Candidate accused of anti-Jewish talk
The King County Labor Council voted this week to oppose the re-election of Cindi Laws to the Seattle Monorail Project board, citing remarks she made about Jewish monorail opponents during an endorsement interview this month.
During her Aug. 9 interview, Laws was asked to assess her election challengers, including Beth Goldberg, a county budget analyst and monorail opponent. Goldberg is Jewish.
In response, Laws talked about how former monorail director Joel Horn used to joke that he and a few other people at the agency were the only Jews in favor of the monorail, according to union officials and their notes taken at the interview.
Laws added that much of the anti-monorail money in last year’s monorail recall campaign came from Jewish property owners and that a Jewish candidate could “get that money more easily,” according to notes taken by one of the union officials at the interview.
During the interview, some people told Laws they were offended, and she immediately apologized.
“I started it down a really bad road, it was a really poor choice,” Laws said yesterday. “I apologized to them then. I apologize now. I apologize a thousand times in the future. I can’t put it back in the bottle.”
Laws’ comments “really caught me off guard,” said Neal Safrin, an executive board member of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587, who sat in on the interview.
“I will not accuse Cindi of using anti-Semitism,” but the remarks relied on stereotypes, said Safrin, who is Jewish.
Laws said she sent a written apology to Safrin.
One of two elected members of the monorail board, Laws runs a progressive think tank in Seattle. She noted she has been a longtime activist on civil-rights issues.
Rob Jacobs, regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, said he’d been contacted by union officials about Laws’ comments. He said the organization will look into the matter and perhaps demand a public apology.
Union delegates voted Wednesday to oppose Laws’ re-election but did not endorse either Goldberg or the other candidate running for Position 8, Stan Lippmann.
Steve Williamson, executive secretary of the Labor Council, said normally the group endorses one or more candidates, and rarely votes to oppose a candidate without endorsing someone else.
“I don’t find her remarks to be emblematic of the Cindi I know,” said Williamson, who also serves on the monorail board. “However, as a labor council … we can’t be silent when someone makes discriminatory remarks, particularly as an elected official.”
