N.Y. Democrats Poised to Nominate Former Black Panther

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N.Y. Democrats Poised to Nominate Former Black Panther, Anti-Israel Radical for Congress
The heart and soul of the Democratic party?
12:41 PM, Jun 11, 2012 • By MICHAEL WARREN
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New York City councilman Charles Barron may be on his way to winning the Democratic nomination for Congress in New York's Eighth District, despite a history of racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Israel rhetoric. Barron, who has earned the support of retiring congressman Edolphus Towns, would be representing a district with a sizable Jewish population.
Charles Barron

In 2010, he told a reporter that in New York's Crown Heights neighborhood, Jews "only make up 20 percent of the population, but they've always walked these streets as if they owned them, and acted as if they are the only ones in the community that matter."

Barron once referred to a fellow city councilman, who is Jewish, as a "coward" whose actions on the council were to "satisfy the Jewish lobby."

Barron has also called into question the legitimate existence of Israel. "Where should we start [the discussion]?" he said at a Brooklyn church in 2010. "Should we start with the 1906 Zionist Convention, or in 1914, with the Balfour Declaration? With Menachem Begin, the terrorists, all the wars, you want to discuss Israel becoming a state in 1948 when it should not have? Who are the terrorists? You want to talk about the definition of terrorism? How do you define acts of piracy?"

And in 2009, Barron joined former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney on a Viva Palestine convoy to undermine the Israeli blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza, which he has compared to a "concentration death camp." Here's what Barron had to say in 2010 about the blockade:

Israel is out of control. They’re off the hook, they’re out of line; and Barack Obama has to stand strong and so do does Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, to say that this kind of aggressive, terroristic behavior and act of piracy will not be tolerated and the blockade should be lifted immediately, immediately. There’s too many children and women and innocent men of Gaza dying because you’re isolating them and not allowing anything in. It’s like having a concentration death camp. It’s horrible, and the whole world is and should be outraged.

The New York Daily News ran an editorial this weekend warning voters about Barron's views:

A relic of a bitter bygone era, Barron is a former Black Panther who plays a one-note trumpet of racial grievance.

He has called for training teachers in Ebonics. He has labeled housing development “a new wave of Jim Crowism.”

At a 2002 rally in support of reparations for slavery, he said: “I want to go up to the closest white person and say, ‘You can’t understand this, it’s a black thing’ and then slap him, just for my mental health.”

The Daily News instead endorsed Hakeem Jeffries in the June 26 primary. The seat is highly Democratic, and a win in the primary will be tantamount to a general election victory. The Daily News touts Jeffries "in the strongest terms," citing his legal work and his ability to bridge racial and cultural differences across the new diverse district.

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N.Y. Jewish lawmakers denounce congressional candidate Charles Barron

June 11, 2012

(JTA) -- Several current and former New York Jewish elected officials gathered to denounce the congressional candidacy of Charles Barron for his anti-Israel views.

Ex-Mayor Ed Koch, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), City Councilman David Greenfield and state Assemblyman Dov Hikind, among others, gathered in front of the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in downtown Battery Park at a news conference Monday to call Barron, a Brooklyn Democrat, an “enemy of the State of Israel” and the New York Jewish community.

Barron, a city councilman, is facing state Assemblyman Hakeen Jeffries in a June 26 Democratic primary in a bid to succeed 24-year incumbent Rep. Edolphus Towns, also a Democrat, who is retiring at the end of this year.

The politicians at Battery Park expressed support for Jeffries and called Barron an “anti-Semite,” “hateful” and a “bigot.”

Barron has compared the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians to the Nazi treatment of Jews during World War II. He also has publicly praised foreign dictators such as the late Muammar Gadhafi of Libya and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

“To compare Israel to Nazis, calling what Israel’s doing genocide? Israel’s trying to survive in a tough neighborhood," Nadler said during the news conference, according to Politicker. The longtime congressman added that Israel is "not doing anything like Nazis. To even put them in the same universe is a disgrace to the English language."

Nadler said Barron's election to Congress, "to some extent would legitimize this kind of anti-Semitic discourse, and we don’t need that.”

