New Seattle PAC Advocating Against Antisemitism Spends $10,000 To Keep Jewish Woman Off School Board

A new Seattle-focused PAC advocating against antisemitism, “illiberalism,” and “radical voices,” called The Kids Table (TKT) just spent on their first race. Their first fight in the electoral arena? Keeping Janis White, a Jewish woman, off the Seattle School Board by throwing almost $10,000, a sum that could decide a race of this size, behind her opponent, Vivian Song. White's campaign doesn't believe TKT spent in the race to combat antisemitism, rather to punish a Jewish candidate for supporting Palestine.

White, a longtime advocate for special education, is running for Seattle School Board in District 5 against veteran school board member and frontrunner Song. Recently, TKT paid $9,700 for the design, printing, and distribution of 10,000 mail pieces promoting Song, according to the PDC.

As in accordance with the law, Song said she did not coordinate with the PAC on the mailer: "I didn't know anything about the IE until I got the mailer myself," Song said in a text. Song has "no idea" about the motivations of the PAC, but she did reiterate her support of the Jewish community.

"I have been vocally speaking out against antisemitism and all forms of discrimination in schools," Song wrote. "I'm a parent to Jewish kids in Seattle Public Schools and the Jewish community in Seattle is diverse."

Despite TKT's mission, the mailer made no mention of antisemitism, rather emphasized Song's experience as the daughter of immigrants and as a finance professional. While TKT did not respond when asked why they support Song over White, her campaign believes that TKT is targeting her for her family's pro-Palestine activism.

White’s family has a long history of advocating for Palestinian liberation. Her husband, Richard Silverstein, writes a blog called Tikun Olam, that’s “devoted to exposing the excesses of the Israeli national security state.” Silverstein’s work has also appeared at Middle East Eye, Al Jazeera English and Jacobin Magazine. Their son also organizes with pro-Palestinian groups in Seattle.

TKT does not explicitly define antisemitism to include anti-Zionism or criticism of Israel. But the PAC does not seem warm to pro-Palestinian activism.

“Our city councils and school boards should be focused on filling potholes, illiterate students and unsafe communities rather than libelous virtue signaling on foreign affairs,” TKT wrote on their website.

White’s consultant, Stephen Paolini told The Burner that he can’t think of another reason besides Palestinian advocacy that would prompt TKT to spend such a large sum to box White out of the School Board. She’s Jewish, she’s committed to combating antisemitism in schools, and her far-from-extreme platform stays entirely on-topic, never veering into “libelous virtue signaling on foreign affairs" as TKT put it.

And it's not like Song exactly needs the help. According to a TKT’s two-pager overview of their PAC, they aim to “empower antiextremist voices who are often priced out of the political donor class.” But with this PAC money, Song is now backed by about four times the spending power as White. Such interference may help TKT achieve their goal to “introduce risk for candidates who condone (explicitly or implicitly) or endorse [antisemetism or radicalism].” Now other candidates may have even more incentive to stay quiet about the ongoing genocide in Gaza as to not invite spending from TKT.

This isn’t the first time a local PAC that claims to advocate against antisemitism has focused entirely on defeating a Jewish candidate. As The Burner reported earlier this month, another PAC formed in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, Washingtonians For A Brighter Future (WBF), spent $16,000 on attack mailers against Jewish Tacoma City Council candidate Zev Cook.

WBF, which also endorsed Song along with Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, City Council President Sara Nelson, and City Attorney Ann Davison, told the Tacoma News Tribune that they oppose Cook because her “rhetoric against Zionism" “creates a permission structure for antisemitism.”

Cook told The Burner that her advocacy against the Israeli government and its genocide is not at odds with the interest of the Jewish community, but actually rooted in her Jewish value of “repairing the world.” Coincidentally that value is the name sake of White’s husband’s blog.

Cook told The Burner: “I think that [WBF’s] attacks against a Jewish candidate just go to show that the Zionist lobby has no real interest in supporting the Jewish community, only defending pro-genocide narratives.