Sherman given permission to pad his resume by Circus Arts Foundation

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On Dave Sherman's campaign literature, he states he is on the Board of Directors of the Venice Circus Arts Foundation. Not true, says member Rosemary Vauzanges in a reader posting on Ed Martin's blog.

I confronted Sherman at Saturday's candidate forum at East Gate Homeowner's Association. Sherman stated that he had since resigned from the board even though he technically was never an actual board member, but he had acted as though he was a board member and was given permission to state he was a board member by Orlando Bevington, the non-profit organization's Exec Director.

If that doesn't make sense, don't feel alone. I had to play it back several times in my head before I could begin to figure out what Sherman wasn't saying.

The literature for the Venice Circus Arts Foundation, which can be found on their web site, shows three board members through the non-profit's history: Tito Gaona (founder), Armando Gaona, and Larry Ryan. Additionally, Orlando Bevington is listed as Exec Director and Debbie French as Office Manager (http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs068/1103530896159/archive/1107911428260.html).

Curiously, not mentioned is the name Dave Sherman.

Here's a screenshot from their site from June of this year, which would supposedly be just shortly before Sherman states he resigned from the board:

Larger copy of image can be found at http://www.venfl.com/features2/images/vcaf-screencap.jpg -- but again, no mention of Sherman.

In fact, a Google advanced search through the two domains that are used for the web site reveals no instance of Sherman's name ever being mentioned at all on the web site.

I called Bevington on Sunday. He ultimately refused to give me a yes or no answer to the question: Has Dave Sherman ever been a member of your Board of Directors?

What I got over and over was "He was asked to be on the board," and "He acted in the capacity of a board member," and, hilariously, "Well, we never actually finished the paperwork," this after Sherman's claim that he spent two years working with the group as a member of the Board of Directors.

I asked again and again: "So was or is he on the Board of Directors, yes or no?"

It is a fairly simple question that should be about as controversial as "Is there water in rain, yes or no?"

Bevington didn't see it that way. He saw a trick question by an unscrupulous and devious ne'er-do-well. He repeated those above three answers over and over again, while refusing to give me a straight yes or no answer.

Then things went strange. While I was trying to explain that little things really do matter, he interrupted me and then dominated the conversation by talking on and on without taking a break. For a full three minutes, I couldn't get a word in or ask a question. I have no idea what he was trying to yell at me, as I kept repeating: "Can I get a word in here?" and "Excuse me, can I interrupt your interruption?"

I apparently got every bit of information possibly available about the Circus Arts Foundation except the one-word piece of information I was asking for.

After he did it the first time, he finally took a pause and I told him he was preaching to choir about the arena, I am not the enemy, I would have gladly helped if they had just asked, but would he please just answer yes or no to the question of whether Sherman was or is on the Board of Directors.

That set him off on another droning long-winded diatribe that lasted another couple of minutes. I put the phone down and played solitaire on my computer until he finally paused. Then I asked again and got the same dance.

I never did get a yes or a no.

The closest he ever got to a yes or no was "He [Sherman] asked me if it was OK to put that on his literature and I said yes."

All in all, it was a highly entertaining converssation, but ultimately uninforming.

If I am correctly understanding this comedy duo of Sherman and Bevington, Sherman was never on the board; Sherman admits that he was never on the board; and both Sherman and Bevington agree that Bevington gave Sherman permission to lie about his title on his campaign literature.

If there is any misunderstanding on my part, I'd love to be enlightened.

Bevington also challenged my assessment of the asbestos problem at the arena, stating that I was exaggerating the problem in statements I had made and that I was an enemy of the arena.

I was part of the team that brought semi-pro boxing to the arena in the late 1990's. I have a ton of photos from those test bouts that were supposed to be used on a promotional web site that was never launched. The whole boxing project caved financially shortly after its launch due to lack of community support.

For verification of that, you can ask then-VACC board member Don Hay, as I was heavily trying to recruit him to the cause at the time.

So I am hardly an enemy of the arena.

According to Bevington, there's only a little bit of asbestos and it is in the floor tile and it can be resolved by putting a rug or some carpet over it. Oh and also in the flashing around the building. But that's it. Other than that, the building is completely safe. He wants me to stop the fear-mongering that happens when people mention the word asbestos. Such talk is apparently unhealthy.

The Venice Circus Arts Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to saving and revamping the old circus arena building on airport property. In spite of what they think of me, I believe in their efforts and wish them luck. I just don't realistically believe that their goal is achievable, but I'll be cheerfully proven wrong if they actually do manage to pull it off.

I've met and known (not very well, admittedly) Tito Gaona now for going on some 12 years. He came to my home one time to hire me to do his family circus web site back in the late 1990's, but I was asking a bit more than he wanted to pay at the time. I still have a ton of photos somewhere on my hard drive that I took of him and his circus group at the 1997 or 1998 Shark's Tooth Fest. He's a good guy. I like him and wish him well.