Apology needed for radio comments 

Robert McCulloch’s interview last week on St. Louis Public Radio was remarkable for its insensitivity and callousness. McCulloch suggested that he lost the election to Wesley Bell because of “dark money” and the forces behind that money, specifically naming George Soros, the wealthy Hungarian Holocaust survivor and philanthropist. 

His comments not only evoke racial insensitivity, but are a “dog whistle” of anti-Semitism. McCulloch lost the election by a substantial margin, not because of his unsubstantiated claims about Soros, but his failure to campaign. So mollified in white privilege, he did not think that Bell and his message posed a risk. He did not show up for a single forum where the candidates were invited to speak, leaving the stage to an eloquent and competent rising star-Wesley Bell. 

Bell, who like McCulloch, derives his political base from North County, was responsive to the electorate, answering the hard questions that face our community. McCulloch ignored the same community who put him in office and now justifies his loss by suggesting that “Jewish money” stacked the odds against him. 

McCulloch’s handling of Ferguson and his comments in the St. Louis Public Radio interview prove that he is not fit for office, and that is how the electorate of his own party judged him. He owes Bell, the African- American community, and the Jewish community an apology for his parting shots in what was deemed his farewell speech. Failing that, he is a disgrace to his party and the community. 

Nathan S. Cohen, Clayton