GOP Lawmaker's Aide Disciplined Over Obama E-mail

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Democratic legislators demanded Monday that a state employee who works for a Republican lawmaker be fired for using a state computer to send a racist e-mail about President Barack Obama.

Sherri Goforth, a legislative aide for Sen. Diane Black, sent the e-mail last month to other staff for Republican senators. It shows a portrait or photo of each U.S. president except Obama, who is depicted with wide eyes in a black background.

"It's racism," said Democrat Rep. Johnny Shaw of Bolivar, who is black. "And no one has any business being in state government that is a racist such as this. She should be fired."

Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester echoed Shaw's sentiment.

"This e-mail is reprehensible, insults the office of the president, and is embarrassing to all Tennesseans regardless of political party," Forrester said in a news release.

House Minority Leader Gary Odom said the e-mail, first reported by the West Tennessee blog Newscoma, was outrageous and said he'd like to know if such behavior at the Capitol is "more common than just a very isolated circumstance."

Black said Monday that she didn't know about the e-mail until another staffer informed her.

"The communication sent from this office ... does absolutely not reflect my opinions or my beliefs," she said. "I won't tolerate those kinds of communications coming from this office."

Black's office said Monday that Goforth, who is white, had left for the day. She does not have a listed home telephone number.

Black, who is white, acknowledged that Goforth sent the e-mail from her state computer and that it's a policy violation. She said she decided after consulting with state human resources staff to reprimand Goforth verbally and place a written reprimand in her file, adding that Goforth is a 20-year employee who has had a good record.

It's not the first time Tennessee Republicans have been criticized for their actions related to Obama.

In February 2008, the state Republican Party reversed course and removed then-candidate Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein, from a news release on its Web site. Robin Smith, the state party chairwoman at the time, agreed to remove the release and a photo of Obama in traditional African garments after a conversation with U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.

The use of the middle name came at a time when Obama was fighting false rumors that he's Muslim.

During the 2008 general election, the Tennessee Republican Party sent out a direct mailing that pasted the faces of then-state Rep. Nathan Vaughn, a black lawmaker, Obama, whose father was black, and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is white, on blackbirds or crows.

Vaughn, a Kingsport Democrat who became northeastern Tennessee's first black lawmaker when he was elected in 2002, lost to Republican Tony Shipley by 326 votes in the House's 2nd District race. He later said the campaign literature was meant to inflame racial hatred and contributed to his defeat.

Rep. John Deberry, a Memphis Democrat and chairman of the Tennessee Black Caucus, said the latest incident is hurtful to all Tennesseans.

"My hope is we will take a long introspective examination of ourselves and realize we still have a tremendous amount of work to do," he said.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)