Jewish Dems Call for Malek Apology; Republicans to Decline Malek’s Money

David Streeter — June 4, 2010 – 4:23 pm | Republicans Comments (1) Add a comment

Today, the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) called on Republican Party power broker Fredric V. Malek to truthfully apologize for his role in providing information on Jewish employees of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to President Richard Nixon because of suspected “disloyalty.” NJDC’s call follows yesterday’s report in The Washington Post that contradicts the claims that Malek has been making since his resignation from the Republican National Committee in 1988. According to the Post, which cited newly released documents, Malek appears to have been more involved in Nixon’s “crusade against Jews” than previously admitted.

Ira N. Forman, CEO of the National Jewish Democratic Council, issued the following statement following the Post’s report:

“We believe in letting bygones be bygones. If someone apologizes for inappropriate behavior, we believe in forgiveness. However, when Fred Malek originally apologized in 1988 for his role in identifying Jews in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, he indicated that he had a very small part to play. At the time he said that if he was ‘asked to alter someone’s employment status [because of their religious or ethnics affiliations], I would have found it offensive and morally unacceptable and I would have refused.’

In fact, recently released documents indicate that Malek’s role in this incident of searching for and firing Jewish Americans from the BLS was much more extensive than he has previously claimed. For example, in March and again in September of 1971, Malek wrote a memo to Nixon’s chief of staff telling him of his efforts to identify ‘loyalties’ of BLS employees and of trying to get then Secretary of Labor Hodgson to take action against these employees. If Fred Malek wants people to truly move on, it would be only appropriate for him to apologize now for not being truthful in the past about his role in this incident. Until he does make a full apology for his past actions, he deserves the criticism that he’s currently getting. And, until Malek makes a clean accounting, we would urge all candidates for public office receiving money from him to return or refuse it.”

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