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GOP Official Resigns Over Racial E-Mail

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By WILLIAM MARCH

wmarch@tampatrib.com

Published: February 6, 2009

TAMPA - A veteran Hillsborough County Republican Party official resigned Thursday after forwarding a racially tinged e-mail to a handful of friends that was leaked to others in the party and became public.

Carol Carter, a state committeewoman for the county party, became the third prominent local Republican in four months to be stung by controversy over e-mails with racial overtones or anti-Obama themes.

Carter's e-mail, sent Friday, was a joke saying black people were able to travel to Washington, D.C., for the inauguration, but unable to evacuate New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.

"Amazing," said the subject line.

"I'm confused. How can 2,000,000 blacks get into Washington, DC in 1 day in sub zero temps when 200,000 couldn't get out of New Orleans in 85 degree temps with four days notice?"

'It Went Off The Cliff'

In an interview Thursday, Carter said she's not a racist and that she has supported black candidates and black Republican organizations. But she also seemed to blame those who saw the joke for overreacting.

"I forwarded a joke to eight people I thought were friends and it went off the cliff," she said. "I've never wanted to do anything to hurt the party so I guess the best thing I can do is resign."

When the e-mail became public Thursday, state GOP Chairman Jim Greer said he was considering removing Carter from her committeewoman's post. In that position, she was one of three representatives from the county on the party's statewide governing board.

"I'm disappointed and frustrated that leaders of our party, regardless of their intent or the circumstances, don't understand the sensitivity to issues such as this," Greer said. "The argument they'll always make is that there's nothing wrong with it, and there is something wrong with it."

Carter voluntarily offered her resignation Thursday morning to Greer and county Chairman Debbie Cox-Roush.

Cox-Roush also called the e-mail "unacceptable."

"We will not tolerate, we will not stand for, any type of racial intolerance," she said. "We are making great strides within the community to reach out, and I'm not going to let anything set that back."

In two incidents in October:

Prominent GOP fundraiser Al Austin forwarded an e-mail joke that referred to killing Obama. Austin said he hadn't carefully read the piece before forwarding it and apologized.

Former county GOP Chairman David Storck passed along an e-mail from a local party volunteer lamenting the large number of black people going to a Brandon early-voting site. Storck also apologized and did not run for re-election as chairman in the party's December election. Cox-Roush replaced him.

Asked whether the three similar incidents involving prominent local Republicans indicate a problem within the party, Cox-Roush responded, "Absolutely not. This is three individuals and I don't think this is a reflection of the Republican Party whatsoever."

Greer has made increasing diversity one of his goals as state chairman and just finished working as a strategist for the campaign of Michael Steele, who was elected as the national party's first black chairman.

After Carter sent the e-mail Friday, she received objections from at least one local Republican.

Todd Marks - who just announced his candidacy for a state House seat from Tampa - said he got a copy from one of the original recipients and called Carter and "suggested it was inappropriate."

Apology Was Issued

Carter sent out an apology later the same day.

"I have been asked to send this apology for my earlier email," she wrote. "I am sorry that it was received in a negative manner. I do hope that we are going to be allowed to keep our sense of humor.

"As you can now see, it went to very few people. I did add Todd Marks in this apology, as he is in the mix now. I am also sorry to learn that some of these persons are not real team players. There really was no reason for this to go beyond those that I emailed (8 people). This was not an email blast as I do not have that capability."

A Pinellas County Republican activist, Michael Pinson, who also objected to the e-mail and sent copies to friends, criticized Cox-Roush's handling of the situation. Pinson said he talked to Cox-Roush several times starting the day the e-mail went out, demanding Carter's removal.

Cox-Roush "told me it was blown out of proportion, mountain out of a molehill," Pinson said. "She sat on it for five days without taking any action and refused to have a board meeting this week. She wanted to keep it internal."

Cox-Roush denies that.

The head of a local catering and events management company with a large contract at the Super Bowl, she said she was swamped with work through the weekend and until late Tuesday.

When Pinson first called her, which she said was Saturday, she had not seen the e-mail and knew nothing about what he was talking about.

Carter accused Pinson of "holding the party hostage" over the issue by threatening to make his objections public.

"I guess he must be cleaner than driven snow," she said.

Asked whether what she did was wrong, Carter said, "I don't know. Is it going to become impossible for people to read jokes and forward them? There are jokes all over the internet about Obama that could be taken racially."

Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761.

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