Berkeley (Special to ZennieReport.com) – James Chang, the Berkeley Political Aide, noted Affordable Housing Expert, and Chief of Staff to Berkeley Councilmember Ben Bartlett, is fighting back against false claims against him.
Earlier this year, a hit piece published by The Daily Californian and communicating those false claims was created, called news, done without complete investigation, and released on election day as Mr. Chang was running for the Berkeley City Council District 7 Seat.
On his campaign website, Mr. Chang wrote “Multiple allegations by an unnamed individual were published today in a suspiciously timed Daily Cal article. This article, released on the final day of the election, was intended to hurt me politically. The attack weaponizes very serious subject matter for political purposes, Including bolstering my opponent, who was endorsed by the Daily Cal. The weighty allegations in this story are blatantly false.”
James Chang continued “I did attend a concert on March 30th with a date. This person Is approximately 25 years old and not the child-student the Daily Cal suggests. We attended the concert together with two other people and I was in a public space with hundreds of other people the entire time. My date and I were in close proximity to each other during the musical event. I deny categorically that I ever touched their genitals as the article claims.”
James Chang continued “The individual mentioned in The Daily Cal’s story did at one point indicate he was going to the bathroom, but took my wallet and coat with him. He has refused to return my things following my repeated written request to do so.
James Chang continued “When my date went home without me and wouldn’t return my things, I became concerned he was upset about something or that I had made him uncomfortable in someway. Via texts and in phone messages, I apologized again and again for causing any distress. But I never apologized for a sexual assault as the source of the Daily Cal article implied, because there never was asexual assault.”
James Chang continued: “This destructive and defamatory story includes a number of lies which suggest the source of much of the article may not have been the person who accompanied me on March 30th but the journalist’s inventions. These inaccuracies could have been avoided if the journalist(s) had done due diligence:
The Daily Cal appears to not have spoken with any independent witnesses, and independent witnesses are available.
-My date on March 30th was never a campaign volunteer or affiliated with the campaign, so there was no power dynamic to be concerned with.
-Anyone actually at that dinner would remember the entire meal was ‘comped’ because one of the dinner attendees was served with a glass which broke while being drunk from. I did not buy dinner for anyone because there was no bill to pay.
Eyewitness Says James Chang Did Not Do Sexual Assault To His Date
An eyewitness to the episode involving James Chang has come forward and issued a statement that does exonerate the Berkeley political aide. Here is the sworn statement in full, but with the name witheld:
On March 30, 2024, I attended a concert with James Chang and his date. I was there with them the whole time, they were never alone, I was sober. Here’s what really happened: a group of us went out to an event. Everyone danced and partied. I witnessed no sexual harassment or assault. I know who made the false and defamatory report because he took James Chang’s wallet. This individual accused of James taking drugs – there was no sexual harassment, touching, or assault during the time which we were with James the whole time until 1:30am, March 31, 2024. During the middle of the group together, the individual left the group abruptly and took James’ wallet and coat that did not belong to him, and hasn’t returned them. To this date, no press, no police, has contacted me or to my knowledge anyone else who was at the event.
– Statement from Eyewitness who did not give permission to use their name here.
I, Name Witheld, under the penalty of perjury, do hereby certify that the foregoing information is true and correct.
This is the 22 day of April, 2024.
Too Much Harm Done To James Chang A Notable Berkeley Public Servant
There’s a saying that one should always look before they leap. In this case, a number of individuals and groups failed to do that in the wake of the fake news published to smear James Chang.
Again, The Daily Cal had already endorsed the opponent Cecilia Lunaparra as far back at April 1st. That fact is a critical difference from the ideal scenario where the The Daily Cal had endorsed James Chang, then removed its endorsement in the wake of the extremely questionable allegations. The Daily Cal was the dominant media entity covering an otherwise ignored District 7 City Council race. Rather than carefully walking the fine line and not trying to give the look of being partisan, the Daily Cal had all of the look of being just that.
Consider that the Daily Cal was the first to report the opening of the Person of Color Berkeley Student Cooperative, also called Castro House in 2016. Now, this black blogger is all for such a development, but the emeging policy that white students were not allowed is arugably unconsistutional, undemocratic, and un-American. Moreover, it was backed by one Cal student named Cecilia Lunaparra.
Cecilia Lunaparra ’24, president of Cal Berkeley Democrats, said the discrimination that people of color face every day gives them the right to create a safe space where they can feel comfortable.
“I believe that it is impossible to address racial inequality without taking into account the historical and ongoing systemic violence against people of color,” Lunaparra wrote in an email. “It is simplistic and fallible to compare a policy such as this with segregation or racism against people of color in the United States, as those are possible due to white people holding structural power in society and creating the social and economic disparities that threaten an equal society.”
Cal Alumni Association Website, California Magazine, Winter 2022
Cecilia Lunaparra’s comments could be interpreted as wanting a kind of race war. Did her supporters see James Chang as such an impediment to their effort to gain power that they would back false claims against him? If supporters of any candidate like his or her politics and want them to win election, they’re not going to take actions that would harm that candidate’s success. Moreover, that supporter would work to make sure the candidate stayed out of trouble. But that’s not at all what James Chang’s accuser did.
