By Matthew Benzmiller

Paul Filson stepped down from his position as executive director of the SEIU Connecticut State Council, which consists of 55,000 members. He resigned after receiving criticism for posting an ad through a political action committee that Filson ran called Labor United for Connecticut. Most of the funding the PAC receives is from the SEIU. The ad said “Stop Donald Trump and Republican William Petit’s attack on women and families.”

The biggest problem with this call to action against Petit, is not only that it is unwarranted from his policy proposals, but it is a massive insult to Petit after all the work he has done for women and families. In 2007 his home was invaded and his wife and two daughters were murdered, leaving him seriously injured and the sole survivor of the attack.

As though that were not enough context for this ad to be distasteful, since the 2007 attack Petit founded the Petit Family Foundation which gives grants to support and protect families from violence, improves the lives of people with chronic illness, and funds young peoples’ education, especially women in the sciences.

The ad was heavily criticized by both Republican and Democrat lawmakers in CT. Even so, Filson did not back off the claims and said the attack was not personal. The Hartford Courant reports that he initially showed no remorse:

"It's not a personal attack on Dr. Petit, and if he took it that way, that's unintentional," Filson told The Courant on Wednesday. "Everybody feels horrible about what happened to him."

But, Filson added, "The politics of the Republican Party in Connecticut are clear: [it is] standing by the absolutely vicious attacks on women and on immigrants."

Filson initially said the group had no plans to remove the ad unless Petit condemned Trump.

"If Dr. Petit denounces Trump and says he's not going to support Trump's anti-women and anti-children policies, then we will pull it," Filson said Wednesday. "If he supports the policies of Donald Trump and his attacks on women, then we're not going to pull the ad."

In a non-apology Filson eventually said that he did not mean to attack Petit’s personal history for his own political agenda, but went on to tell Republicans that they needed to denounce Trump’s policies. Petit has not expressed support for any presidential candidate.

Dr. William Petit (right) and supporters, including House Republican Leader Themis Klarides (left). Photo: Zuma Wire

In a statement following Filson’s resignation the SEIU apologized to Petit and said that the ad should have never been run in his district under any circumstance. GOP House leader, Themis Klarides, stood by Petit saying:

Someone finally realized that these independent operatives of the Democratic Party did cross the lines, and that is good. But we have no assurances that this type of offensive, outrageous disregard for the truth to abuse Republicans, women or men, for the sake of cheap political advantages won't continue. It cannot be tolerated.

As though spreading lies and slander against your political opponents were not dishonest enough, not apologizing for it and making it right is even more despicable. The SEIU thankfully made Filson resign (fired) for his actions, but they should stop making excuses saying they could not vet the ads coming out of the PAC. The SEIU should stop funding PACs and politicians that spread harmful falsehoods, but it would be hard to find any Democrats to fund any more if it did.