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In Brooklyn, a Longtime Provocateur Surges in a Primary Race for Congress
Michael Nagle for The New York Times

In the primary race for a Brooklyn Congressional seat, Councilman Charles Barron, right, has received the blessing of the man he wants to replace, Representative Edolphus Towns, center.
By JOSEPH BERGER and MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
Published: June 15, 2012


Suddenly, Charles Barron has regained the ability to shock.
Related

A Candidate Known for His Unconventional Views (June 16, 2012)

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Editorial: Primary Day Is June 26 (June 16, 2012)

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Assemblyman Hakeem S. Jeffries, center, has raised far more money and received far more support from the political establishment than Mr. Barron, and was expected to coast to victory.

The New York political world had long ago become accustomed to the incendiary words of Mr. Barron, a confrontational onetime Black Panther turned three-term City Councilman. His more outrageous remarks over the years, from calling Thomas Jefferson a pedophile to likening Gaza to a “concentration death camp” to expressing his desire to slap “the closest white person,” have given way to a reputation as a showboat and provocateur on the political fringe.

Considered an afterthought when he announced his candidacy for the United States Congress last November — in a speech in which he called Muammar el-Qaddafi “my hero” and pledged to never salute the American flag — Democratic leaders are now fretfully talking about a prospect they once considered unthinkable: a Congressman Barron.

His opponent, Hakeem S. Jeffries, a state assemblyman and self-styled conciliator who has raised far more money and received far more support from the political establishment, was expected to coast to victory. So there was surprise when Mr. Barron picked up the endorsement of the city’s largest public employees union and the blessing of the man he wants to replace, Representative Edolphus Towns, who will retire. With 10 days to go before the Democratic primary, it has became clear that Mr. Barron is gaining traction, with the help of a passionate voter base in the historically black Brooklyn neighborhoods where his roots run deep.

There are signs of panic among members of the Democratic establishment, who worry Mr. Barron could prove to be a headache in their ranks and an alienating figure on the national stage.

Popular Democrats abruptly emerged this week to denounce him as a dangerous, anti-Israel radical. Edward I. Koch, the former mayor, called him a viper; other community leaders pointed reporters to the Anti-Defamation League’s list of his more provocative quotes; and in an e-mail to supporters this week, a local group of Russian Jews announced a hastily planned rally on Monday to denounce Mr. Barron as “a fringe radical and anti-Semitic, anti-Israel activist.” The first word of the subject line said it all: EMERGENCY.

In an interview, Mr. Barron would not comment on past statements, calling them “a distraction” from the issues, raised by people who are frightened by his campaign’s “building momentum.”

“Sometimes my being assertive and speaking truth to power become reduced to controversial and defiant,” he said, adding later, “I raise contradictions when I feel people who have suffered cause suffering to other people.”

The sudden rise in Mr. Barron’s fortunes has overshadowed Mr. Jeffries, who has been viewed as a rising star in New York politics with his ability to bring together white and black, rich and poor, the gentrifiers and the gentrified. Mr. Jeffries’s campaign chest is many times the size of Mr. Barron’s, having collected by this week $769,544 from 2,447 donors. Mr. Barron missed a deadline to report his contributions, but said he had almost $70,000, most of it his own money.

In some ways, the race offers a contrast between two different eras. Mr. Barron, 61, represents a throwback to the 1970s and 1980s, when black nationalists seemed to control the city’s racial conversation, while Mr. Jeffries, 41, represents the more recent model of black leaders like President Obama; Newark’s mayor, Cory A. Booker; and Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, who have earned establishment credentials and thrived by building coalitions with white liberals.

That difference was suggested by Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke as she campaigned with Mr. Jeffries at the Abe Stark Senior Center in Canarsie. She said that Mr. Barron had a “style of politics that appeals to some groups” but that Mr. Jeffries represented “the future of Brooklyn.”

Mr. Barron leavens his belligerent streak with humor, and has an engaging manner when it comes to the kind of small talk required while shaking hands with prospective voters at senior centers and subway stops. Even some of his opponents call him charming. And he has won deep support within his district for showing up at the scene whenever a young black person is wounded by the police.

