Sacramento supervisor candidate accuses opponent of running anti-Semitic ‘hit piece’

Gregg Fishman, a candidate for the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, has accused his opponent of sending a campaign mailer that bore the hallmarks of some anti-Semitic propaganda.

The image uses Fishman’s head and places it on top of another body with a shrugging gesture. Next to his likeness are the words: “Typical Politician Gregg Fishman: All talk, no action.”

Some anti-Semitic objects and images from the early 20th century and before portray Jewish men with a similar stance and with their hands outstretched. To Fishman, the altered image in the mailer appeared to be anti-Semitic.

Fishman, a Democrat, is running for the District 3 seat against Rich Desmond, a registered independent whose campaign denied there was any anti-Semitic sentiment in the image. A campaign manager said it was in fact altered but the intent was to show him as lacking the ability to do the job.

What’s more, Desmond’s campaign dismissed the criticism as an attempt to undermine his support.

“This is a last-ditch effort of a desperate campaign, and the absolutely false claim of anti-Semitic imagery demeans real anti-Semitism in our world,” Desmond said in a prepared statement. “This is simply an image of someone shrugging, a very common gesture ... so common it’s used daily as an emoji in everyone’s iPhone.”

In a statement, Fishman also said the mailer may violate California’s campaign finance laws.

California election law forbids a campaign from distributing “materially deceptive audio or visual media” about an opponent within 60 days of the election. Exceptions are made for “satire or parody,” or if the ad makes clear that the image has been manipulated. To enforce the law, the opponent would have to file a lawsuit and obtain a court injunction to halt the distribution of the ad.

Fishman said the response was less ambiguous from people in the Jewish community. At first glance, he knew the image was meant to be unflattering, and the claims next to it were untrue, he said. But the pose bears a close resemblance to several anti-Jewish posters and miniature statues, Fishman later learned.

He shared those concerns in a video posted on Facebook Wednesday.

“I don’t think that there is a specific meaning to it. To me, it is a stereotypical Jewish posture that in this instance certainly, and in many others, is used to create a negative image,” Fishman said in an interview. “In that context, that is the definition of anti-Semitic.”

Is the image anti-Semitic?

Several experts weren’t so sure but agreed that candidates should be more careful when manipulating images. Some Jewish leaders in the region expressed concern.

“Whether this ad was intentionally anti-Semitic or not, we don’t know,” said Willie Recht, chief executive of the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region. “However, in today’s society, where anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic attacks are higher than they’ve been in decades, we would hope and assume that our elected officials, candidates and community leaders would be more careful in their choices.

Seth Brysk, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, which monitors hate crimes and anti-Semitic behavior, declined comment on the mailer.

Academic experts who reviewed the mailer at the request of The Sacramento Bee said the image alone could be used to simply convey the words on the flier but the context around the intended audience is key.

Lisa Ansell, assistant director for the Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in American Life at the University of Southern California, did not see anti-Semitic undertones in the imagery. She said in absence of a pattern in which more than one mailer conveys similar tropes, it’s difficult to conclude that it was designed with the propaganda in mind.

“I would interpret that (image) as it’s not my problem, I’m throwing my hands in the air as if I’m incapable of addressing the issues of the community,” Ansell said. “I wouldn’t necessarily derive anti-Semitic meaning from this particular image.”

“This in and of itself would not be alarming to me,” she said.

Intent is only one part of the issue, said Ethan Katz, a professor of Jewish studies and history at UC Berkeley. Equally important is who the image is supposed to appeal to, says Katz.

“If this is supposed to have anti-Semitic overtones, politically speaking, it has to have a logic,” Katz said. That means there would have to be a benefit for sending the message that could appeal to certain constituents.

Katz, who organizes anti-Semitism workshops, said he often evaluates material with a question in mind: Could I look at this image and imagine this having nothing to do with Jews?

In this case, the answer is yes, Katz said. Negative mailings about political opponents frequently show them looking like they are shrugging their shoulders, as a way to indicate that they are allegedly indifferent or incompetent. Therefore, even though the image bears a resemblance to the propaganda, the meaning is unclear.

Nonetheless, echoing concerns of other experts, he also stressed that campaigns should take extra care to avoid any ambiguity on the issue.

“We’re living in a national environment where there is more naked anti-Semitism in American politics, even if it’s coming from the margins, than we’ve seen in a long time,” Katz said. “Given the national environment, campaigns should be extra careful.”

This story was originally published October 29, 2020 at 5:00 AM.