The vote by City Councilmember Kriss Worthington to send an apology to the Marine Corps Feb. 12 surprised Berkeley residents because of its unusually moderate stance.

After several hours of public comment from anti-military and pro-military sides, the Berkeley City Council’s 7-2 vote  clarified their support and respect for military service members but did not include an apology to be sent to the Marine Corps.

Pro-military protesters called for an apology in regards to a letter that was passed Jan. 29 which described the recruiters as “uninvited and unwelcome intruders.” This language elicited nationwide response as council members received more than 20,000 e-mails and phone calls in the last two weeks.

Before the final vote took place, Worthington motioned to include an apology letter to the Marine Corps.  Councilmembers Laurie Capitelli, Betty Olds and Gordon Wozniak also voted for it.

“…When our council adopts such outrageous language, we owe an apology for using that language,” Worthington said. “More importantly than words, I think we need to show some genuine, positive, practical support for our veterans.”

Even though the votes were not enough to pass to the item, some expressed surprise over Worthington’s motion to send an apology because of his well-known reputation for taking the most progressive stance on many issues.

“We expect Wozniak, Capitelli and Olds to vote as a block but to see Worthington voting with them was a surprise, but he’s running for state assembly so I guess he’s trying to appeal to a broader audience now,” said PhoeBe sorgen, Code PINK activist.

Capitelli and Olds are known to take moderate stances, compared to other council members, while Wozniak was the only one who also opposed the reserved parking space for anti-war organization Code Pink to protest every Wednesday by the center.

But Worthington said his intention to run for State Assembly had no influence on the motion he called to send an apology to the Marines, saying he was opposed to the language to begin with.

“I feel like I am an activist, pushing to get things done, but I work with different people on different issues,” he said. “I think I’ve worked in preparing my council items with every single member of the council. On this battle, we happened to be on the same sides because I thought what the council voted for was undiplomatic.”

He also said many were worried that if the City Council had agreed to send the letter to apologize to the Marines, it would have looked like the Council had made a mistake in their decision to also support protesters Code Pink.

“People have said you’re going to lose a lot of progressive votes because you caved into the right wing,” he said. “I didn’t cave into anybody, I figured out my position before any right wing or most anybody knew this was going on.”

Worthington said ultimately working with both groups is important, regardless if his motion last night may have cost him many votes for State Assembly.

“Die hard liberals say you shouldn’t look that way or you’re going to lose votes. I’m not going to change now, who knows whether I’ll gain votes or lose votes, but who cares,” he said. “I’ve been talking about this for several years, so it’s not that I’m turning right-wing because I’m running for higher office.”