SCOOP: Washington state human rights panelist, who resigned over Jew-hatred remark, didn't disclose in application his son works for the governor

When Luc fils Jasmin applied to join the Washington State Human Rights Commission, an official state panel, he failed to disclose that his son, Luc Jasmin III, was eastern Washington outreach representative to the state’s governor, according to a copy of his Jan. 27, 2023, application, which JNS obtained.

The governor is responsible for appointing and removing commissioners.

The younger Jasmin, who still works in that state position for which he draws a salary, is running to represent the second position of the state’s third district in the state House—a race in which Gov. Bob Ferguson has endorsed him.

JNS reported that the elder Jasmin said at a meeting of the state panel that “it seems like the Jewish people keep on crying and crying and crying and crying—always crying over the antisemitism.” He later apologized exclusively to JNS and resigned.

When JNS initially sought comment from the elder Jasmin about his antisemitic remarks, his son, the state House hopeful, returned the call to speak on behalf of his father. At the time, Luc Jasmin III told JNS that his father “applied just like everyone else.” In the course of the conversation, the younger Jasmin told JNS that he couldn’t say if Hamas is a terror organization. “I don’t think it’s fair to me to label any group, because I’m not in it,” he said.

Natalie Poulson, the younger Jasmin’s Republican opponent, called his refusal to label Hamas a terror group “discrediting.”

The younger Jasmin raised more than $83,000 for his campaign and has spent about $81,000, according to his disclosure forms. His campaign, which he has self-funded in part and to which his father has donated, owes $7,945 to WinPower Strategies, a political consultancy that names Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) as a client.

The primary is scheduled for Aug. 4. The top two candidates, regardless of affiliation, will face off in the general election.

In the January 2023 application that JNS obtained, the elder Jasmin listed his son as one of his professional references, but didn’t note that it was his son or that his son worked for the governor. He listed his son as program coordinator for the Carl Maxey Center, a nonprofit in Spokane, Wash., and left a line about his “relationship” to the reference blank. He described a relationship to the three other references he provided.

Though the human rights commission at times investigate complaints against state agencies, the elder Jasmin wrote “no” on his application, when it asked if any member of his family might be “affected financially by decisions made” by the commission.

The younger Jasmin has drawn endorsements by both Ferguson and former governor Jay Inslee and is listed as the “preferred” candidate in the Council on American-Islamic Relations 2026 Washington voter guide. (Shortly after Oct. 7, CAIR blamed Israel for being attacked, and the Biden administration removed CAIR from a panel associated with its national strategy on fighting Jew-hatred after initially including the group.)

Luc Jasmin III has sought to distance himself from his father’s views as he runs for office. According to the Washington Department of Revenue, both have been registered as officers at the nonprofit Spokane Word. On LinkedIn, the younger Jasmin states that in addition to his state job, he is co-owner and director of Parkview Early Learning Center, where his sister, Katia Jasmin, is director.

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