Brown Recants Jewish Vote Statement

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) said Friday he wasn’t being serious when he told reporters in connection with comments on legislative reapportionment that Jewish voters can’t be counted on to vote for black candidates.

In a statement released by his office, Brown said his remarks during an impromptu press conference on the Assembly floor were “in a context not designed to be taken seriously.” The Speaker said they “do not reflect a belief that I possess; nor are they based on any experience or exposure I have had in my three decades serving San Francisco and the state of California.”

The statement was released after about a dozen groups responded to Brown’s remarks, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, which told the Speaker in a letter that it was “deeply disturbed and disappointed” by his remarks and urged him to “immediately withdraw your unfortunate statement.”

The center charged that Brown’s remarks “could be used by bigots and anti-Semites interested in exacerbating tensions between our communities.” Other Jewish groups said they welcomed Brown’s follow-up explanation.

Brown, who was instrumental in redrawing legislative and congressional district lines that were passed by the Legislature on Thursday, made his remarks to reporters after the Assembly vote.

The Speaker, who is black, was asked why the districts of two black incumbents, Assemblyman Curtis Tucker (D-Inglewood) and Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles), were moved west to pick up population rather than north into heavily populated Jewish West Los Angeles neighborhoods.

“Going in the direction of which you speak,” Brown replied, “because of the way in which people in that area vote, Gwen Moore would have to become Moorenstein in order to have an equal opportunity to win.”

He added, “You have persons who vote for Jewish last names first and foremost, just as you have blacks who vote for blacks against anybody else regardless of advocacy, regardless of positions on issues.”

In his follow-up statement, Brown said his remarks on racial voting patterns did not square with the record of recent elections. “Clearly, the Jewish community throughout the years has demonstrated a history of support for political candidates representing all religions and ethnicities, including African-Americans. My statement was not meant to hurt either community.”

Responding to Brown’s latest statement, the Los Angeles branch of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith said in a letter to Brown it was pleased with his explanation but added that instances of recent black-Jewish tension elsewhere in the nation “(do) not lend (themselves) to jocular comments.”

The American Jewish Congress also responded with a press release saying it welcomed Brown’s statement “disassociating himself from the implications of his comments about redistricting.”