The district, newly configured and renamed as a result of the 2010 Census, stretches through the spine of Brooklyn and spills over into Queens. It takes in the poor and working-class housing projects of Brownsville, East New York, Canarsie and Coney Island but also middle-class and increasingly affluent brownstone areas like Clinton Hill, Fort Greene and Prospect Heights, as well as the stouter homes of Manhattan Beach, Marine Park and Howard Beach. Both candidates are African-American in a district that is 53 percent black, but the outcome of the primary may hinge on the reality that the recent redistricting has introduced large pockets of white voters (22.4 percent) and Hispanic voters (18 percent). The district also includes large Jewish enclaves.

Because relatively few voters turn up in primaries — particularly a primary held in June for the first time in 40 years — the unions’ ability to pull their members and other residents to the polls is regarded as crucial, according to Hank Sheinkopf, a political consultant. Mr. Jeffries has received a slew of union endorsements like those of the Transport Workers Union and 1199 SEIU, which represents health care workers. Mr. Barron surprised many in the political world when he snagged the support of DC 37, the city’s largest public employees union. Both candidates claim records for addressing the district’s perennial complaints: rundown housing, ineffective schools, wide unemployment and what many residents see as overly harsh police tactics.

But in contrast to many of the Democratic primary battles throughout the city, this one includes sharp policy differences between candidates. Mr. Barron opposes gay marriage; Mr. Jeffries co-sponsored the legislation that legalized it. Mr. Barron is an outspoken critic of Israeli policies; Mr. Jeffries visited Israel in 2008 with the Jewish Community Relations Council. Locally, Mr. Barron opposed the building of a basketball arena and the rest of the Atlantic Yards project near downtown Brooklyn; Mr. Jeffries has sought to mitigate its impact and criticized the developer for not delivering on promised housing.

And while Mr. Jeffries takes pride in his crossover appeal, Mr. Barron has made little effort to broaden his base. Instead, he continues to use loaded language, upsetting his white and Jewish colleagues with phrases emblematic of the Holocaust; he might, for example, accuse Israel of genocide. David Greenfield, a City Council member and the grandson of Holocaust survivors, said Mr. Barron, if elected, would become “the most prominent anti-Semite in Congress.”

Mr. Barron, who has been married for 29 years to Inez D. Barron, currently a state assemblywoman, and has two grown children, Jelani and Jawanza, was raised in a housing project on the Lower East Side and graduated from Hunter College as a sociology major. He was chief of staff for a community activist, the Rev. Herbert Daughtry of Brooklyn’s House of the Lord Church before running for the council in 2001. Privately, lawmakers say that Mr. Barron is a warm and earnest presence in the City Council, but say they have little patience for his antics. In 2010 Christine C. Quinn, the speaker, stripped him of his chairmanship of the Higher Education Committee.

Mr. Jeffries grew up in Crown Heights, the son of a social worker and a case worker, graduated from Binghamton University and received a law degree from New York University. He clerked for a federal judge, practiced law at the prestigious Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison firm for four years and won an Assembly seat in 2006. He lives in Prospect Heights with his wife, Kennisandra, and two sons, Jeremiah, 10, and Joshua, 8.

“Charles Barron has adopted a confrontational style,” he said in an interview. “I work hard to bring people together to get things accomplished. People will ultimately decide which approach is more effective.”

A version of this article appeared in print on June 16, 2012, on page A17 of the New York edition with the headline: In Brooklyn, a Longtime Provocateur Surges in a Primary Race for Congress.

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June 22, 2012

David Duke endorses leading New York Democrat
Published: 11:03 AM 06/21/2012
By Neil Munro - The Daily Caller
Archive | Email Neil Munro

The Democratic Party is facing an awkward problem Thursday because white supremacist David Duke has endorsed a leading candidate in the Democratic Party’s primary race for a New York House seat.

Duke says he’s endorsing Charles Barron, the leading candidate for the new 8th district primary on June 26, because of their shared enmity toward “zionists.”

Barron is an African-American city politician who has been slammed as an anti-white racist and as a Jew-hater. However, he’s already got the endorsement of the retiring Democratic congressman, Rep. Edolphus Towns.

