An attempt to replace Jewish members who’ve resigned from the Governor’s Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes apparently isn’t working very well. From The Forward.

A source at the Chicago Board of Rabbis told the Forward that two of its members had been asked by the governor’s office to fill the newly-emptied slots and that they had refused.

And the commission became an issue after last night’s debate.

Some GOP gubernatorial candidates say a state hate crimes commission should be dissolved because of the controversy over one member who is a Nation of Islam official, calling the commission “dysfunctional” and Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s handling of the matter “pathetic.”

They also accused Blagojevich of playing politics with the controversy.

“He’s decided the African-American community is more important to his re-election than the Jewish community,” Bill Brady said after a Republican debate Wednesday. “He doesn’t care about ending discrimination.”

Candidates Brady, Jim Oberweis and Ron Gidwitz all said Blagojevich should abolish the Gov.’s Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes.

“We clearly need a hate crimes commission but this commission today is dysfunctional and not working,” Gidwitz said after the debate.

State treasurer and GOP front-runner Judy Baar Topinka said the commission can still serve a purpose, but she too condemned Blagojevich’s handling of the issue.

The governor was cornered by CBS2 last night on his way into a fundraiser, but made a hasty exit after mumbling a few platitudes.

But as he arrived for a $250 a ticket fundraiser Wednesday night in a downtown high rise, the governor would not talk about the issue or those resignations.

“Things are going forward, and we’re all about encouraging people to work together,” he said, but did not respond when the fifth resignation was brought up.

And reporters in Peoria had no luck either.

“Look, I’d love to make more news for you,” he told reporters who peppered him with questions as he left an event in Peoria. “We have no news for you. There’s nothing new to say. Everything’s the same.”

UPDATE: The Tribune editorial page demands resolution.

The governor dug himself into a hole by reviving this once-moribund panel to score points with supporters and then being inattentive to the appointments he made to it. It demands his attention now.

The solution: Ask Muhammad publicly to renounce the anti-Semitic comments of Farrakhan–and ask her to leave the commission if she will not do so.

UPDATE 2: More trouble. From a press release:

Today Stonewall Democrats Illinois, an organization of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender Democrats, regrettably calls on Governor Rod Blagojevich to remove Sister Claudette Marie (Johnson) Muhammad from the Governor’s Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes.

It is unfortunate that Sister Claudette refuses to repudiate statements made in a recent speech by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in which he reportedly equated Jews and gays to “filth” and told his audience: “don’t be afraid to hate”, said Stonewall President Rick Ingram. “In a Tuesday interview on WVON radio, the Associated Press reported that Sister Claudette referred to criticism of her actions as “absolutely ridiculous”, and referred to Farrakhan’s remarks as only being “perceived by some as anti-Semitic” (emphasis added). “How can she combat discrimination and hate if she doesn’t even recognize it,” said Stonewall Democrats Vice President Tom Chaderjian.

Sister Claudette is in a leadership and advisory position at the Nation of Islam as Farrakhan’s Chief of Protocol and National Director of Community Outreach. “ When you combine her ridicule of her critics with her refusal to repudiate Farrakahn’s speech, it leaves us no choice but to conclude that she is in agreement, and there is no room on the Commission for anyone who represents a position advocating hate”, said Ingram.

“Governor Blagojevich is a strong supporter of equal rights for GLBT Illinoisans, and we applaud him for that, but Sister Claudette is doing the Governor and the Commission a great disservice. Her continued presence on the Commission has proven to be disruptive and divisive, and she should resign from the Commission. If she refuses to do so, Governor Blagojevich should remove her. “The real tragedy here is that her actions have been allowed to divide traditional allies in the human rights community. For the good of the Commission and its important work, she should step down”, said Ingram.