Jewish groups protested to California’s secretary of state this week after her office sent out a guide to voters that included antisemitic conspiracies in a statement from a candidate.
The office of Shirley Weber, California’s secretary of state, started sending out a guide to voters statewide this week with information about the state’s June primaries.
The 64-page booklet, mailed to every household in the state with a registered voter, has information about all the candidates who will appear on ballots and instructions on voting procedures.
The booklet has each candidate’s name, party, and a personal statement.
A fringe candidate for governor, far-right activist Don J. Grundmann, who is not affiliated with any party, submitted a statement rife with antisemitic conspiracies that was included in the guide
The statement says Israel assassinated Charlie Kirk with the knowledge of the US government; Israel murdered US sailors on the USS Liberty in 1967; Israelis perpetrated the 9/11 terror attack; and that Israel plans to “suitcase nuke” the US.
“We are ‘goyim’ (less than human/animals/cattle) that they will enslave,” the statement says. “Talmud — their Bible — says Christ boiling in in [sic] Israel allowed/planned/promoted Hamas attack (they murdered their own people) to justify genocide and steal billion$.”
“Christian Zionism = soul poison. Talmudic ‘Judeo-Christian values’ don’t exist,” the statement said.
The statement includes links to antisemitic, far-right websites. One of the sites is a collection of antisemitic and racist fliers from the Goyim Defense League. Another link in the statement leads to a website for a group called the National Straight Pride Coalition, headed by Grundmann.
In addition to being mailed to voters, the statement was posted in the voter guide on the California secretary of state’s website, where it remains.
In the guide, next to Grundmann’s statement, is a disclaimer stating that the “views and opinions expressed by the candidates are their own and do not represent the views and opinions of the Secretary of State’s office.” The other 31 candidates’ statements do not have such a disclaimer, although there are similar notices at the bottom of the booklet’s pages.
Jewish groups said Grundmann’s statement violated candidate guidelines.
The secretary of state’s guidelines to candidates said that the statements “shall be limited to a recitation of the candidate’s own personal background and qualifications.”
The statements also needed to have a declaration from the candidate “that the statement being submitted is true and correct,” the guidelines said.
The guidelines also said the secretary of state’s office could disqualify statements if the office raised objections and candidates did not make appropriate changes.
The web page with the guidelines was removed after Jewish groups protested Grundmann’s statement, said Ilana Meirovitch, the head of the California-based Jewish Community Action Network (JCAN) advocacy group.
The secretary of state’s website says the online version of the voter guide was released on April 3 and the printed version will be mailed out between this week and May 12.
JCAN, the Jewish Federation of Orange County, the Anti-Defamation League of Orange County and Long Beach, and the Israeli American Council protested in a Tuesday letter to Weber, saying that Grundmann’s statement violated those guidelines.
“Millions of California voters received an official state publication containing content that should have been disqualified under the State’s own rules,” the letter said. “Because the Voter Information Guide is a government-issued document, its contents carry a degree of legitimacy and amplification that would not otherwise attach to such material in other forums.”
“By including a statement containing antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories in an official voter guide, the State has effectively provided a government platform for rhetoric that fuels division and undermines the safety and dignity of Jewish communities,” the letter said.
The Jewish groups requested an explanation of how the statement was reviewed and approved; a clarification of the procedures to ensure compliance with the candidate statement guidelines; and confirmation that the secretary of state’s office will enforce the rules in the future.
“There is a voter guide, there’s going to be another one for November. Can we trust you that you’re going to do your job next time?” Meirovitch told The Times of Israel. “The issue is, when something like this is printed on government paper by the state, it smacks like you kind of, sort of approved it.”
“Let him spew his hate on social media, on the street corner, but not on government paper,” she said.
The California secretary of state’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Source:
www.timesofisrael.com
