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Christine Blasey Ford in front of the Giants' baseball stadium in San Francisco. (Family photo)
Jessica Contrera
A journalist specializing in stories about people whose lives are affected by what is happening in the media
Ian Shapira
Corporate Journalist covering the Washington area and beyond
The letters appeared a few days after the name of Christine Blasey Ford became public. One was from his high school classmates. One came from his colleagues at Stanford University. His neighbors in Palo Alto wrote another letter. Groups of lawyers, statisticians and teens have also written. Then, a letter began: "As members of Christine Blasey Ford's family. . . "
It has been signed by a dozen people. But none of them was related to Ford by the blood. The letter came from relatives of her husband, Russell Ford.
The parents and siblings of Christine – the Blaseys – have not published any similar statement of support. As their daughter and sister became the most talked about women since they accused Supreme Court candidate Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual assault while they were both in high school, the Blaseys have strategically avoided the press. Voicemails, texts, e-mails and letters from journalists remained unanswered. Family friends have politely refused to comment on what they are experiencing.
Arrived by phone on Tuesday, Ford's father, Ralph Blasey Jr., offered a brief endorsement to his daughter. "I think the whole Blasey family would support her. I think his record is for himself. His schooling, his work, etc. He said before hanging up. Moments later, after picking up the phone a second time, he added, "I think any father would like his daughter.
[Christine Blasey moved 3,000 miles to reinvent her life. It wasn’t far enough.]
The reluctance of the Blasey family is notable in the midst of the outpouring of support for Ford, while the 51-year-old California psychologist is preparing to testify Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. His long-awaited appearance will come four days after the New Yorker published another charge of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh, his Yale University classmate, Deborah Ramirez. Kavanaugh denied both accounts, telling Fox News: "I have never sexually assaulted anyone, not in high school, ever. I have always treated women with dignity and respect.
As senators try to decipher what happened between two teenagers to a party decades ago, the nation is struggling with all the allegations: if women were to be believers, if the Republicans had to keep control and if it was possible to separate the staff from the policy.
For Blaseys, everything is linked. Ford's parents raised their children in the same prosperous suburb of Maryland as the Kavanaugh family. His father belongs to the same exclusively male golf club as Kavanaugh's father. And like the Kavanaughs, Paula and Ralph Blasey are registered Republicans. Not only does their party side with Kavanaugh; many of their neighbors are too.
Ford's mother-in-law, Ruth Guthery, said she had "no idea" why the Blaseys had not shown their support for Christine. Guthery is also Republican and she voted for Trump. But she did not hesitate to sign the Ford family letter describing Christine as a woman. of "impeccable character".
"All I can tell you is that we love her," she said. "She has been a wonderful mother and a remarkable citizen, and I am happy to have her as a daughter-in-law."
It is unclear whether Ralph and Paula Blasey will attend the hearing, as Anita Hill's parents did in 1991 when she testified against Supreme Court candidate Clarence Thomas. Hill said in interviews that it was a devastating experience for her mother and father, with whom she had never shared the details of the sexual harassment she endured.
[Re-watching the disastrous Anita Hill hearing: A sexual harassment inquisition]
"The difficult part was to look at my parents – who were old people, who had lived good lives and raised their children to be honest, honest and hardworking and all the things we want parents to do for their children – through she, the feeling that they felt that they could not protect me from it " Hill told MSNBC in 2017.
Anita Hill testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991 about her accusation that the then Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her. (Bill Snead / The Washington Post)
Hill's father, who lived in Oklahoma, had never been to Washington before. The Blaseys have deep roots in the nation's capital. Ford's grandfather, Ralph Blasey, was a graduate of McKinley High School in the district and later became president of a small loan company. Ralph Jr. followed in his footsteps. While he was rising in the ranks of the Washington banks, his promotions were published in the Washington Evening Star. Today, 83 years old, Ralph Jr is still Vice President of Red Coats, a private commercial cleaning company based in Fairfax, Virginia.
He and Paula have installed the family in some of the highest social institutions in Montgomery County, including the Columbia Country Club and the all-male Burning Tree Club.
The golf club, which once included President Gerald Ford and Attorney General John Mitchell, has been criticized for decades for excluding women. Kavanaugh's father has been a member since the 1980s and Ford's father served as president between 2004 and 2006. According to a person who worked there, he was considered a gray eminence.
"He was the oldest statesman," said the person, who would only speak anonymously. "Some of the new members looked to him for the way things had been done in the past."
Ford's 80-year-old mother, Paula, spends her time at St. David, a picturesque stone bishopric church in Washington's Palisades neighborhood. She has volunteered as an altar guild and delegate in the diocese, and is often seen socializing at coffee hours in the basement of the church.
