Councilmember Kathy Lambert sent the mailer below to thousands in her district. Given that every police-related policy I’ve supported has had majority Council approval, I wonder why she singled out and used her only Black colleague’s face for fear mongering on the East Side. pic.twitter.com/ckXHmSmuVQ
— Girmay Zahilay (@GirmayZahilay) October 6, 2021
A county council member in Washington is being criticized after a mailer was deemed “racist” and “xenophobic” by members of the county’s legislative body.
King County Council member Kathy Lambert’s campaign is accused of sending out a mailer portraying her challenger, Sarah Perry, as a “socialist puppet” controlled by others, according to images of the mailer posted to Twitter.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Lambert but did not receive a response.
Those controlling Perry in the image included Vice President Kamala Harris; Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent; and two local officials, County Council member Girmay Zahilay and Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant.
“I wonder why she singled out and used her only Black colleague’s face for fear mongering on the East Side,” Zahilay said Wednesday on Twitter.
Zahilay reportedly believed the mailer was the product of an outside group and asked Lambert to denounce it. He was “livid” when he discovered her campaign had made it, Zahilay said.
“Painting the Black elected official with a foreign-sounding name as an enemy to suburban and rural values is nothing new,” he said in a tweet thread. “In my 2 years on the Council the number of racist and xenophobic messages, and even threats, I get weekly has been alarming. It’s sad that my own colleague would fuel these attacks for cheap political points in a race that I’m not even in.”
The mailer was unsurprising and part of a smear campaign, Perry said in a tweet Wednesday.
“My opponent is currently engaged in a shocking smear campaign against me, choosing fear mongering and racist tropes over substance,” Perry said. “Her conduct is not surprising, but still disappointing nonetheless. When someone shows you who they are, believe them.”
My opponent is currently engaged in a shocking smear campaign against me, choosing fear mongering and racist tropes over substance. Her conduct is not surprising, but still disappointing nonetheless. When someone shows you who they are, believe them.
— Elect Sarah Perry (@PerryElect) October 6, 2021
Democratic members of the council said the mailer has no place in either public or private discourse, according to a joint statement.
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“Planning, authorizing and mailing a communication like this betrays ignorance at best, deep-seated racism at worst,” they wrote.
