An Orange County Republican Party official is under fire after sending an email with an altered photo depicting President Barack Obama as an ape.
The email, sent Friday afternoon by party central committee member Marilyn Davenport, depicts a family portrait-style image of apes with Obama’s face superimposed on one of them. The photo is accompanied by text that reads, “Now you know why no birth certificate.”
By Saturday evening, the news story and image had been widely reported by The Associated Press, Huffington Post, OC Weekly and television news programs.
Scott Baugh, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, has called on Davenport to resign and said the party’s ethics panel will hold a hearing into the incident if she does not do so. The panel will make findings, and a majority vote of the entire 73-member committee can oust her.
“It’s just highly inappropriate, it’s a despicable message, it drips with racism and I think she should step down from the committee,” Baugh said. “It undermines everything we are doing to reach out to ethnic communities.”
Michael Schroeder, former chairman of the California Republican Party, also condemned the image and called for Davenport’s resignation or ouster.
“My jaw dropped when I saw it,” Schroeder said. “I’ve never seen anything so offensive sent out by an elected official.”
Davenport represents the 72nd Assembly District in Orange County on the committee, which is made up of volunteer officials elected for two-year terms. The group is tasked with fundraising, campaigning and debating policy for the Republican Party.
Davenport could not be reached for comment, but The Orange County Register obtained an email she sent to her “Central Committee colleagues.”
“I’m sorry if my email offended anyone, I simply found it amusing regarding the character of Obama and all the questions surrounding his origin of birth. In no way did I even consider the fact he’s half-black when I sent out the email. In fact, the thought never entered my mind until one or two other people tried to make this about race. We all know a double standard applies regarding this President. I received plenty of e-mails about George Bush that I didn’t particularly like yet there was no “cry” in the media about them. One only has to go to YouTube or Google Images to see a plethora of lampooning videos and pictures about Obama, Bush and other politicians. That being said, I will NOT resign my Central Committee position over this matter that the average person knows and agrees is much to do about nothing.
“Again, for those select few who might be truly offended by viewing a copy of an email I sent to a select list of friends and acquaintances, unlike the liberal left when they do the same, I offer my sincere apologies to you – the email was not meant for you.
“For any of my friends or acquaintances who were the recipients of my email and were truly offended, please call me so I may offer a sincere verbal apology to you. Sincerely, Marilyn Davenport”
This is the third charge of racism among Orange County’s conservative-leaning political community in recent history.
In early 2009, Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose forwarded an email to a group of people on his personal account depicting a picture of the White House with a watermelon patch imposed as a White House garden. That was shortly after the president’s inauguration. Gross later resigned amid the community firestorm the email triggered.
And in 2003, Newport Beach Councilman Dick Nichols said he was voting against putting in more grass at Corona del Mar’s beach because, he said, there were already “too many Mexicans on the beach.”
After the incident, the Orange County Republican Party central planning committee voted overwhelmingly to not endorse Nichols in his re-election campaign. Davenport voted in favor of endorsing him. Nichols lost his re-election bid.
