Huntington Beach Mayor Gracie Van Der Mark’s critics have called her a variety of things during her short but chaotic political career.
He has been accused of being anti-Semitic because he Once you have created a YouTube playlist Titled “Holocaust Hoax?”, it featured videos questioning the Shoah.
A racist, for using the term “colored people” to refer to black attendees at a racial justice workshop in Santa Monica He and the Proud Boys came,
A puppet of the forces seeking to rid Surf City of all things liberal.
anti-homosexuality, to support measures that Flying the pride flag banned on city property and Any municipal celebration of Pride Monthand for the push for a Elimination of LGBTQ+ titles from Young Adult section He found the scene at the Huntington Beach Public Library distasteful.
Vendidato be one Latina supporters of Donald Trump,
None of these words came to mind after our hour-long conversation last month. Instead, what emerged was Buchona,
It was originally used to describe the wives and girlfriends of Mexican cartel members. Buchona Is Converting to short form For Latina women who hold power and aren’t afraid to flaunt it.
This is the same Van der Mark I met when we met in his tiny fourth-floor office at Huntington Beach City Hall.
The 50-year-old wore a form-fitting denim zip-up jumpsuit straight from Stagecoach. Her hot pink nails matched the J.Crew trench coat draped over her chair and a coat of the same color hanging on her office door. A crystal-embellished “HB” necklace in the style of the city’s logo completed the look.
“I’m not polished, and I don’t want to be,” she said matter-of-factly as I sat across from her. A plaque on van der Mark’s desk read, “I’m kind of a big deal” — a funny gift, she insisted. Next to me was Huntington Beach Police Chief and Interim City Manager Eric Parra, replaced, for some reason, by Public Information Officer Jennifer Carey.
we were meeting for this reason My 21st March Column Suggestions that Trump choose Van der Mark as his vice presidential candidateBecause he had “a special resume for MAGA Land.” He sent me a note later saying he liked my article and hung a digital version of it next to his desk, below a 2018 clipping from OC Weekly, which I used to edit, that called Van der Mark one of the scariest people in Orange County.
He also asked for a print clip. I said I will give it to him in person so that we can talk.
A photo of Huntington Beach Mayor Gracie Van Der Mark with memorabilia inside her City Hall office
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Van der Mark is the latest in a long series Pompous conservative Orange County politician Who has captured national attention. But like none other, Horatio Alger’s story came true – born Griselda Larrea, the daughter of immigrant Mexican and Ecuadorian parents, raised in working-class Maywood as the ninth of 11 children, becoming a mother at age 19 – who was prepared to fight those who threatened her Huntington Beach paradise.
In his loud, booming voice, the former copier technician said, “If you’re hurting our community, we’re going to fight you.” Of critics, he boasted, “What they have to do is they have to crush me. They have to try to destroy me. They have to try to drive me away. But I’m too stubborn. It’s not going to work.”
The fact that she is a proud Latina and is fluent in Spanish makes van der Mark a particularly powerful force in this election cycle, as she is a strong candidate. Latinos are growing skeptical of President Biden And Republicans need every last Latino vote they can get,
“Well, I don’t like to play identity politics,” he said when I asked if his ethnicity was important to his rise. “But it’s true that if you send a white guy with a tie on[to a Latino neighborhood]they’ll look at him with suspicion. But if someone like him goes and says, ‘No, this is really happening,’ then people listen. And that’s what scares people who don’t like me.”
After fleeing an abusive relationship where she sometimes slept in the car with her children, van der Mark married her current husband in 2000. They moved their blended family to Huntington Beach.
“I didn’t know areas like Huntington Beach were safe,” she said, admitting she was surprised to find schools without fences or metal detectors — “It took me a couple of years to get used to that.”
Did he ever face discrimination? A city long notorious for racism“Not even once, because I wasn’t looking for it,” she said.
However, it doesn’t seem like anyone is being discriminated against.
“If you’re saying, ‘Did anyone call you a beaner?’ then never,” van der Mark responded. “I mean, if there was racism, I didn’t notice it.”
She was a “Democrat liberal feminist” who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 but was angry at him for focusing on “stuffing our melanin” and “creating a victim mentality” for minorities, especially children. This stay-at-home mom sided with Trump in 2016 and was appointed to two local school district oversight committees in 2017, then got booted from them For his aforementioned far-right love-affairs.
