Editorial
The wrong tone in governor's race

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In response to a news story describing Gregoire's membership in a whites-only sorority at the University of Washington in the late 1960s, some black community leaders went overboard in criticizing events more than 30 years old.

Carl Mack, president of the Seattle-King County chapter of the NAACP, Tony Orange, a board member of the local NAACP and director of the Central Area Motivation Program, and King County Councilman Larry Gossett took the governor's race to a troubling low. They implied Gregoire all but endorsed racist policies by not doing enough to protest the exclusionary rules.

Gossett made it sound as if leading the University of Washington Black Student Union, as he did, were the only way to oppose racist policies. People express themselves in different ways. A young college girl on the cusp of adulthood may not respond in the same manner.

But Gregoire did something extraordinary later. After graduation, a time when many people move on to the next step in life, she traveled twice to the sorority's national convention to rail against policies excluding blacks.

Nothing in Gregoire's professional record indicates she has earned the treatment she has received. The evidence is to the contrary.

In 2002, Gregoire backed anti-bullying legislation, a bill designed to protect students taunted in school for reasons of race, religion and sexual orientation. She says she increased hiring of minorities in her office and opposed Initiative 200, the anti-affirmative-action measure that passed in 1998.

James Kelly, president of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, said the campaign for governor should focus on issues of jobs, education and affordable housing. Exactly.

Northwesterners usually don't inject knee-jerk accusations of racism into political campaigns, and it is unfortunate that has occurred.

Unfairly accusing someone of racism diminishes legitimate accusations. Racism is a fair topic when it fits. In this case, it does not.