Like many in the U.S. who were glued to their own television sets, Daniel Brezenoff watched in surprise as the news confirmed that Trump had just been elected. However, the now former deputy chief of staff for Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia decided the night after the election to draft a significant petition on the website change.org. That petition would seek to pressure the Republican members of the Electoral College to change their vote in favor of Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The petition went viral, and at press time, more than 4.5 million people signed in support of the change. Brezenoff had to make a decision, since the popularity of his petition was just about to take a life of its own. He had to leave his job with the mayor’s office. On Nov. 15, he bid farewell to the Long Beach City Council during its regular meeting.
Brezenoff acknowledged in a phone interview with the Signal Tribune Tuesday that critics of his petition voiced their concern that it would somehow be illegal or unconstitutional.
“It’s completely constitutional,” Brezenoff said. “This is exactly what the Founding Fathers envisioned!the electors’ duty to be, which is to prevent an unfit ruler from becoming president. They were very clear that the electors deliberate.”
It is one thing to convince people to sign a change.org petition. It is another feat to convince Republican members of the Electoral College to change their vote. The Signal Tribune asked Brezenoff about his strategy to accomplish this task, considering that his grassroots effort only has less than one month before members of the Electoral College vote on Dec. 19.
“Things happen fast in our social-media world,” Brezenoff replied. “So, I think what we need to do is to continue to push this idea in public dialogue so more and more people know that it’s a possibility and understand that it’s a legitimate way to protect the republic from a demagogue,” he said, listing numerous criticisms against Trump and his new transition team.
Brezenoff should have found a natural ally in his former boss, Mayor Garcia, who had been an active supporter of Hillary Clinton and served as a delegate at the Democratic National Convention last summer. In June, Garcia even attempted to rally support to unite and find common ground with Democrats who favored Bernie Sanders before the convention. Garcia’s chief of staff Mark Taylor said in a phone interview that Garcia did not sign Brezenoff’s petition.
Taylor added that Garcia’s political activities with the Democratic party were completely separate from his duties as the mayor of Long Beach. In other words, Garcia had supported Clinton in his personal time. He also explained that Brezenoff’s new activities were now completely separate from the office of the mayor.
“He left our office before launching the public campaign,” Taylor said, describing how the mayor had no connection to the petition itself. He complimented Brezenoff during his time with the City, which included his service to Garcia’s office dating back to when Garcia had been a councilmember for the 1st District.
“He was a great asset to our office [!] He will be missed,” Taylor said. “We wish him well.”
Tonia Reyes Uranga, one of the local campaign organizers for Clinton, understands that Brezenoff’s petition has a very small chance of actually changing the outcome of the election. The petition came to her attention twice on social media before she signed her name.
Like many other Clinton supporters, she remembered watching the returns on Election Night.
“I was in shock and extremely sad and disappointed because we did everything that we could have done here in California and in this community,” she told the Signal Tribune Tuesday night. Uranga recalled how the office saw a couple hundred people coming through the door in the last few days of the campaign. She voiced her strong desire to see a female president in her lifetime, but those hopes were dashed this go-round.
She saw how the other campaign workers in the days after the election shake their heads in sadness as they cleaned out the office.
“I’m still getting over it,” she said. Uranga is a former city councilmember and the wife of 7th District Councilmember Roberto Uranga.
Brezenoff has been dedicating his days to making phone calls, writing letters and developing strategy to convince the Electoral College members. He said that so far, he hasn’t gotten the responses he’d like from Republicans. Brezenoff said that he would expect that on the first try. Either way, he wants to continue the dialogue with them.
The Signal Tribune contacted the local California campaign office for Trump, but a representative declined to comment and referred editorial staff to the Republican National Committee in Washington, D.C.
