christine Reyna, 48, of Chicago, a professor of psychology at DePaul University, and three grandchildren. They are: Elizabeth Cass, 17, a senior at Mayfield in Pasadena; Charles Reyna-Demes, 14, and Cassandra Reyna-Demes, 12, of Chicago. “He was a loving and affectionate father and a wonderful grandfather as well,” Cass said. “He’ll be truly missed.” WEEKLY WEATHER THU 72° FRI 82° SAT 71° SUN 74° CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 MON 78° TUE 79° WED 80° — Kevin Uhrich THU 80° <strong>10.11.18</strong> | PASADENA WEEKLY 7
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