Daily Californian Conflict Of Interest In Writing To Help Student That Pays Them
Moreover, why didn’t The Daily Cal work to disclose that it receives funding from the UC Berkeley Student Government? The Associated Students of the University of California, aka ASUC. On The Daily Cal website, this part of funding history is clear:
In 2012 the Daily Cal placed a referendum, the V.O.I.C.E. initiative, on the ASUC general election ballot asking students whether they approve of a $2 semesterly fee to support the newspaper. Students passed the fee, guaranteeing the Daily Cal an estimated $93,800 annually for five years. Following the initial initiative’s expiration in 2017, UC Berkeley students passed the Ink Initiative to sustain the semesterly fee. Most recently, students voted to pass the Save the Daily Cal initiative in 2022, which increased the fee to $6 in the fall and spring semesters and $2.50 for summer students.
The point is that The Daily Cal was all in to advance a current Cal student, part of the student body that pays fees to keep it going, as the candidate running against a Cal Alumni in James Chang. Mr. Chang was in the evening and weekend Haas School of Business program, which he completed this year. He attended Cal 10 years ago. By contrast, Cecilia Lunaparra is an undergraduate student who just graduated but paid into the fee system that supports The Daily Cal.
In addition, The Daily Californian is owned by The Independent Berkeley Student Publishing Co, Inc., which is a 501(c)4 organization. Internal Revenue Service rules clearly state such companies may not participate in politically-partisan activities, as The Daily Cal has done. Consider this paragraph from the IRS:
The promotion of social welfare does not include direct or indirect participation or intervention in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. However, a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization may engage in some political activities, so long as that is not its primary activity.
IRS Website.
It’s clear The Daily Californian’s endorsement in the Berkeley City Council race was, itself, illegal. It’s an obvious intervention in a political campaign.
The Daily Cal’s Questionable Actions
There are a number of actions by The Daily Cal that are questionable. Among them, not just the timing of the news report, issued on Election Day, but the fact that The Daily Californian was the issuer of the news about the now debuncked allegation and the same publication that endorsed James Chang’s challenger, UC Berkeley undergraduate student Cecilia Lunaparra.
Why didn’t The Daily Californian wait until after Election Day to report the news about James Chang, given their support for Lunaparra? The Daily Californian did not acknoweldge that its role as endorser of Lunaparra and sole reporter of news about the misunderstanding that would be directly beneficial to her campaign. The Daily Californian announced its endorsement at the start of the month of April and days before the information that led to its news report would drop on April 16th.
The Daily Californian is also owned by the Independent Berkeley Students Publishing Company, Inc, a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization. IRS rules regarding 501(c)4 organizations, calling them “social welfare organizations”, state “The promotion of social welfare does not include direct or indirect participation or intervention in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office.”
The Daily Californian endorsement of any candidate, including Cecilia Lunaparra, is clearly against IRS rules. The Daily Californian did not take time to explain where it begins and where its 501(c)4 publisher Independent Berkeley Students Publishing Company ends in its editorial content on the City Council elections. Indeed, the Independent Berkeley Students Publishing Company is generally described as “Daily Californian” in parenthesis, and there’s no language pointing to any firewall between the two organizations; they are one and the same.
Hit Piece And False Claim Done In Climate Where ASUC Officials Were Targets Of False Claims, Finn Wolff’s Image Destroyed
James Chang vigorously denies that anything like what the Daily Cal reported happened. But the report also must be seen in from the perspective of the Daily Cal’s own story of false harrassment claims launched against officals of the student government of the University of California at Berkeley.
One has to ask why there’s aparrently a sub-culture in Berkeley that believes its acceptable to say “guilty until proven innocent”? Rather than putting a check on one’s initial persceptions, this sub-culture does not consider that they may be misinterpretations or out right lies. Then, the sub-culture makes harmful email and news content based on the misinterpretations or out right lies.
That was reportedly done to Finn Wolff. Who’s Finn Wolff? Finn Wolff is the now former UC Berkeley Student who was accused of a rape he did not do. Court records show that his two accusers admitted to falsifying accusations under oath, a reason for the court to exonerate (or prove innocence) the rape charges.
Alameda County District Attorney Said Finn Wolff Falsely Accused Of Sexual Assault
And that led to the news that The Alameda County District Attorney’s office under Nancy O’Malley dismissed all the felony charges against Finn Wolff on March 30, 2022, after it was found that during cross-examination at the preliminary examination hearing, while under oath, the two witnesses admitted to numerous falsities and admitted to destroying text messages and other key evidence which exonerated Mr. Wolff and proved his innocence, according to Mr. Wolff’s attorney Colin Cooper.
The Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley also explained that Mr. Wolff was proven to be falsely accused of sexual assault in 2019 and arrested based on false pretenses regarding incidents that had allegedly occurred more than a year earlier. Numerous felony charges were filed against Mr. Wolff based on unchallenged accusations made by two witnesses, which were later proven to be completely false when key evidence that was hidden by the witnesses was revealed.
Apparently, James Chang was one of the latest targets of this sub-culture that ignores and indeed actively works against the presumption of innocence. James Chang deserves the right to tell his story and be believed as there’s no video evidence to support the accuser’s story. But also, we must get back to the simple view that people have the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. The presumption of innocence is a basic philosophy of the American legal system. But, in Berkeley, it’s arguably under attack.
Mr. Chang was tried and convicted in a sub culture that has its own kangaroo court of media-crafted opinion. Once James Chang fought to did himself, the same kangaroo court of media-crafted opinion, in this case the Daily Cal which endorsed his opponent for Berkeley City Council, blasted him for doing so. And in the view of this Oakland vlogger, that’s just plain wrong.
(Note, this opinion post was created by Zennie Abraham working alone and reflects his personal views and not necessarily the views of any Zennie62Media associates or clients.)