How did you respond to the article on that website?
It’s all politics. Some may want to acknowledge me while others may not. It’s okay. I really prefer to sleep well at night knowing that I worked hard to help my constituents to the best of my ability and never compromised my mission, which is to serve my entire district in a fair and equitable way.
I don’t buy into the feeding of false hopes to constituents as a show and dance, especially when I know that certain legislation would only feed the pockets of millionaires rather than the Jewish families in my district.
Did the attacks stop?
They continued to come, even when I sponsored a resolution in memory of the Sassoon children who died in that tragic fire. A blog reported that the resolution may have been perceived as a way to “make amends with the Jewish community.” After the intense debate on the radio show a few individuals took the opportunity to portray me as divisive – and so something that was positive was essentially turned into a negative.
Again, what was a sincere gesture made from the heart toward the Sassoon family was used to try to discredit me within the Jewish community. The resolution was introduced weeks before that radio interview [www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGVlUxrsQDk]. A resolution takes eight weeks to prepare. The resolution was introduced a month before it went to the floor and it had taken a month before that to write up. The radio interview took place a few days before the resolution was adopted. It would have been impossible to get a resolution to the floor in a matter of days as a public-relations gesture.
What do you believe caused this breakdown in communications with Jewish organizations? And what lessons might be learned from this?
The political controversy and the emotions surrounding this issue led to unnecessary and ultimately futile attacks on 40 members of the Assembly, which in turn led to all kinds of communication breakdowns. We should focus on constructive discussion as opposed to being so quick to attack.