FIRST AMENDMENT VIOLATION BY WALKER ADMINISTRATION
In Juneau, a campaign flyer that shows a suited politician stuffing money in his suit (representing taking your money for taxes) has some members of the Jewish community up in arms.
They say it’s anti-semitic. They say it’s despicable. They demand an apology.
Now, the Walker Administration itself is involved and is asking for an apology.
This is what they say is anti-semitic:
The verdict against Republicans from Juneau’s most prolific and tart liberal blogger slams the mailer, but in doing so, she profiles Jewish people herself. She, too, is a member of the Walker Administration:
IT GETS WORSE
Both the Governor’s Chief of Staff Scott Kendall and the Lt. Gov.’s Chief of Staff Claire Richardson have told Juneau Republican women to apologize.
These demands have been made via personal phone calls, e-mail, text messages, and on Facebook. The group’s leaders are under siege by government officials making demands.
A social media message from Richardson, the state official who is essentially in charge of overseeing the Division of Elections, is shown here:
Richardson and Kendall are government officials who have direct influence over the elections process.
They are first profiling Jewish citizens with a stereotype that they promote, and then telling Republicans to apologize for what they themselves have profiled.
And then they, and Elizabeth Bolling, a Walker Administration assistant legislative director, are contacting the media to demand blood.
This is a violation of the First Amendment and may be a case of government officials at the highest level interfering in the election process itself.
Jesse Kiehl is the Democrat running for Senate Seat Q. Don Etheridge, a petition candidate, is the other person in the race.
Government officials do not get to hide behind “it was my personal opinion” when they are curtailing the free speech rights of citizens. There’s no state in the union where government agents can legally put the chill on political speech.
But at this late stage, there will likely be no sanctions. The wheels have come off of this Administration. Must Read Alaska has learned the media is following the story and will be reporting on it, on the eve of the election.
Shouldn’t these people be spending full time tuning up their resumes? That is what most Walker-Mallott-Davidson people are doing, that and calling Mark Begich asking if he knows where they might apply for work. Begich is also wondering what he might do next so I doubt he has any advice. Any Walker people waving Begich yard signs in your area this morning? Absolutely no one waving a Begich sign anywhere in Juneau today.
Those of us who are not racist because we see individuals, not stereotypes, know that some people of all races attempt to pigeon hole individuals for control purposes. We are disgusted by such blatant projection of their faults.
Just sad!
Those who scream “racist” when things don’t go their way are best not in positions of power!
Does Claire Richardson know where Byron Mallott has been hiding out? Rumor has it that the Democrats told Mallott to keep 1000 yards from all public and private schools in Alaska, at least until the election is over.
But no demand from Byron? And I don’t connect ad with Jews. If a person is a thief, well.
This is unbelievable! Who is doing the profiling here? It never crossed my mind. Clearly the ad is a tax and spend liberal politics reference (insert any lib here). And to have our government officials chiming in takes the cake and really shows just how far things have sunk. Is it too late to toss the life ring? No! It says DUNLEAVY in bouy marker across it. Grab ahold Alaska!
Bullshit, Suzanne.
There is a long history of subtle and unsubtle prejudice against Jews, and it reaches Alaska. I well recall former state Rep. Jerry Sanders during final budget debate using the expression “Jew’d him down” – and trust me it was not meant as a compliment. I was sitting on the House floor covering the debate and was stunned no one stood to a point of order.
I grant that the Juneau Republican Women might have been *unaware* of the stereotype – promulgated repeatedly throughout history by those who wanted to scapegoat Jews – of Jews as money grubbers and cheapskates. If so, now that they understand the harmful trope they inadvertently promoted, they should apologize and retract the flyer.
As recent events show, there is a potent underbelly of racism and anti-Semitism in this nation. I believe we all – especially in a small community like Juneau – have an ethical responsibility to tread carefully when it comes to promoting inflammatory stereotypes.
I am a child of Holocaust refugees. Have we learned nothing?
Rebecca Braun
(To save you some digging … I am a former Walker aide, I am a friend of Libby Bakalar and Claire Richardson, I am Jewish, I am currently living out of state, I am a registered Independent, and I have my own occasional blog you are welcome to read and trash.)
I am sorry, but this is nonsense. Under your formula, every comment in an election about money and people would amount to anti-Semitism. You take your sensitivities about two steps too far.
I would urge that you take a breath and worry about actual and overt anti-Semitism, which I and the vast majority of other people abhor. Anti-Semitism is far too ugly and important to try to conflate into this faux-controversy.
EVERYTHING with you liberals is racist. Get over it. You even mention that “I grant that the Juneau Republican Women might have been *unaware* of the stereotype …” So what is your point? You losers always bring out the race card as you know it is sensitive and brings out high emotions. If this were a mailer for Kiehl and against Etheridge you would say nothing and no one would think twice. But you assume there is a race involved so you take what you THINK is the high road. I have some Jew in me as well as some Irish and others. If I went ballistic every time I assumed there was a racial message being thrown at me I’d be a freakin’ mess. Not every thing is racist. It’s as simple as that. Get a life.
