Seattle PAC Endorses Song But Why?

Update 3:

Thank you to all for helping to try to flesh this story out.

Let's look at the new information.

- The Kids Table website is one page. They do not explain in any detail at their one-page website exactly how their process works except to say this:

TKT will be a first-of-its-kind grassroots organization - contributions will be capped at $1,200 per year, $100 per month - broadly supported, nimble, hard hitting and built for sustainable action into the future. Each month, subscribers will receive this newsletter, offering political analysis and transparency into how your money is being spent.

- A couple of readers then sent a link to The Cholent, "Seattle's Only Jewish Newsletter."

This particular post starts with one error - they claim there are only two Seattle School Board seats up and that's not true for the primary or the general elections. 

The overall vibe I get from reading this post on The Kids Table is that younger Jews (under 40) feel ignored by those in political power and are seeking to be heard on the same playing field. 

“We truly believe that it invites people into the conversation who may be priced out of politics,” Jefferies says. “It gives people in our age demographic, who don’t have the time or disposable income, some agency.” 

 In this post, The Kids Table again comes out clearly looking to punish:

“It really stems from a need to address the fact that there is no political price to be paid for anti-Semitism here in Washington state,” says Sam Jefferies, who leads the PAC. “You can have the best arguments, research, education, and relationships in the world, but if you’re not able to add that political accountability, you’re handcuffed in your ability to affect outcomes.” 

I would say that I agree that just like racism, anti-Semitism found in elected leaders should come with a price to pay.

One troubling statement:

Beyond supporting Song, the Kids Table is in the process of identifying which races to invest in. They start with a candidate questionnaire.

“Part of that is to get an apples-to-apples comparison,” Halling says. “How will they keep us safe? Who responds in the first place? Who will respond a little? Who will be thoughtful? Who will use their elected office to help?”

Rather than making official endorsements, they consider their donations endorsements. Their monthly newsletter intends to give the PAC a media and educational angle.

What it would seem to mean is that Janis White and Vivian Song were both asked to answer the questionnaire. Did they? It's unclear. You'd assume the questions would be around safety and anti-Semitism but words have meaning so I would want to see the exact wording. Because "who will use their elected office to help?" is a big question and really, all any candidate could say is "I will stand up to any kind of racism/ethnic attacks/LGBTQ discrimination and disability discrimination and advocate for the rest of the Board to stand with me.

Because school board is NOT a one-person show. It's a team effort and NO Board member can create change by themselves.

For example, if we look at the Nathan Hale issue, the attacks against the Jewish student, what did any current director say or do? I have not seen anything that has been public and that's because it's in the Superintendent's scope of work. The Board does have these policies around this topic;

- 3240 Student Behavior and Disciplinary Responses

- 3143 - Notification and Dissemination of Information About Student Offenses and Notification of Threats of Violence or Harm

- 3225 School-Based Threat Assessment

-3210 Nondiscrimination, Acts of Hostility and Defamation

- 3432 Emergencies lists a couple of superintendent procedures around discrimination and harm.

-What I am also hearing is that NOT all candidates in all races have been asked to answer their questionnaire. That's a red flag. I will be asking all the candidates I interview about this questionnaire. It is unclear who sees the questionnaire and the answers but apparently people who join the PAC might be able to see them.

- One aside - I do like how The Cholent writes "the kids' table" which is actually how it should be written but the PAC has chosen not to do so.

I suspect I will not hear back from The Kids Table. 

Update 2:

I am still waiting to hear from Hannah Krieg and/or the PAC The Kids Table to try to get a complete picture. 

It does seem that Ms. Krieg knows people in White's family.Yes, it is interesting that White's consultant, Stephen Paolini, was available for a quote. I rarely can get ahold of these people. 

I do not take exception to him explaining that White herself is Jewish; many married people do not share the same background. 

I do not buy his "Song is getting more money" out of this. She's not. PACs can spend as they like. And, Song is probably keeping her own wise counsel on whether this story will hurt or help her. As always, it WHO can get the vote out in board elections that matters. 

White's husband, Richard Silverstein, like me, has a blog. But he writes in a much more dangerous world than I do. I don't pretend to understand what it means to be a Jew or to be an American Jew but I would think that standing up against Israeli security doesn't exactly endear him to many Jews. He has published in many notable places including the New York Times. I did look at his Twitter account and I'm trying to see where there are"horrifying" tweets. I only went back a couple of months. 

I am surprised to not hear from people here if they think this concern over antisemitism could extend out to other races. Maybe it depends on if this story has legs. 

end of update 

  

Update 1:

From the White campaign on Facebook:

Many of you have likely seen the reporting from The Burner about the fact that a new PAC, The Kids Table, spent $10,000 on a mailer supporting one of the other candidates in the primary for the School Board, District 5. The PAC’s conduct has been an unfortunate distraction the last few days. It may not sound like a lot but $10,000 is a significant amount to spend in the primary for a School Board candidate. 

The School Board D5 campaign is the only campaign in which this PAC has participated and, given the PAC’s goal, it seems clear that they chose this campaign because I have family members who are involved in Palestinian advocacy. There is no other plausible explanation (in the absence of any statement from the PAC itself). 

I will not be bullied out of running for a position for which I am uniquely qualified based on my 20 years of advocacy in our school district , my skills as a lawyer and my community roots. I stand on my record of advocacy on behalf of and as an ally of all children in our schools, especially the most vulnerable.

