The office of the governor of Washington knew that a member of the state’s human rights commission went on an antisemitic rant within weeks of Luc fils Jasmin saying at a March 27, 2025 meeting of the panel that “the Jewish people keep on crying and crying and crying and crying—always crying over the antisemitism.”
The Washington State Human Rights Commission posted video footage of the meeting on its YouTube page on June 10, 2026, more than a year later.
After JNS reported about Jasmin’s remarks, he resigned from the state panel in July, about 15 months after the incident.
JNS learned from a public records request that Joyce Ansley, a Jewish attorney who was then a civil-rights specialist at the commission, filed a complaint against Jasmin on April 4, 2025, days after he made remarks.
The attorney recommended that he be removed from the panel.
Ansley, who was present at the meeting, described the remarks as “a vile, racist, sneering diatribe against Jews,” according to the complaint.
A May 22, 2025 email that JNS received in the records request shows that her complaint and a meeting transcript were sent to Franklin Plaistowe, chief operations officer in the office of Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Democrat.
Plaistowe forwarded the email to a colleague and wrote, “Perhaps we can discuss early next week.”
Ansley emailed Plaistowe on July 1, 2025, providing a video link and urging that Jasmin be removed.
“Unfortunately, the transcript does not convey the outrageousness of Mr. Jasmin’s speech—his tone throughout was vile, racist, sneering and mocking,” she wrote. “Mr. Jasmin is still a commissioner.”
Barbara Harris, executive director of the commission, wrote in a June 12, 2025, email that the governor’s office had “reviewed this matter and investigated.” Records of such an investigation, if it occurred, have not been released.
Jasmin’s remarks drew backlash from Jewish groups, who urged supporters to write messages to the governor calling for the commissioner to be fired or for him to resign.
The governor appoints and, when necessary, removes commissioners.
Jasmin apologized to JNS and subsequently resigned.
The governor has still not publicly addressed Jasmin’s Jew-hatred. After Jasmin resigned, Ferguson’s statements were limited to an announcement that applications were open for the vacancy. (JNS sought comment from Ferguson’s office.)
Dee Simon, an Israeli-born Holocaust educator whom Ferguson appointed to replace Jasmin in October, recently told JNS of Jasmin that “getting him to know us would have been a really wonderful thing to have happened before he joined the commission.”
“We all have blind spots,” she said. “You always have to learn more and pull yourself into a space where you understand others.”
