San Jose Mayor Reed Blasts 'Xenophobic, Racist' Email From Council Candidate

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed is accusing Assemblyman Paul Fong, running for City Council in District 1, of launching a "xenophobic and racist" attack on an opponent's campaign consultant.

In a letter made public Tuesday, Reed blasted Fong for a fundraising email his campaign sent earlier this week. The message targeted Victor Ajlouny, who works for Fong's opponent, Charles "Chappy" Jones.

Here's a quote from the email by way of Mercury News columnist Scott Herhold:

“Ajlouny is a top Republican consultant and Palestinian activist, who served as a high-ranking member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the 1990s, and is known for his political attacks."

Herhold goes on to report what Ajlouny's background actually is -- and how Fong's campaign got it wrong.

Ajlouny, an American of Palestinian descent who has handled local campaigns for years -- including that of San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed — said he had never been a member of the PLO, though he had been a member of the Palestinian delegation to a peace conference in Washington D.C. ...

... Fong’s campaign manager, Dennis Chiu, said he had based the sentence on a Mercury News story from 2009. But that story said only that a high-ranking member of the PLO had asked Ajlouny to serve as an American adviser to Yasser Arafat. "That was my mistake," Chiu said. "I made the assumption that he was a member of the PLO."

All of which led to Reed's blast.

"The recent comments from your campaign attempting to invoke anti-Arab sentiments in support of your campaign for City Council are xenophobic and racist and deserve condemnation," Reed wrote. He called the message "an appeal to fear and hate." And he also suggested Fong, a member of the Assembly's Select Committee on Human Rights, Diversity and Race Relations, should reconsider his candidacy:

Silicon Valley’s strength is built upon our ability to welcome people from all over the world and to focus on what we have in common, rather than our differences. Attacking people because of their race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or the origins of their ancestors is an unethical act, which would not be tolerated if you were a member of our San José City Council. ...

... On July 14th, on behalf of the API Legislative Caucus, you called for a TV show host to resign for xenophobic and racist comments. You should apply the same standards to your own behavior.