Election Section

An op-ed by Jonathan Wornick appearing in the July 12 Daily Planet opposing Berkeley’s recently passed resolution supporting a U.S. Department of  

Peace (DOP) was just shocking, especially coming from a Peace and Justice commissioner. It contained outrageous distortions and misinformation and I would like to set the record straight on this issue.  

I first introduced the resolution at the April meeting of Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission, a commission I proudly served on for three years. Jonathan become its chief opponent and was the only commissioner adamantly opposed to the resolution. He said at the May meeting, “We have a Department of Peace. It’s called the State Department.” He later added that the commission should stop this initiative “here and now.” It failed to pass in the commission due to poor attendance as we needed eight votes, a majority of the total commission and not just those present. Of those present, six voted for it, only Wornick voted nay and three abstained.  

In his op-ed Wornick justified his opposition by stating that, “Nowhere in our job descriptions does it say that the mayor or the City Council is supposed to have a position on issues like Middle East politics, war, free trade, or the United Nations.”  

This statement is not true. Has this Peace and Justice commissioner forgotten the commission’s mandate? On Feb. 18, 1986, the City Council passed Ordinance No. 5705 establishing the Peace and Justice Commission. Section 7 of that law states that “the commission shall a dvise the Berkeley City Council and the Berkeley Unified School Board on all matters relating to the City of Berkeley’s role in issues of peace and social justice, including but not limited to the issues of ending the arms race, abolishing nuclear weapons, support for human rights and self-determination throughout the world ... so that money now spent on war and the preparation of war is spent on fulfilling human needs and the promotion of peace. 

How can Wornick be so uninformed? If he is not ignorant of these facts, why is he deliberately feeding disinformation to the citizens of Berkeley? 

Wornick said, “Cohen and others went crying to Worthington for relief, sidestepping the process and making the commission system virtually obsolete.” In reality, Coh en never went to Worthington at all, and it was Wornick who went crying to the Daily Planet when he and Wozniak failed to stop the council from overriding their objections to it. It was solely Wornick’s recalcitrant position that caused us to seek council support directly. 

It is somewhat rare and unprecedented for the City Council to pass a resolution that a commission doesn’t pass. Some city councilmembers even criticized the commission for failing to do its job. 

Wornick made other misleading and false statements. He repeatedly made the accusation that the resolution has cost the city time and money. He stated, “a chosen few are once again wasting their time, and our dollars, writing resolutions on national and international issues. In fact, when Berke ley commissions write resolutions, no dollars are spent as commissioners serve voluntarily, saving the city both time and money. 

Why can’t he acknowledge that the DOP would actually bring money into Berkeley as the legislation aims to fund a wide range o f activities that Berkeley’s nonprofits could tap into, including those working on peace, social justice, human rights, nonviolent conflict resolution, spousal and child abuse, the mistreatment of the elderly and a wide-range of violence prevention progra ms, be they domestic, street or gang related. 

His remark on Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s letter was a gross misrepresentation and an insult to not only Feinstein, but to the citizens of Berkeley. He stated that, “At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, the local backers of this legislation waved around a letter from Sen. Feinstein misrepresenting her position entirely ... Her boiler plate response letter only said that she’d ‘examine’ it.”  

In Feinstein’s letter of May 26, she said, “The Department of Peace is a concept that deserves much attention and I assure you that I will examine this proposal further. The Department of Peace is an important example of the notion of peace and civility that our nation must strive to maintain. I applaud the efforts of your org anization to promote and uphold the principles of peace within our state, our country, and the world abroad.” So his statement that she only said that she’d examine it is false  

He never mentioned that Rep. Barbara Lee said, “This is a department whose t ime has come. A vital component of strengthening the campaign for the Department of Peace is for local groups to work to build local and regional support for this objective. The Bay Area, and Berkeley in particular, have historically been at the forefront of the peace and justice movement, and the creation of the U.S. Department of Peace will give our local peace organizations the support of a Cabinet-level federal agency.” 

In summation, most of Wornick’s statements are simply not true or gross misrepres entations. How can he expect to pull the wool over the eyes of the citizens of Berkeley? His behavior on this issue is totally inappropriate for a Peace and Justice commissioner. It has caused the commission, the 17 citizens who testified in support of th e DOP, and finally the City Council to spend unneeded time on an issue that Berkeley should have easily endorsed. Berkeley and its citizens have historically taken pride in supporting initiatives such as this. 

Only attacks such as Wornick’s can lead to m aking the commission system obsolete, not peace initiatives such as ours. A vigilant Berkeley will never allow such a thing to happen. Perhaps the cause of peace and justice could better be served if enough Berkeley citizens ask Councilmember Wozniak to c onsider replacing Wornick with a real advocate for peace on the P and Justice commission. 

Alan Moore is a former Peace and Justice commissioner and a member of East Bay DoPeace Committee, Musicians and Fine Artists for World Peace, and International Ass ociation of Educators for World Peace. 

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