Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010 | 3:43 p.m.
The chairman of the Stonewall Democratic Club of Southern Nevada, a grassroots Democratic LGBT organization, is calling out a member of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle's staff for what he calls "casual racism."
Derek Washington contacted the Sun about a Facebook posting he saw on Jordan Gehrke's wall. Gehrke is Angle's deputy campaign manager.
"went to the Clinton Library yesterday," Gehrke's post reads. "To my dismay, they did not in fact have beads in the doorway. Had the urge to walk in and shout 'Where the white women at?!' ala Blazing Saddles. Ultimately decided against it, lest I be mistaken for one of the employees."
Gehrke wrote the wall post in December 2009. Washington said a friend found it and forwarded it to him.
"Not only is it offensive, it's really stupid to be posting this kind of stuff where anyone can see it," Washington said. "I can't imagine ANY campaign manager openly being so, if not racist, insensitive."
A call to the Angle campaign was not immediately returned.
On his Facebook page, Gehrke wrote that he was "just being lighthearted" when a friend asked why he visited the museum if he didn't respect it.
"Nothing here to be shrill and overly earnest about," Gehrke wrote.
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