I hope that our community will unite in denouncing the actions of this PAC which have distracted us from the issues that matter in this primary election. There are 4 candidates who are continuing to campaign for this position in the primary. All of them are worthy of the voters’ consideration. I hope that as you decide who you are going to vote for, you will look at each of our records on the issues that concern the School Board.

One comment at this post says:

The PAC did send out questionnaires to some candidates. 

Some candidates? Why would that be? They were only looking for what in the candidates? White says hers is the ONLY campaign the PAC "has participated in."  

I still hope to hear from the PAC. 

SPS Dad Energy, I cannot print your comment until I verify some points that claim happened. 

 end of update

 

And now a whole Pandora's box of issues has opened for one Seattle board race but could spill over into all of them.

Before I dive in, point of personal privilege. It is possible to see both sides of the Israel/Gaza war as wrong. I believe that.

Hamas is a disgusting organization for what they did on October 7th AND in their long, drawn-out treatment of hostages, both dead and alive. You could point a finger and say, "Hamas started it." Except then I would refer you to the great Billy Joel who aptly sang, "We didn't start the fire. It was always burning since the world's been turning."

But the other side? Oh my. When you have Donald Trump openly saying that children in Gaza are starving (in the face of his friend Netanyahu who says no one is starving in Gaza), something is very wrong.

What has happened now in the Seattle school board races is this.  There is a PAC in Seattle called The Kids Table. Their website is a single page. Here's what they say they want to do (bold mine):

The Kids Table is a new political action committee designed to support pro-Jewish candidates for state and local office in Washington state, and oppose candidates who are complicit or complacent in the face of anti-Jewish hate. We will oppose extremism and illiberalism, spending money in races where we feel we can make a difference, and where we most need allies. Our name speaks to the need for generational change; for new solutions to the oldest problem, and for hard hitting politics that can fight back today and lead tomorrow.

Too many of our elected leaders feel no need for accountability. Meanwhile, a small group of activists have seized upon a simple idea: by capturing local infrastructure in low-turnout elections, they can drag politics further to the extremes. That is going to change, and The Kids Table is going to change it.

Our city councils and school boards should be focused on filling potholes, illiterate students and unsafe communities rather than libelous virtue signaling on foreign affairs. We are done watching the degradation of our essential institutions, and we know you are, too.

Join us at The Kids Table.

Top 5 contributors: Shira Kaufman, Aviad Benzikry, Arielle Sulkin, Murray Lee, 

Don Stark.

From The Burner blog:

New Seattle PAC Advocating Against Antisemitism Spends
$10,000 To Keep Jewish Woman Off School Board

White, a longtime advocate for special education, is running for Seattle School Board in District 5 against veteran school board member and frontrunner Song. Recently, TKT paid $9,700 for the design, printing, and distribution of 10,000 mail pieces promoting Song, according to the PDC. 

As in accordance with the law, Song said she did not coordinate with the PAC on the mailer: "I didn't know anything about the IE until I got the mailer myself," Song said in a text. Song has "no idea" about the motivations of the PAC, but she did reiterate her support of the Jewish community.  

"I have been vocally speaking out against antisemitism and all forms of discrimination in schools," Song wrote. "I'm a parent to Jewish kids in Seattle Public Schools and the Jewish community in Seattle is diverse."

What is interesting is that the flyer doesn't say anything about anti-Semitism. It's just sings the praises of Song. But from their hard-hitting description of what the PAC wants to do, it's not just that Song has nice attributes.

While TKT did not respond when asked why they support Song over White, her campaign believes that TKT is targeting her for her family's pro-Palestine activism.

I have a query into TKT myself. I'll let you know if I hear from them. I surely hope I do because if they want to talk tough - as their website does appear to do - then they can talk about what candidates they are choosing to support. 

White’s family has a long history of advocating for Palestinian liberation. Her husband, Richard Silverstein, writes a blog called Tikun Olam, that’s “devoted to exposing the excesses of the Israeli national security state.” Silverstein’s work has also appeared at Middle East Eye, Al Jazeera English and Jacobin Magazine. Their son also organizes with pro-Palestinian groups in Seattle.

The Burner also states that the name of Mr. Silverstein's blog - Tikun Olam - means " “repairing the world" which is "actually rooted in a Jewish value."

White’s consultant, Stephen Paolini told The Burner that he can’t think of another reason besides Palestinian advocacy that would prompt TKT to spend such a large sum to box White out of the School Board. She’s Jewish, she’s committed to combating antisemitism in schools, and her far-from-extreme platform stays entirely on-topic, never veering into “libelous virtue signaling on foreign affairs" as TKT put it.

As The Burner points out, Song has a lot of money in her campaign than White.

Here's the kicker sentence (for me) from The Burner:

Now other candidates may have even more incentive to stay quiet about the ongoing genocide in Gaza as to not invite spending from TKT.

But here's the problem. If any forum wants to go to this issue, all they have to do is point to what happened at Nathan Hale High School around anti-semitism. And then ask candidates, "What do you think should be done in a case like this?" or "What do you want to see the next superintendent do in order to not allow situations like this to escalate to a point where a student is in danger?"

Those are valid questions but sadly, I wish they would not be the focus of a school board race.