Gainey’s campaign treasurer reacts to release of controversial email

Jonathan Mayo doesn’t believe the Jewish community is a monolith.

When asked about the Jewish community’s support of Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, he is clear: “I don’t speak for anyone but myself.”

Perhaps that’s why the Jewish Pittsburgher and treasurer of Gainey’s reelection campaign doesn’t understand the interest in an email he sent to the mayor, Rep. Summer Lee and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato more than two weeks after the trio published a controversial joint statement on the one-year anniversary of Oct. 7.

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The statement drew widespread criticism for not mentioning Hamas, the terrorist organization that started the war by invading Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, murdering 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. The statement was also criticized for its tone, which many — including several state and local politicians — felt solely blamed Israel for the war.

By the evening of Oct. 7, 2024, Gainey released another statement to the Chronicle, which again didn’t mention Hamas or its murders, rapes and kidnappings, but instead said he grieved for all the lives lost and that he wanted everyone in Pittsburgh, Israel, Gaza and Lebanon to be safe.

Several weeks later, on Oct. 22, Mayo emailed the mayor, several of his staff members, Summer Lee, her chief of staff Wasi Mohamed and Sara Innamorato, among others.

In the email, Mayo expressed his disappointment for “a poorly worded, hastily constructed, ill-timed and tone deaf” statement. He further bemoaned the politicians’ lack of outreach to members of the Jewish community who “have told you time and time again that they are willing to help in any way.”

Despite his struggles with the statement and the lack of outreach, Mayo said, “there will never be a time when I won’t vote for any one you. But I’m heartbroken ….”

And that’s where the matter would have remained — an email between a Jewish member of the mayor’s reelection campaign and elected officials — until a March 13 Jewish Insider article about the email suggested a lack of Jewish support for Gainey.

Mayo doesn’t think that was a fair assessment of his letter, which he said was revealed as part of a Right to Know request that he believes was submitted by another Jewish Pittsburgher.

“It’s upsetting to me that members of the Jewish community would take another member of the Jewish community’s words and use it for political gain,” he said, “when all I was doing at the time was voicing disappointment at the time from an emotional point of view.”

Instead of focusing on a single email, Mayo said, it would have been better to view the missive for what it was: communication from someone who felt comfortable enough with multiple elected leaders to voice concerns.

Mayo said that he’s been involved in politics and social justice for more than two decades and often has had “difficult conversations” with people.

“The work isn’t trying to find some sort of gotcha moment in an email that was written and linking it to some national website for political gain,” he said. “I’m not interested in that kind of work.”

If anything, Mayo said, the letter shows that the mayor welcomes differing opinions and that he surrounds himself with people who will challenge him and help him grow as a leader.

“I’ve had many conversations with the mayor over the last several years since I was getting involved with this campaign about all the issues facing the city, not just the Jewish community, but particularly the Jewish community. He has been an amazing partner who wants to continue to learn and grow,” Mayo said.

The email surfaced at a time when Gainey’s relationship with some segments of the Jewish community are strained.

A proposed referendum which sought to force the city to divest from Israel wasn’t challenged by the mayor’s legal department, although Gainey did express concern about the ballot initiative. Instead, City Controller Rachael Heisler, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, StandWithUs and the Beacon Coalition challenged the referendum in court. The referendum’s sponsors eventually stipulated they did not collect enough valid signatures for it to appear on the May ballot.

Beacon Coalition Executive Director Jeremy Kazzaz was quoted by Jewish Insider as saying, “the mayor decided not to stand with the Jewish community and instead just stand back and let these things take their initial course, which put a gigantic burden on the Jewish community.”

Kazzaz told Jewish Insider that the mayor’s inaction pointed to a lack of allyship with the Jewish community.

“It is that sort of lack of allyship in that case, or in the various instances where elected officials — including this mayor — have failed to really call out acts of antisemitism in the moment by name, that has been amping up a general dynamic making the Jewish community in Pittsburgh, I think, generally uncomfortable,” he said.

To Mayo, focusing on his email misses the mark.

“There’s a lot of work that has been done,” he said. “There have been a lot of achievements under this administration and there’s a lot of work to be done. This to me is just a needless distraction from the conversations that need to be taking place as we approach the mayoral primary.”

Gainey did not respond to multiple requests for comment. PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.