The divider: Marketing pro-turned Rocklin slacktivist’s house of cards collapses

Paul Smith, the self-described president of a group he still calls the Indivisible Citizens of California’s Fourth Congressional District, hasn’t told his 12,000-plus Facebook followers that the national Indivisible organization revoked the group’s registration weeks ago. The “About” page on his website, www.indivisibleca04.com, still claims that the group represents “more than 10,000 activists from 40 local Indivisible groups, Democratic clubs, and other activist organizations.”

Smith still claims a connection with the popular Indivisible Guide, which was created by former congressional staffers and supports nearly 6,000 grassroots groups that “resist Trump’s agenda.”

The fact is, Indivisible excommunicated Smith last month, after he goaded the alt-right and threatened to report leftist protesters to the police before a counterdemonstration to the March Against Sharia in Roseville on June 10.

“We determined that Smith’s actions did not embody progressive values,” Helen Kalla, an Indivisible Guide spokeswoman, wrote in an email. “Mr. Smith has reached out to us about being reinstated and at the moment we have no plans to do that.”

But Smith, a former marketer for Apple, didn’t bother telling that to his ICA-04 group’s followers. He didn’t reveal it to this reporter working on a profile three weeks ago, and the resulting article (Read, “Indivisible, under Paul,” News, July 6, 2017) paints Smith as the leader of an Indivisible chapter that was already defunct.

Contacted this week, Smith told SN&R in an email that he didn’t acknowledge ICA-04 getting dropped, in part, because it’s “a bummer.”

But to former board members of ICA-04—who have since reformed into the officially registered CD4 Indivisible Network—Smith’s lack of transparency provides further proof that he’s more interested in promoting himself rather than political causes.

“Ultimately, Paul Smith’s efforts to brand and market ICA-04 as a means of profit, and to create a platform to elect [Roza Calderon], were not in alignment with the goals of the rest of the board,” read a statement from the re-formed group. “His independent actions were increasingly putting our own efforts at risk, and nullifying and marginalizing other activism efforts.”

In an email to SN&R, the currently unemployed Smith wrote that he hopes to turn his efforts into “gainful employment.” Since 10 of the 12 members of the leadership team abandoned Smith, the ICA-04 page has posted a link to Calderon’s ActBlue donation page three times. Calderon, a co-founder of ICA-04, was asked by the board to leave when she declared as a congressional candidate. But Smith said she returned after his go-it-alone leadership style prompted the resignation of the rest of the team.

The June 10 Roseville event attracted progressive groups to organize a counter-demonstration against a march they felt demonized the Islamic faith. Smith initially supported those efforts, but alienated organizers by demanding anyone associated with the day’s “unity rally,” which he unilaterally declared, had to dress in white and hand out flowers or else “stay home.” In a Facebook post, he threatened to report those who didn’t protest in his preferred fashion to the police.

He also infuriated leftists with other Facebook posts accusing them of encouraging violence by inviting antifa while, in a separate post, he asked the group Bay Area Alt Right whether “we can count on you to fight if antifa shows up.” Smith deleted the latter comment and has since apologized.

Longtime activist Jamier Sale, with the Sacramento chapter of the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism Coalition, or ANSWER, organized last month’s counterdemonstration along with several other groups.

A video from the day shows Sale asking Smith why he “invited out the alt-right.” In an email to SN&R, Smith characterizes the interaction as an “attack.” Video footage of the encounter shows Sale introducing himself to Smith with a handshake, then smiling for a photograph before getting cut off by Smith.

“He really put some people’s lives in danger,” Sale told SN&R. “I would have been justified in taking the tone that he’s describing as an attack. But I didn’t. I talked to him with the respect that I give everyone and he basically ran away.”

In his email, Smith wrote that he is “toying with the idea of rebranding” his group. He signed off as “President & Founder” of “Indivisible CA-04.”