Ford's two brothers, Tom Blasey and Ralph Blasey III, are lawyers in the Washington area.
In addition to Burning Tree, the Blaseys crossed the path of the Kavanaugh, but briefly. The court records show a seizure case involving Blasey's home, presided over by at least two judges from Montgomery County, including Martha Kavanaugh. She ruled in favor of the Blaseys, rejecting a seizure action on their house. She was also one of the judges who presided over a 1998 case involving Ralph Blasey III. She ruled in favor of her client.
The entrance of the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, which Christine Blasey Ford attended. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)
Like the Kavanaugh, the Blaseys sent their children to elite schools of the kind in the area: Ford to Holton-Arms, his older brothers at Landon School. As Ford moved across the country to pursue higher education, teach and become a passionate surfer, his brothers and sisters stayed in the area, sending their children to the same preparatory schools and participating in father-son golf tournaments at the country. club.
[[[[Former students of the preparatory school hear echoes in a complaint of assault]
Ford's parents are registered as Republicans in Maryland, but they did not make donations to the candidates, according to the records of the Federal Election Commission.
"Honestly, I do not even know what their policies are," said Hale Boggs III, a former classmate of Ralph III at Landon School, where both played football in the late 1970s.
Boggs himself has an excellent Democratic Party pedigree as the grandson of two former congressmen, representatives Hale and Lindy Boggs (D-La.) And son of super lobbyist Tommy Boggs. But the chatter he hears is more personal than political, as longtime friends feel the pressure to take sides.
"The situation must be so difficult for this family," said Boggs. "It's a close-knit community where many families know each other."
Ford's husband, Russell, explained in an interview with The Washington Post last week that Christine had moved to California in part to escape the "D.C." scene.
"She did not always get along with her parents because of political differences," said Russell Ford. "It was a very male dominated environment. Everyone was interested in what was going on with the men, and the women were discarded, and she did not have the attention or respect she felt she deserved. "
The Ford took Christine as one of theirs. In their letter, they said that she was spending time teaching their kids how to surf, attend their football games and their plays, and even think about where they might consider going to school. go to the university.
Yet she has maintained a significant relationship with her family in the east of the country. She donated to Holton-Arms on behalf of a niece who attended her alma mater. Every summer, she takes her sons back to the Washington area to swim in the country club pool, crab at Rehoboth Beach and relive her childhood memories.
"It was important for her that her parents had a relationship and a bond with her children," said Catherine Piwowarski, roommate and matron of Ford University.
Ford said she thought about her loved ones when she presented her allegation about Kavanaugh. In a letter to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), on Saturday, Ford said she felt a "civic duty" for lawmakers to know Kavanaugh's alleged behavior. to all the families and friends involved. "
Brett Kavanaugh, along with his wife Ashley Estes Kavanaugh, appears in an interview on Monday at Fox News during which he denied allegations of sexual assault. (Jacquelyn Martin / AP)
Now, his close family and the Kavanaugh family have received death threats. Kavanaugh's wife, Ashley Estes Kavanaugh, told Fox in an interview on Monday: "It's harder than we imagined, and we imagined it would be difficult."
The fear of retaliation could explain the silence of the Blasey family, said Ford's sister-in-law.
"I do not even know how they handle all of this," said Deborah Peters, Russell Ford's sister. "The reasons why survivors do not report are the same reasons why people might be reluctant to come out in public to support a survivor – you are subject to the same disbelief. I do not know if Chrissy's parents are afraid of being incredulous or afraid of being attacked verbally. "
In their absence, Ford made appearances on television and gave interviews about Christine.
Charles and Sandra Mendler were among the Ford family members who signed a letter of support for Christine Blasey Ford, married to Sandra's brother, Russell. (Family photo)
"It's important to defend a family member," said Charles Mendler, married to one of Russell Ford's sisters.. "In terms of credibility and honesty, there is no question about it."
On Thursday, senators will wonder if Christine Blasey Ford is appearing before the committee as millions of viewers watch C-Span live. The hearing will take place in a paneled panel of walnut in Dirksen's Senate office building – a much smaller space than the grand chamber where Hill testified against Thomas.
There, the room was so crowded with spectators that when the Hill family arrived a little late – right after Hill made his opening statement – then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) Suspended the hearing to find seats. When he saw the number of members of his family, he remarked, "My Lord.
"Are the staff trying to get some [more] chairs, for the sake of Christ? "Let all the good people take a chair and get out of it.
While the assistants jostled each other, the family seized the opportunity to greet Hill. One by one, they offered cuddles, handshakes and pressure on the shoulders, each doing the little effort to stabilize it on what was going to start.
Steve Hendrix, Alice Crites, Julie Tate, Emma Brown and Aaron Davis contributed to this report.
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