Will Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez ever show leadership? MGP continues to miss opportunities to show leadership when it puts her in a difficult position. Recently Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who happens to be the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and peer to Gluesenkamp Perez here in Washington state, called Israel a racist state.
What did Gluesenkamp Perez do? She stayed silent. Gluesenkamp Perez’s social media and official website show no indication of condemnation, either in writing or on video, although we did get several videos of her addressing Congress about actions within our district.
Why does a response from Gluesenkamp Perez matter? For most of us, we need to know where our elected representatives stand on these issues, especially within their own party. We need to know that they condemn their own party on hate speech and not just easy rhetoric for sound bites when convenient. To further convolute matters, Gluesenkamp Perez voted no on HR-76, which removed Rep. Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Omar has publicly stated worse than what Jayapal recently stated and within the past week voted against HR-57: Expressing the sense of Congress supporting the state of Israel.
Gluesenkamp Perez cannot continue to play both sides in an effort to win in 2024. Her easy approach to representation is being noticed by both sides here in the district. This is showing her as being weak to show leadership regardless of the political repercussions that she may face in 2024.
Barry Sullivan
Vancouver
