by Eve Jankowicz
On December 12, 2008 at a holiday party sponsored and attended by members of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter told Polish "jokes." The next day the incident was reported in the infamous gossip "Page Six" of the New York Post. During the next few days the Specter Polish "joking" incident picked up traction and received coverage throughout Pennsylvania, the country, and the world, and Specter's political coffin was effectively nailed shut.
The day after the Specter incident appeared in the NY Post, Polonia Roars, a group of e-activists who combat anti-Polish bigotry, sent email alerts to the Philadelphia-based Eastern Pennsylvania Division of the Polish American Congress (PAC), PAC headquarters in Chicago, and the PAC's Washington, D.C. office.
The very next day, Sen. Specter issued a short, terse, formal apology in writing to the PAC in Chicago and Philadelphia, and the Polish Falcons and Polish Cultural Center, both of Pittsburgh. His apology was no where near good enough for most Polish-Americans and leaders of our community.
Tim Kuzma, president of the Polish Falcons of America, stated Specter's 'jokes' were "appalling" in an Eric Heyl column appearing in the Tribune-Review of Pittsburgh on December 17, 2008. Rick Pierchalski, chairman of the Polish Cultural Council, said the Specter apology was "extraordinarily weak" and in the same column, he "questioned the senator's sincerity." Pierchalski said, "He doesn't seem to grasp the tremendous fury this is causing in the Polish-American community."
During his interview in the September 2009 issue of The Sarmatian Review, Alex Storozynski, president of the Kosciuszko Foundation, stated he called Sen. Specter "a bigot for telling Polish jokes." Mr. Storozynski received an apology from Specter by phone and an invitation for coffee which was declined. Specter "promised" Storozynski he would "try to change" the visa waiver program, "but ultimately did nothing."
Michael Blichasz, president of the Eastern Pennsylvania PAC Division, said he thought "Specter was contrite" as reported on MyFox, Philadelphia local TV news.
On December 16, 2008, Polonia Roars decided to issue a formal complaint to the Senate Ethics Committee in Washington, with myself as the complainant, insuring it was logged in by the year's end. To atone for his anti-Polish bigotry, we requested that Specter apologize by speaking at length on the floor of the Senate, with Polish Americans receiving advance notice of his speech which we asked to be nationally televised.
Meanwhile, the 2010 Democratic Primary in Pennsylvania was shaping up. Two candidates already declared they would run, while Congressman Joe Sestak, a first generation Slovak-American, seriously contemplated throwing his hat into the Senate race. Joe was always seen as the frontrunner winner for the primary. In early 2009, it was felt he could easily beat the Republican candidate in the general election in 2010, whether his opponent was Specter or someone else.
Specter's Polish 'joking' was still No. 1 on Polonia's hit list. However, Polish Americans remained largely uninformed of what was being done on their behalf. Neither PAC headquarters nor any Pennsylvanian PAC division communicated what was happening on the Specter front, as Poles waited for direction. We had informed the PAC of the Specter matter almost in real time, yet received no response from headquarters or their Pennsylvanian divisions. Keeping us updated about the Specter matter, we would have been satisfied; yet typical of the PAC, we were totally ignored. During times of high alert, the PAC is ineffective, and American Polonia is always left totally in the dark.
Still, the Polish Falcons are to be commended for hosting a town hall meeting with Arlen Specter at the University of Pittsburgh on April 16, 2009. This was just four months before town halls took on the negative meaning they would a short time later. Eric Heyl of the Tribune-Review wrote, "Specter got far fairer treatment than he might have expected" yet the "give-and-take" of the meeting was "excruciatingly tame."
This town hall was not publicized at PAC headquarters' website. Specter's jokes weren't only about Pennsylvanian Poles, but about us all, whether Americans, Canadians, Australians, Brits, Poles--all Polish people around the globe. Specter is a United States Senator so this was a matter of national importance. Senators not only represent their state but their country. It was up to American Polonia to unite and defend the good name of Poles all over the world.
Then, almost simultaneously, two important things happened: 1). Our complaint to the US Senate Committee on Ethics was dismissed. The committee felt judgment of Specter should be reserved for the voting booth. 2). Right after this, on April 28, 2009, Arlen Specter switched political parties since he knew he would probably lose the Republican primary. He had barely won his last primary, and as a Republican would again be facing the same opponent. Even if he somehow won the GOP primary, Specter knew chances were great he would lose the general election to a Democrat. We are fairly sure that the dismissal of our Senate Ethics complaint had something to do with Specter's party switch.
As a Democrat, it would be a little bit harder to beat Specter. As the incumbent, he was backed by the party across the board--from local and state levels, to nationally, with the president and vice president appearing with him when he made the switch. Democrats all over the country strongly disagreed with the endorsements, including Pennsylvania where Democrats had voted against Specter for decades.
