Apologies are being issued by two Kentucky lawmakers, including a local representative, who used the anti-Semitic phrase “Jew them down” during a committee meeting.
During Tuesday’s discussion about a pair of leases state agencies are receiving for space they require in Graves County, Republican Representative Walker Thomas of Hopkinsville and Senator Rick Girdler used the phrase.
Rep. Thomas was heard on a hot mic asking if the government could “Jew them down’ on the price,’ ‘ while laughing before the legislature’s Capital Projects and Bond Oversight Committee co-chair, Girdler, repeated the phrase.
Rep. Thomas told the Herald Leader, “I sincerely regret using that term and apologize to anyone harmed by my use of it. This is not who I am, nor is it what my faith leads me to be. It is a phrase I have heard throughout my life, but this experience has provided me with an opportunity to reflect on the impact that words have and the fact that we must be smarter today than we were yesterday.“
Lexington rabbi Shlomo Litvin said the Jewish community has long felt the repercussions of the stereotype linking Jewish people to greed and underhanded business tactics.
Discussing a state lease agreement, Kentucky State Rep. Walker Thomas (R) and Sen. Rick Girdler (R) used the phrase "Jew them down," then laughed, when asking for a lower price.
Both legislators have apologized.
“I am deeply sorry if I offended anyone,” Girdler said. pic.twitter.com/jWaJ00esX3
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) February 23, 2022