Leading Washington state Republicans are questioning whether the state’s Human Rights Commission, which has faced recurring backlash against commissioners accused of Jew-hatred, would better serve the cause of protecting human rights by disbanding than continuing to operate.
“It’s ironic but true,” Jim Walsh, a state representative and chair of the Washington State Republican Party, told JNS.
“The Human Rights Commission would do more for actual human rights and constitutional liberty and human dignity by disbanding that any statement it has made or policy it has ever suggested,” he said.
Walsh told JNS that the commission “has no regulatory or administrative jurisdiction over non-governmental entities.”
“They do nothing,” he said. “That doesn’t mean they can’t use the bully pulpit and try to shame people. In practice, that is what it has mostly done.” (JNS sought comment from the commission and from the governor.)
Luc fils Jasmin resigned recently from the panel after antisemitic remarks that he made during a meeting came to light when the state commission posted video footage of one of its meetings.
Another commissioner, Han Tran, whose term ended in June, appears to have been renewed for another term. Tran wrote that antisemitism is used to “justify the slaughter of Palestinians.”
The commission, a state agency, was established in 1949. Its mission is to “eliminate and prevent discrimination in Washington state through the fair application of the law, efficient use of resources and establishment of productive partnerships in the community,” according to its website.
The commissioners, appointed by Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, “provide policy direction, adopt regulations and meet monthly to pass upon the investigative finding determinations recommended by staff.”
Travis Couture, a Republican state representative who has been outspoken against Jew-hatred, told JNS that “at some point, you have to ask whether abolishing the commission would do more to promote human rights, combat discrimination and restore public trust.”
“Washingtonians may be better served without it,” he said.
The commission is “constantly in the news for shocking discriminatory and antisemitic comments, yet some of the same commissioners continue to be reappointed by the governor,” he told JNS. “Why is the governor allowing this?”
“Taxpayers are funding a commission that has lost the thread and eroded public confidence,” he said. “Some communities now feel less safe because of the sentiments expressed by members of the very body charged with protecting their civil rights.”