If Barron wins the June 26 primary, he’s a shoo-in for election in November because the district is overwhelmingly Democratic.

His election would be unnerving for many Democrats, including Jewish Democrats. Recent polls say that traditionally high support among orthodox Jews for the Democratic Party is declining toward 50 percent.

Duke’s endorsement of a Democrat also muddies routine claims by progressives that many conservatives and libertarians are motivated by racism. GOP supporters say their beliefs are motivated by American idealism and old-style liberal ideas of tolerance and freedom.

In recent days the Democratic establishment, including New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, has reacted to Barron’s advance by supporting his rival, Hakeem Jeffries, a state assemblyman.

Duke is a famous racist who ran as a Democrat and as a Republican in multiple Louisiana races during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

He now portrays himself as a supporter of “diversity,” and as a non-violent proponent of laws that encourage whites and African-Americans to live separately.

“In an election of limited choices, I think Charles Barron is the better choice [because] there is no greater danger facing the United States of America and facing the world than the unbridled power of zionist globalism,” Duke declared in a June 21 video.

The video appears on his website, whose banner declares, “For Human Freedom and Diversity.”

Duke, who was once a leader of the Ku Klux Klan, and who established the National Association for the Advancement of White People, decried Barron’s support for affirmative action, and his controversial statements that endorse violence against whites.

“I certainly disagree with Barron’s extreme racist, even violently, anti-white rhetoric,” he said, while blaming “Jewish extremists” for racial divisions.

African-Americans and whites “want the same thing — they want the right to associate together in their schools and communities,” he said.

Duke did not explain how the law should treat blacks and whites who wish to live in an area dominated by the other group, or how the segregationist policies would be enforced.

But the real enemies, he said, are “zionists,” meaning Jews.

They “want constant conflict between the two groups so they can use a divide and conquer strategy to rule over us all.”

Jews, and “the international robber-zio-banks… [and] the zionist clubfed,” he said, are “the ultimate real enemies of both our peoples.”

This article has been updated to reflect that Hakeem Jeffries is a state assemblyman, not a New York City councilman.

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June 26, 2012, 8:44 pmComment
Live-Blogging Primary Night in New York
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
Poll workers greeted a friend at a polling place inside a senior center in Flushing, Queens, where a Congressional seat is up for grabs.Brad Vest/The New York TimesPoll workers greeted a friend at a polling place inside a senior center in Flushing, Queens, where a Congressional seat is up for grabs.

Can New York City’s most powerful congressman keep his seat? Will a 10-term representative fend off a challenge from the party machine? Can a provocateur with a history of outrageous remarks upset an establishment favorite?

The polls in Tuesday’s New York Congressional primaries closed at 9 p.m., and you can keep up with all the real-time returns on our New York primary results page.


12:20 A.M. Low Turnout in Rangel's District

Roughly 1 out of 8 registered Democrats voted in Tuesday’s primary in the newly drawn district of Representative Charles B. Rangel, based on an unofficial tally from the city’s Board of Elections.

That’s a turnout of about 12.6 percent.

About 35,500 voters cast ballots in the race, which Mr. Rangel won by about 6.5 percentage points. There are 282,108 registered Democratic voters in the district, which was created this year by a federal court and includes parts of Upper Manhattan and the Bronx.

— Michael M. Grynbaum
11:50 P.M. A Statement from Senator Adriano Espaillat

This just in from the campaign of State Senator Adriano Espaillat, who fell short in his attempt to unseat Representative Charles B. Rangel:

“After the campaign of our lives, having knocked on thousands of doors and talked to men and women of the 13th Congressional district who inspire me to serve the public, it is clear that we will not win this campaign. I congratulate Congressman Charles Rangel. Though we didn’t make it to the finish line tonight, the values we fought for and the communities we seek to improve will continue to light a fire in us. The truth is, even in coming a bit short, we made history. We are most proud of the fact that our campaign introduced bold, new ideas to move New York forward. We will continue to fight for these ideas with every fiber of our being and make our communities stronger than ever.”

