The King County Council could get a shakeup this election, and those odds went up last week as Republican incumbent Kathy Lambert lost her Seattle Times endorsement after sending out a racist mailer. The ad depicted her opponent, Sarah Perry, as a marionette doll controlled on puppet strings by County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay, the only Black member on County Council. Vice President Kamala Harris, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant are also pictured at the puppet-master level.
Not aiming for subtlety, the headline of the ad reads, “Sarah Perry would be a SOCIALIST on the Eastside pushing their agenda.” A quote bubble from Perry’s mouth says “Don’t investigate many crimes” and text states “Sarah Perry is backed by Seattle socialist leader Girmay Zahilay who wants to defund the police.”
Lambert’s critics quickly seized on the mailer and noted it was odd to single out two Black leaders, Kshama Sawant, and Sanders, a Jewish Democratic Socialist. The puppet strings trope managed to hit anti-Semitic themes in the process of loudly blowing an anti-Black racist dogwhistle.
“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,” Councilmember Zahilay said in a tweeted statement. “Some might say it’s because I endorsed her Democratic opponent. Actually, six of Councilmember Lambert’s colleagues endorsed her opponent. And yet, of those six, it’s only my face in a big red bow tie and my name in red boogie man letters that she chose to distribute to thousands of voters.”
All six Democratic members of the County Council issued a joint letter condemning the attack. “Planning, authorizing and mailing a communication like this betrays ignorance at best, deep seated racism at worst,” they wrote. Additionally, the King County Council voted Tuesday to remove Lambert from her committee leadership roles, Erica Barnett reported. King County Executive Dow Constantine also condemned the “hyper partisan dog whistle attack.”
Perry is a Democrat, but she has not advocated for defunding the police, as Lambert’s claim strongly suggests. Apparently, the Seattle Times reached out to Lambert to explain her decision but she failed to do so, as David Gutman reported Thursday. In fact, Lambert doubled down in the immediate aftermath.
“Girmay is the only socialist on the county council and Sarah has chosen to campaign with him,” Lambert wrote in a statement to the Seattle Times. “They share policies that will bring more homelessness and crime to the Eastside. Sarah is the person campaigning with a socialist. They know the voters don’t want socialism on the eastside which is why they are making these outrageous statements.”
