Reply #22: Harman Wiretap Story Reverberates One Year Later (Press Release)

[SLSmith]

Winograd for Congress
April 21, 2010

Winograd Challenges Opponent to Break from AIPAC and Denounce Settlements

On the anniversary of the nationwide scandal involving Rep. Jane Harman’s reported quid pro quo with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), congressional opponent Marcy Winograd (CA / 36) calls on Harman to show her independence from AIPAC by denouncing Israeli settlements and the Gaza blockade.

Says Winograd, co-founder of LA Jews for Peace, “As a Jewish woman of conscience, I say to my opponent, another Jewish woman, let our legacy not be one of occupation and cruelty but one of Mitzvah or good deeds and reconciliation.”

In the spontaneous debate at the recent California Democrat Party convention, Harman said she cared about the rights of the Palestinian people.

Says Winograd, “I am pleased to hear that my opponent shares my concern about the safety of both southern Israelis previously under rocket fire, as well as 1.5 million Palestinians, almost half of them children, routinely denied clean water and medicine in Gaza. However, the published report from Congressional Quarterly suggests a far too cozy relationship with AIPAC, a defender of the Israeli settlements and the Gaza blockade.”

In April 2009, Jeff Stein of Congressional Quarterly broke the story that Jane Harman had been recorded on a legal wiretap promising to use her influence to get spying charges dropped against two AIPAC analysts. According to CQ, Harman offered to use her influence in exchange for AIPAC’s promise to help Harman become chair of the House Intelligence Committee by threatening to defund the leadership of the Democratic Party if Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not make Harman chair. Harman reportedly ended the conversation with AIPAC by saying, “This conversation doesn’t exist.”

Winograd joins Harman in calling once again for the release of transcripts of the wiretapped conversation. “Only with the release of these transcripts,” says Winograd, "can the residents of the 36th district know with certainty that their representative truly represents them and not a lobby group that advocates for a foreign government.”