Campaign manager for Paul Fong resigns over mailer

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- San Jose City Council candidate and longtime state legislator Paul Fong announced Wednesday his campaign manager has resigned after a mailer was sent out over the weekend that incorrectly stated a consultant for his opponent was a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

San Jose City Council candidate Charles "Chappie" Jones said he first saw the email Saturday morning. The email in question referred to a Jones Campaign Consultant named Victor Ajlouny. The furor was over this statement: "Ajlouny is a top Republican consultant and Palestinian activist, who served as a high-ranking member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)."

Fong campaign manager Dennis Chiu said Tuesday that he wrote the email in an appeal to donors for contributions after the Jones campaign sent out an email pointing out that Fong moved from Cupertino to San Jose to run for the council seat.

"It was my mistake," Chiu said Tuesday. "I should not have placed that in the mailer."

Fong said in a news release sent Wednesday that his campaign manager Dennis Chiu resigned. "In order to move forward, refocus on the issues truly affecting the residents of District 1, and to be sensitive to the concerns expressed over the last couple days by members of the Palestinian and other Middle Eastern communities, I accepted the resignation of my Campaign Manager, Dennis Chiu."

Ajlouny said Tuesday over the phone that no apology can make up for bringing race into the campaign.

Fong defended Chiu in his news release and said his former campaign manager had a long history of fighting against discrimination and for the civil rights of Asian Pacific Americans and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community. "I do not believe that Dennis ever intentionally attempted to insert race in to the campaign."

The NAACP San Jose chapter and Mayor Chuck Reed also condemned the Fong email.

"Having experienced discrimination as a gay Chinese American, I am profoundly and sincerely saddened that I caused hurt to another minority community," Chiu said in Wednesday's news release.

Fong announced that his current field director, Patrick Ahrens, would replace Chiu as campaign manager. Ahrens has previously worked on other campaigns, including Congresswoman Janice Hahn's in Los Angeles.