— Kate Taylor
11:45 P.M. Jeffries, in Victory, Speaks of "A More Perfect Union"

The mood was significantly brighter at Hakeem S. Jeffries’s victory party, on the ground floor of Sanders Studios in Brooklyn. Hundreds gathered to hear Mr. Jeffries deliver his victory speech, after he handily defeated Councilman Charles Barron to secure the Democratic nomination.

“The political pundits said this was going to be a close race,” Mr. Jeffries said. “That was before people spoke, from Bedford-Stuyvesant to Brighton Beach.”

“People spoke,” he added, “and that’s why we’re going to Washington, D.C.”

It was never supposed to be a close competition for Mr. Jeffries, and in the end, it wasn’t: he was leading Mr. Barron by about 45 percentage points with 94 percent of precincts reporting. But Mr. Jeffries, a former corporate lawyer, did face a scare in the final weeks of the campaign after Mr. Barron won several key endorsements.

In his speech, Mr. Jeffries ignored the specifics of the race in favor of loftier topics, including an invocation of Abraham Lincoln.

“I still feel it’s relevant to ask the question, how do we create a more perfect union?” Mr. Jeffries said. “We still have a long way to go with racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia. When I look all across this Congressional district, I see people struggling.”

“I’m going down to Washington to stand up for our children, to stand up for job creation, to stand up for civil rights, to stand up for senior citizens, and to stand up for our president, Barack Obama,” he said, before leaving the stage to shake hands with supporters as Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” played on the sound system.

— Vivian Yee
11:30 P.M. Barron Defiant – and Entertaining – In Defeat

Even in defeat, Councilman Charles Barron lived up to his incendiary reputation.

Having lost his long-shot Congressional campaign to represent Brooklyn’s Eighth Congressional District, Mr. Barron came out swinging in his concession speech at Sista’s Place restaurant in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

Mr. Barron blamed his defeat on the Democratic establishment, “the white media,” “the Wall Street elite,” and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, among other entities.

He attacked his opponent, Assemblyman Hakeem S. Jeffries, for “shaking up and waking up John Lewis in Georgia to make robo-calls,” referring to the famed civil rights figure who recorded phone calls urging voters to support Mr. Jeffries.

And Mr. Barron borrowed a phrase from the Occupy Wall Street movement, portraying Mr. Jeffries, who had been supported by many of the city’s prominent Democratic leaders, as a representative of “the one percent.”

“When we launched the campaign, we knew we were going to be up against powerful opposition,” Mr. Barron said. “Never in the annals of the state has a candidate been up against the entire Democratic leadership.”

A former Black Panther and three-term City Councilman with a reputation for making outrageous remarks, Mr. Barron accused the media of trying to “assassinate us” during the race, and he blamed Mr. Jeffries for not defending him from the attacks, saying “it showed a lack of character.”

But Mr. Barron, who stood next to his wife, Assemblywoman Inez D. Barron, ended on a hopeful note for his supporters. “There’s something bigger than politics,” he said. “That’s a movement of the people, and we have established that tonight.”

With 90 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Barron had about 28 percent of the vote. Mr. Jeffries had 72 percent.

— Joseph Berger
11:06 P.M. Rangel Fends Off Four Opponents to Win Nomination

Representative Charles B. Rangel, 82, has fended off one of the most difficult re-election challenges of his career.

Mr. Rangel, faced with a newly drawn district and ongoing concerns over his ethical transgressions, defeated four opponents to secure the Democratic nomination for what would be his 22nd term in Congress.

A beaming Mr. Rangel declared victory in front of dozens of supporters gathered at Sylvia’s, the Harlem soul food restaurant, and said he “cannot find words to describe” his feelings about the victory.

Looking jubilant, Mr. Rangel described the media coverage of his run as “hostile” and dismissed the newspaper editorial pages that endorsed his opponents, describing the city’s editorial writers as “very strange people.”

Mr. Rangel held off spirited challenges from State Senator Adriano Espaillat, who would have become the first Dominican-American congressman, and Clyde Williams, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton, both of whom hoped to take advantage of a new district that included many more Hispanic voters than Mr. Rangel’s previous territory, which was predominantly African-American.