I asked if he regretted hanging out with those guys.
“They were at rallies and protests, and I didn’t ask them, ‘What are you guys? What do you believe in? Who do you like?'” Van der Mark responded. “I was watching, I was learning, I …”
“Take a picture with them,” I interjected.
“Well, they were just people,” she responded. “I didn’t even know what the Proud Boys were. They were just people who would jump into a picture. And it was like 200 people taking pictures. I’m not going to go and check everybody.”
there’s a picture of him Smiling with 19 other attendees at an anti-racism workshop in Santa Monica — including two right-wing personalities who took part in the infamous “Unite the Right” meeting White supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia January 6, 2021 insurrection – But anything.
Van der Mark unsuccessfully ran for the Ocean View School District board in 2018, lost a bid for City Council in 2020, then finally won her council seat two years ago with three other RepublicansThe four overturned the Democrat majority, then launched a fierce campaign against opponents that continues to this day.
they took away Huntington Beach Interfaith Council Under its decades-old privilege of choosing invocation speakers before council meetings, Surf City is “Mandatory without mask and without vaccine” There are cities and Privatisation of city libraries is being considered Van der Marck’s Bowderisation efforts provoked a fierce reaction.
Meanwhile, Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates Filed a lawsuit over California housing orders, but failedWhile state Attorney General Rob Bonta filed suit against the voter ID law passed by Surf City voters this spring, Van der Mark called it “a law that is illegal” at an April news conference.Declaration of War” on the residents.
Were all these fights worthwhile?
Huntington Beach Mayor Gracie van der Mark wears a necklace bearing her city’s initials
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
“As long as we have the ability to bring about change, we will work on as many issues as possible,” he said.
But was it good for the city? Council meetings have turned into heated debates that last for hours.
I saw that Van der Mark and his colleagues had poisoned the civic well from the very start, when They voted to repeal a long-standing council resolution The ceremonial, unpaid position of mayor was assigned to the most senior council member. That allowed Van der Mark to take office last November, beating out Natalie Moser, Rhonda Bolton and Dan Kalmick — all Democrats.
“I think you have to stand up and speak out against what’s not right,” the mayor said. “These people were not the right people for this job.”
But I argued that politicizing a nonpartisan tradition destroys community relationships.
“Well, there are a lot of things that have been historically bad, or historically not good. It didn’t happen because of the party.”
But Moser, Bolton and Kalmyk are Democrats.
“That’s their issue.”
Then, Van der Mark asked if I wanted to see something on her tablet. I expected it to be a timeline in which she keeps a record of all the attacks against her.
No, it was porn.
Earlier, he had described in great detail depictions and descriptions of oral sex that he claimed were in children’s books in Huntington Beach libraries, copies of which he kept in a bookcase in his office, right next to a collection of writings by the Founding Fathers.
I remarked, “It was very unwise of him to interfere with the work of the city librarians.”
“They try to say, ‘I have a librarian degree, so I’m more educated than you,'” she responded. “Parents don’t know this garbage is in our library.” She flipped the tablet over.
“Click on any blue links you see.”
no, thanks.
He picked one at random. Naked women.
“Almost every school and their district still has this kind of garbage,” he said. “The only people getting hurt are the kids. I mean, adults, do whatever you want, I don’t care. Do whatever you want. Leave the kids alone.”
Van der Mark got a little emotional.
“I know that if I had better opportunities growing up, my life might have been easier. At this point, I don’t regret the challenges I’ve gone through because they’re what got me to where I am today. I’ve had some really terrible experiences that have made me stronger.
“And I know what it’s like to feel helpless and dependent on someone because you have kids and you don’t want to rock the boat because violence might go toward your kids,” she added. “I understand what that’s like. I also understand what it’s like to stay silent and not communicate because that’s the safest route. I find myself using some of those strategies in this situation.”
Our time is almost up. Do you want a higher position? I asked.
She said “it’s not my dream”, but if supporters ask her to contest the election, “I will do it”.
What is the danger of your opponents underestimating you?
First time, HB’s Boss Buchona He had nothing to give.
“I don’t see myself as a threat,” van der Mark finally said. I pointed out that he has made a career of using the hate thrown at him to fuel his rise. This led to a winning thought in the end.
“I’m going to continue to be successful. And they don’t want me to be that way. And that makes me want to be even more successful.”