Two primary candidates dropped out of the race to clear the way for Specter, but Sestak held firm, bucking his party's "establishment," yet still not formally declaring. With all bigwig Democrats and donations in Specter's corner, could Sestak survive to beat Specter? But if Sestak did not run, there would be no primary, and Arlen Specter would have been the Democratic candidate for the Senate! Joe Sestak needed our support!
Polonia Roars had already decided to back the Democratic candidate, who we hoped would be Rep. Sestak. Finally, we thought, Polonia's time had come, and we were poised for a sorely needed win. In conjunction with the PAC, or under its direction and surely united, American Polonia would prevail. Specter and politicians now and in the future would know that they could not "joke" about us and remain in office. Even though times are tough, and many Poles don't like to part with their money, we felt strongly donations to the Sestak campaign would trickle in and mount up from Polonia across the country.
We wrote the president of the PAC Eastern Pennsylvania division and included references from past or present PAC division presidents and other officers, and gave accomplishments made on behalf of our common cause. We asked what the division was planning to defeat Specter, gave our plans, and offered our help. We asked that our letter be passed on to the two other PAC divisions in the state. We were rebuffed because we were not members of the PAC, and informed that Sen. Specter had Polish Americans on his staff, that rather than concentrating on Specter's "foolish remarks" made in NY, this division would highlight the positive accomplishments he had made. Clearly this division sympathized with Specter and firmly closed its doors on the rest of American Polonia. We also sent the same letter mentioned above to the president of the Polish Falcons of America but received no response.
We were puzzled. We thought the PAC was a national organization with its state divisions falling under the direction (or umbrella) of headquarters in Chicago. The negative response received from the PAC's Eastern division in Philadelphia seemed to prove otherwise. During times of high alert, such as the Specter matter, the PAC is all over the media stating that it represents all Polish Americans. What happens when a division does not agree with or represent the majority of Polonia? Nothing?
We agreed wholeheartedly with the subject of one of Anthony Bajdek's speeches given to the PAC, entitled "Too much polonaise, not enough politics." It seemed as though the PAC was headed in the right direction and would move on the Specter matter by working to insure he was defeated in the Democratic primary, but this was not the case.
Sen. Specter sponsored a Senate resolution, S.Res.289, put before him by the PAC, which would encourage Americans to remember and reflect on the courage of 6,135 Poles who saved Jewish lives during World War II and are already recognized at Yad Vashem in Israel.
We must have misinterpreted Bajdek's excellent "Too much polonaise, not enough politics" rallying cry. Not only did we feel that the resolution let Specter off the hook far too easily, but the PAC had the nerve to ask us all to contact our Senators to co-sponsor it! Specter displayed anti-Polish bigotry by telling jokes about us, and we were expected to help him? We were expected to do this tiny bit of "work" for him? Please! Surely the PAC could have done much better.
Defeating Arlen Specter was not a partisan issue, but a Polish one. Whether Democrat, Republican, independent, Libertarian, or tea partier, the vast majority of American Poles agreed Specter should be soundly defeated. To those who feel Polish "jokes" are not anti-Polonism and cause no harm, I say the gorilla in the room can no longer be ignored. The gorilla will not magically disappear. We must unify and fight it. To truly make a difference, we must put our money where our mouths are. These are all avenues for success.
Returning to the Democratic primary front in Pennsylvania, Specter tried using Republican tactics to Swiftboat formerly 3-star Admiral Sestak regarding his 31-year Naval career. Thankfully, this backfired in his face, and it was downhill for Specter from then on. The Sestak campaign began showing a brilliant TV ad which showed Specter stating he switched parties so he would be "reelected." Specter's political career was done and dusted.
Right up until election day, the Specter campaign continued to lie, sending emails stating that Specter was the only candidate who could beat the Republican candidate in November, even though the polls clearly showed, and still show, that Sestak had a much better chance of beating the Republican Toomey than Specter.
On primary day, Sestak took 64 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties with Specter winning only Philadelphia, where the Polish population is 4.3 percent, Dauphin County, where the Polish population was unreported, and Lackawanna County, where the Polish population was 15.4 percent during the 2000 Census.
Will Sestak win the general election in Pennsylvania this November? In my opinion, he will. According to my research, there are 3,458,633 reported registered Democrats, 1,957,678 Republicans, and 699,521 independents residing in the state. Sestak's Republican opponent is a former Wall Street derivatives trader who is ultra-conservative. Pennsylvania only recently voted out Republican Rick Santorum who was largely seen as an extremist. It is unlikely Pennsylvania voters will elect another Santorum-type senator.
The PAC did not seize the Specter moment, and it has now passed. We must all get ready for next time.
Thank you Polish-American Pennsylvanian Democrats, for speaking for us all by casting your votes in the primary and ending the career of Arlen Specter. You voted for an infinitely better candidate, Joe Sestak, even when the Polish "jokes" are subtracted from the equation. CR
Eve Jankowicz is an activist who fights anti-