Earlier in the evening, Assemblyman Keith Wright, the Manhattan Democratic chairman, was asked if he thought that a victory for Mr. Rangel meant that the longtime Harlem congressman could soon be serving his final term.

“No,” Mr. Wright replied. “Charlie Rangel might be the Strom Thurmond of Harlem.”

— Michael M. Grynbaum and Kate Taylor
10:57 P.M. Velázquez On Her Way To 11th Term, Says A.P.

Representative Nydia M. Velázquez appears to be on her way to an eleventh term in Congress.

Ms. Velázquez easily won the Democratic nomination in the Seventh Congressional District, according to the Associated Press, taking a comfortable lead over her nearest opponent, City Councilman Erik M. Dilan, with more than half of all precincts reporting.

Her victory represents a triumph over the Brooklyn Democratic chairman, Vito J. Lopez, who threw his powerful political machine behind Mr. Dilan.

“We won because of you,” Ms. Velázquez told supporters in Brooklyn on Tuesday night, describing her victory as one for “progressive and democratic values.”

After remarks from Sheldon Silver, the state Assembly Speaker, Ms. Velázquez repeated her remarks in Spanish. In her second speech, however, she used one English phrase: “party bosses.”

— Sarah Wheaton and Michael M. Grynbaum
10:43 P.M. Jeffries Defeats Barron in Brooklyn, Says A.P.

The provocateur’s upset is not to be.

Assemblyman Hakeem S. Jeffries has defeated Councilman Charles Barron to win the Democratic nomination in Brooklyn’s Eighth Congressional District, according to The Associated Press.

Mr. Jeffries was leading Mr. Barron by a significant margin with just under half of all precincts reporting, according to the A.P.

Both men were running to replace Representative Edolphus Towns, who is retiring, in a newly redrawn district in Brooklyn. Mr. Barron, who has courted controversy with incendiary remarks during his political career, earned the endorsements of Mr. Towns and a major public employees’ union, alarming some Democratic leaders that he could score an upset victory.

Instead, Mr. Jeffries, who is favored by the city’s political establishment and had a large fundraising advantage over Mr. Barron, appears to have prevailed.

— Michael M. Grynbaum
10:39 P.M. Meng Declares Victory in Queens
Assemblywoman Grace Meng, second from left, on Tuesday.Brad Vest/The New York TimesAssemblywoman Grace Meng, second from left, on Tuesday.

Grace Meng thanked her supporters for a “tremendous victory” in the Sixth Congressional District in Queens, although no major outlet has yet called the race for her.

Ms. Meng, a state assemblywoman who is seeking to replace Representative Gary Ackerman, had the backing of the county Democratic machine, and she was holding a lead over her closest opponent, Assemblyman Rory I. Lancman, with about a third of precincts reporting.

Ms. Meng came onstage at a restaurant in Bayside, Queens, to a Black Eyed Peas song.

Meanwhile, at Mr. Lancman’s event in Forest Hills, the mood already appeared to be one of defeat. One campaign adviser was overheard telling other attendees that “it doesn’t look good.”

— Michael M. Grynbaum
10:33 P.M. Long Wins G.O.P. Senate Primary, says A.P.

Wendy E. Long, a Manhattan lawyer, has won the Republican nomination to challenge Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand in November, according to The Association Press. Ms. Long was holding a large lead over her closest opponent, Representative Bob Turner of Brooklyn and Queens, with more than half of all precincts reporting.

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MoveOn Is REALLY Sorry For Saying Bad Things About Charles Barron

By Colin Campbell 7/06 5:20pm
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Charles Barron (Photo: Facebook)

As the Democratic establishment rallied around Brooklyn Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries’ congressional campaign, a number of forces weighed in. Among them was the progressive advocacy group MoveOn.org, which sent an email to its supporters declaring Mr. Jeffries opponent, Councilman Charles Barron, was “unfit to serve.”

“But what Barron doesn’t want you to know is that rather than actually trying to fix problems, he’s spent his career specializing in divisive, offensive, and just plain outrageous statements and behavior,” the email declared, for example.

