Gregoire turns on Sims over sorority flap

By Ralph Thomas
Seattle Times Olympia bureau

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Sims, who is African American, denied having anything to do with the sorority flap.

As a student at the University of Washington in the late 1960s, Gregoire was a member of the Kappa Delta Sorority, which had an unwritten rule barring women who were not white.

The Seattle Times reported Monday on her role as a sorority leader who opposed the rule but chose to remain in the sorority and fight for change from the inside.

Gregoire's office did not object to the story but called attention to it in an e-mail to supporters. "When others quit or were satisfied to simply make a statement, Chris went toe-to-toe with a southern sorority," wrote campaign manager Tim Zenk.

The following day, several African-American leaders held a news conference to denounce her involvement in what they described as a racist — one called it white-supremacist — organization.

Gregoire responded angrily yesterday and implied the Sims campaign had helped orchestrate the news conference. She described it as a dirty campaign tactic — "as low as I've ever seen it" — and compared it to the Vietnam veterans who have been attacking Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's combat record.

"For anybody to stand up and suggest that I am a racist is outrageous," Gregoire said in a quavering voice during a speech to the Washington State Labor Council. "How low will you go in this campaign? ... Knock it off, Ron. It's time for this to stop."

Meeting with reporters afterward, Gregoire called on Sims to denounce the charge that she is a racist.

"Ron needs to stand up and say this is the wrong thing for this campaign," she said.

Gregoire's campaign yesterday alleged Sims was behind the Times' story. But the idea for the story came from Times education editor Mary Rothschild, who was also a member of Kappa Delta at UW, and who raised it as an example of Gregoire's leadership style in dealing with a policy they both opposed.
 
Sims, who initially declined to comment on the sorority controversy, yesterday denied any involvement in the story or the reaction by some African-American leaders. He called Gregoire's allegations "reckless."

"Is Christine Gregoire a racist? Of course not," Sims said in a written statement. "Have I ever (implied) that she is? Absolutely not. Is she proud of her role as a leader of the Kappa Delta Sorority? She says she is. She says she was a leader to end discrimination. Was she or wasn't she? I think that's the real question at issue here."

Gregoire joined Kappa Delta in 1966. Though she says she disagreed with the national sorority's whites-only rule, she decided to join, saying she reasoned it would be best to fight the discriminatory policy from within.

She became president of the UW chapter in the 1968-69 academic year and had to inform new recruits about the membership rule. Though she didn't defy the national sorority during her time at UW, in the early 1970s she twice traveled to Kappa Delta's national convention to speak out against the rule.

"Thirty-eight years ago, as a 19-year-old college student, I was given two choices: I could cut and run, or I could stand up and fight," Gregoire said in her speech yesterday. "I chose to stay and to fight against discrimination."

During Tuesday's news conference at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Seattle, several African-American leaders said Gregoire had done little to oppose the rule while at the UW and criticized her for using the sorority story to paint herself as a civil-rights champion. Local NAACP President Carl Mack likened Gregoire's affiliation with Kappa Delta to "taking an oath of white supremacy."

State Rep. John Lovick, who is black, came to Gregoire's defense yesterday. Lovick praised Gregoire as a model public servant and called Mack's comments "absolutely disgraceful."

"That is something that you better be darn sure of, when you accuse someone of being a racist," said Lovick, who added that he did not think Sims had anything to do with the news conference at which Mack spoke.

Sims also distanced himself from Mack's remarks. Sims, who was a black student activist at Central Washington University in the late 1960s, said it was a "troubled time" for a nation grappling with segregation.

"Some people took a stand," Sims said in his statement. "Others didn't. And I would not begin to judge them. People can only look inside their own hearts and decide if their actions were right."

Amid all the finger-pointing, Gregoire and Sims called on each other to stick to issues that matter to voters.

"I will not be distracted from the issues," Gregoire said.

Ralph Thomas: 360-943-9882 or rthomas@seattletimes.com