I was just forwarded an e-mail from the Italian Club of Seattle. Turns out, they weren't too happy with the state Democrats video (posted below), which includes photos of Dino Rossi and the theme song from "The Sopranos."

The club wants the video to be yanked and Dwight Pelz, state Democratic chairman, to step down. They sent Gregoire a letter detailing their feelings.

"We understand that in this gubernatorial election, various claims will be made by candidates and interested parties against the other candidate. However, a recent online video posted by the Washington State Democratic Party attempting to associate Dino Rossi with criminal activity through the use of negative ethnic stereotyping is beyond offensive. Whether the State Democratic Party thought it clever to link Rossi to Italian-American criminals through the use of a popular mobster TV show is irrelevant; it is distasteful, and it is racist. Governor Gregoire, we believe we have your sympathy when we assert that using someone's ethnic heritage as a negative should not be condoned in this campaign."

If you recall, Gregoire's campaign recently sent out a letter from the Anti-Defamation League denouncing the BIAW for likening environmentalists to Nazis (three months ago). I guess turnabout is fair play.

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Here's the full text of the letter:

To Governor Christine Gregoire:

We understand that in this gubernatorial election, various claims will be made by candidates and interested parties against the other candidate. However, a recent online video posted by the Washington State Democratic Party attempting to associate Dino Rossi with criminal activity through the use of negative ethnic stereotyping is beyond offensive. Whether the State Democratic Party thought it clever to link Rossi to Italian-American criminals through the use of a popular mobster TV show is irrelevant; it is distasteful, and it is racist. Governor Gregoire, we believe we have your sympathy when we assert that using someone's ethnic heritage as a negative should not be condoned in this campaign.

We hope you share our belief. With that hope, we strongly urge you to tell the State Democratic Party to remove this video from both YouTube and the State Party's website. Staying silent while a party attacks a candidate based on his or her ethnic heritage is no different than approving the use of such tactics. Please tell them to stop using this video. I recently wrote about the need to fight media sponsored and condoned discrimination of Italian Americans in the Italian Club's monthly newsletter, and find this to be a most disturbing example of exactly that. Former Governor Albert Rosellini, a long time supporter of yours, and member of the Democratic Party has been a member of this Club for decades, and surely would be disappointed to find his and your party defacing his very heritage.

Furthermore, we find it unconscionable that Chairman Dwight Pelz, head of the State Democratic Party, would deem the use of a candidate's ethnic background for a political attack as acceptable. In our eyes, his tenure as the head of the state party will be defined by this action. As Italian-Americans, we celebrate the positive contributions our cultural heritage has made to Washington's rich and diverse history. We thereby call on you to demand Mr. Pelz's resignation and help find a replacement capable of respecting the culture of others. We also expect a public apology from you and Mr. Pelz on behalf of the Democratic party to all of this states citizens of Italian American decent.

We eagerly anticipate your response to this troubling matter.

Sincerely,

Brian DiJulio, President of the Italian Club of Seattle.

[CC Dwight Pelz, Chairman, Washington State Democratic Party]

UPDATE: The state party edited the video Wednesday evening to remove the offending music. Here's what party spokesman Kelly Steele said:

The video was in no way meant to allege or imply that Republican Dino Rossi or his extremist, right-wing developer allies have ties to the mafia or organized crime, which is why we changed the song. We were happy to err on the side of sensitivity in response to a very reasonable criticism/observation by Mr. DiJulio, regardless of his political motives.