The message proceeded to give a small “sampling” of some of the more controversial things Mr. Barron has said in the past, such as, “I want to go up to the closest white person and say, ‘You can’t understand this, it’s a black thing’ and then slap him, just for my mental health.”

The organization received some criticism after the move and it seems that MoveOn truly regrets entering the Democratic primary, which was settled Tuesday of last week with an overwhelming victory by Mr. Jeffries. They sent out another email this evening profusely apologizing again and again for their aggressive rhetoric against Mr. Barron.

“It was offensive and inflammatory—and we shouldn’t have sent it,” the group’s executive director, Justin Ruben, wrote. “On behalf of the MoveOn staff, I apologize to you and to the Brooklyn community.”

The entire email is somewhat incredible, and can be viewed below, along with the original “Unfit to serve” one beneath that:

Subject: We apologize
Dear MoveOn member,

Last month, you received an email from MoveOn about Councilman Charles Barron, a candidate for Congress in your district. It was offensive and inflammatory—and we shouldn’t have sent it.

On behalf of the MoveOn staff, I apologize to you and to the Brooklyn community.

The email was all too reminiscent of the kind of attacks that have been used by our opponents to divide progressives over and over again—white folks from African Americans, Jews from non-Jews, recent immigrants from descendants of immigrants, etc.

MoveOn is a community of 7 million of us from every corner of our country. There are MoveOn members of every race, religion, and color. We aspire to bring folks together to fight for racial and economic justice and democracy—with respect for everyone. This email did the opposite.

After the email was sent, we couldn’t undo the harm it had done. But we wanted to do our best to avoid doing any more damage. So we didn’t say anything further about Councilman Barron for the duration of the race, limiting our involvement to communicating the positive reasons that MoveOn members in the district chose to endorse Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries back in April.

We can’t take back our actions. But we can do better going forward to make sure that we are uniting, not dividing, our shared communities.

Again, our sincerest apologies. And if you have any thoughts you’d like to share with us about the email or about how MoveOn can be a constructive force in local races and issues in the future, please don’t hesitate to email me at [x]@moveon.org.

Thank you for all you do.

Justin Ruben
Executive Director
MoveOn.org Political Action



Subject: Unfit to serve
Dear MoveOn member,

There are some people who don’t belong in elected office. Charles Barron is one of those people.

Barron is running for Congress from New York’s new 8th District, and with very few voters expected to show up for the primary on June 26, he has a legitimate chance of winning. Retiring corporate Democrat Ed Towns has endorsed Barron to spite his political enemies and Barron is furiously working to hide his inflammatory record.

But what Barron doesn’t want you to know is that rather than actually trying to fix problems, he’s spent his career specializing in divisive, offensive, and just plain outrageous statements and behavior. Here’s just a sampling:

“Out there, they don’t know that [Libyan leader Muammar] Qaddafi was our brother. People say ‘Didn’t he kill all those people?’ I say, ‘I don’t know anything.’”1

When asked about the gay rights movement, Barron said, “I don’t consider it a civil rights issue of our time.”2

“The biggest terrorist in the world is the government of Israel.”3

“I want to go up to the closest white person and say, ‘You can’t understand this, it’s a black thing’ and then slap him, just for my mental health.”4

Barron explained his opposition to gay marriage by saying, “I believe simply in an institution of marriage between a man and a woman. My wife and I believe that. We support every other thing regarding gay rights and we support everything but the marriage thing. We don’t want to have people impose their values or beliefs on us and we’re not imposing ours on you.”5

Barron invited Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe to speak at City Hall despite the fact that, “Amnesty International holds President Mugabe and his government responsible for the attacks against opposition politicians, against members of civilian society, against African farm workers and for creating an environment of fear and intimidation.”6

This is the kind of thing we’ve come to expect from the most offensive tea partier. Those tea partiers, frankly, don’t belong in Congress. And neither does Charles Barron.

Can you pass on this email to make sure no voter in the 8th District is fooled by Barron’s recent attempts to whitewash his record?

Thanks for all you do.

–Daniel, Levana, and the rest of the team