Keep up the great work Suzanne!
B*llshit? Well, I must have been living under a rock all these years. First, I had no idea of the ethnicity of the candidate, the religion, the nationality, etc.etc.etc., nor do I care. On a policy issue, it appears he’s a liberal, and someone thinks he’s going to take your hard earned money. Simple. I had no idea that Jews were labeled as “money grubbers and cheapskates”. So, thanks for keeping the stereotype alive Ms. Braun. I guess? Jeez. Really? I agree that is awful but it seems when the chips are down, people start getting sideways and “transference” starts – channel the narrative in another direction.
.
And, Rep. Jerry Sanders? Really? I will save everyone else some digging too….he was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1992 (26 years ago) and served 1993-2000. He used the term “Jew’d him down” on the House floor? Yes, appalling words for sure for an elected official to be using. So, having last served 18 years ago in 2000, I would hope that times have changed a bit. He was sanctioned, but not censured in 1997 for sending a political mailer at government expense and then he refused to work with the ethics panel.
,I don’t think there are any apologies necessary here. I have literally received hundreds of mailers this season. HUNDREDS. I know nothing of the backgrounds of these candidates. Am I to stop my life and make an issue of the mailer of a little Asian toddler pushing a pumpkin in a wagon through a pumpkin patch with the caption “Some choices are hard”? (I admit – I haven’t a clue what that means – Thanks Alyse Galvin!). Is it racist? Is Senator Pete Kelly a Jew? There is a mailer about him, calling him Pick Pocket Pete! and an image of a pig, and another image of him pulling money out of a person’s back pocket and passing it to big oil. Is it anti-semitic? My point is, these ads are everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. They aren’t about you.
.check these out: https://alaskalandmine.com/landmines/the-sunday-minefield-november-4-2018-special-political-mailer-edition/
Well, what have we here? A guttersnipe calling out the editor of MRAK in foul language best saved for her “own occasional blog,” which she invites us to “read and trash.” No thank you, my mind has been sullied enough just reading this comment.
At any rate, I read Suzanne Downing’s recent post of George Washington’s letter to the Rhode Island Hebrew congregation following the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre. I interpreted that post as MRAK’s nod to our founder’s views on the evils of anti-semitism.
Moreover, I know some of the Juneau Republican Women in the club that sponsored the mailer. I know them to be against waste of money. I do not know them as anti-semites.
If they are concerned about candidate Kiehl, it is not based on his faith, it is based on their views of his likely support for an income tax. If I lived in Juneau, and I thought Kiehl was going to support imposition of an income tax, I would oppose his candidacy too. No matter what faith he followed.
Ann Brown – guttersnipe? Your quaint choice of language shows your lack of imagination and intelligence. You are most certainly a low class individual. I do wonder why, if the mailer was about taxes, there was no mention of taxes in it? Or no support for an alternative candidate? I think we all know why.
These Republican women got caught in a smarmy, low class, and snide piece of b.s. Oh, by the way, your editor of MRAK should go back to journalism school and re-learn what real journalism is – and it’s not partisan low class attacks.
The frozen chosen are capable of handling Jew hatred on their own without the help of the Dems who were opposed to putting the US Embassy in Jerusalem and whose leadership is hostile to the Jews ie Ellison and the Sanders’ elites.
Politicians are widely held to be money grubbers. The ad in no way implicates any Jew. So this is much ado about nothing and distracts, since without distraction from the issues, the Dems loose.
Get a life, everyone BUT you knows this has nothing to do with him being a Jew and you damn well know it. You liberals love to make everything about race or ethnicity because you have nothing substantive to offer the people of Alaska. Take your hatred someplace else because we have no place for it in this great state.
There is no need for anyone to apologize for anything. There was no TROPE. There was no meme. There was no intended or unintended hatred. The vast majority of the public believes politicians stuff their pockets with cash. It is fair game to make this accusation through a campaign immage– against anyone, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindi, or atheist.
Alaska is one of the least anti semetic states in the union, so stop making false accusations and take a class in gun ownership so the next time a wacko tries to hurt Jews, you can defend them.
Isn’t this the same Marxist Dingbat Lawyer that got an all-expenses paid trip to DC to protest Kavanaugh? Who would take her serious?
Of course Ms. Braun is now living out of state. She, like others in the Walker camp, saw the the writing on the wall and jumped off the ship.
I’m in my 60’s, lived half my life on the west Coast (Seattle) and 1/2 in Alaska. I did not connect that flyer to anything remotely Jewish. Just another politician taking favors. I am offended that the background of this page is white. I’m white too, I just need something to be offended about.
Comments are closed.