I have been tending toward supporting Steve Grossman who is a candidate for Governor of Massachusetts.

I have heard a remark about someone being dead set against him because as a former head of AIPAC, he has a very bigoted view of Arabs. Anyone who has read many of the things that I have posted about Israel and Palestinians would know that I am one Jew that would take a very dim view of this purported attitude of Grossman. In fact, I take such a dim view of such attitudes, that many of my relatives have unfriended me on Facebook. How’s that for my bona fides?

So, I thought that I really ought to do some research on Steve Grossman to see if these accusations are warranted. Below is the result of my research. Let me cut to the chase. I have not found any evidence that would support the allegation. In fact quite the opposite. After doing this research, I am a much stronger supporter of Steve Grossman than I was when I started. I am grateful that the disparaging remarks about Steve Grossman encouraged me to do this research.

Google search steve Grossman for governor Palestinian

MA-Gov 2014 is on: Senator Dan Wolf blasts Treasurer Steve Grossman.  There is nothing in the article itself about Grossman and Arabs, but there are some comments that allude to the topic. For technical reasons, I can only include them here as an image. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Steve Grossman, ex-AIPAC chair, running for Mass. governor from JTA – Global Jewish News Source.

He served as chairman of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee
from 1992 to 1997.

In Mass. governor’s race packed with Jewish candidates, much talk of repairing the world

Steve Grossman, the state treasurer and a past chairman of the
Democratic National Committee, quotes from Isaiah in describing his
ambition to close the gap between rich and poor.

“I received my Jewish heritage, my background, in being that person
who can be a repairer of the breach between those who are well-to-do
and those who lack the things people aspire to,” he said in an
interview.

Other Jewish candidates according to the article are Dan Wolf, Evan Falchuk, Don Berwick,

Grossman, 67, takes pride in his role reconciling AIPAC to the
Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations launched under Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the early 1990s.

“Rabin’s exact words were, ‘AIPAC is the most important American
Jewish organization and I need your help,’ ” Grossman recalls of his
1993 meeting with the late Israeli leader.

Grossman immediately convened a phone conference with the AIPAC
board, and it became the first U.S. Jewish group to endorse the
talks.

“That was probably as meaningful a conversation I’ve had with any
leader,” Grossman said. “I felt I was participating in a small way in
Jewish history.”

The Boston Phoenix March 16 – 23, 2000 article Is Grossman our next governor? This article was the final straw in my research.  There is so much other positive info in the article than what I have excerpted below, that I have become convinced that my choice of Steve Grossman is absolutely the right choice.

Not everyone is so enthusiastic, of course. To critics such as Lou
DiNatale, the director of state and local policy at UMass Boston’s
McCormack Institute, Grossman is a fundraiser, a rich Newton
businessman, a vanity candidate, a dilettante. “Grossman is the
functional equivalent of a Democratic Steve Forbes,” DiNatale says. “He
inherited a company from his family. His credentials are simply those
of being a fundraiser.”

But a closer look at Grossman reveals a
long-time activist committed to the ideals of grassroots politics — a
family commitment that goes all the way back to his grandfather.
.
.
.
The war had personal as well as political consequences for
Grossman. At Harvard he signed an anti-war petition, despite the
warnings of career-conscious classmates who said it would harm his
chances to get a job. Later, he accelerated his business-school program
and joined the US Army Reserves, which fulfilled his military
obligations. That’s where he met Edward Markey, a young man from
Malden. “We were always talking about politics,” Markey remembers.
When Markey announced that he was running for a congressional seat in
1976, Grossman called to offer his family’s support.
.
.
.
During the campaigns of 1992, Grossman acted as a one-man
Democratic truth squad, trailing Governor Weld and his fellow
Republicans as they traversed Massachusetts campaigning for GOP
candidates. And after Paul Tsongas dropped out of the presidential
race, Grossman threw his support to Bill Clinton, whom he had met when
he briefed Clinton on Mideast policy before a speech that the
then-governor of Arkansas made to AIPAC in 1989. By the time Clinton
was inaugurated, Grossman was chairman of AIPAC, and his ties to the
president would serve him well in that capacity. When Grossman met with
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in Jerusalem the very day the news broke
that the Israelis and the Palestinians had secretly been negotiating in
Oslo, Rabin told Grossman the peace deal could not move forward unless
he had the support of the American Jewish community. Toward that end,
Grossman worked with President Clinton to sell the deal and deliver
American backing.

By 1997, Grossman had left AIPAC and was
preparing to take a break from communal work, but his involvement in
party affairs was about to intensify. The fundraising scandals
surrounding the DNC were coming to a head. The party found itself
$20 million in debt, and donors were reluctant to contribute more
money. At this dark moment, Michael Whouley recommended Grossman to
Vice-President Gore for the chairmanship.

I have provided links to all my sources.  You should read them yourself, and you should do your own research.

Mark Twain said

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

So please be careful about what you know for sure about Steve Grossman. I will continue to keep my eyes and ears open so that I can be sure, too.