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| Rudy's New Minnesota Campaign Official Has an " N-Word" Problem By Greg Sargent Election Central October 19, 2007 http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/10/new_rudy_minnesota_campaign_ official_has_history_of_racially_charged_remarks.php The man named yesterday by the Giuliani campaign to a law enforcement outreach campaign post in Minnesota was forced to resign a government job in 2004 when proof surfaced that he'd admitted to repeatedly using the word "nigger" in the past, Election Central has learned. Sheriff Richard Stanek was appointed to the post of chair of Minnesota Law Enforcement for Rudy. The campaign's press release promised that Stanek "will work with law enforcement personnel throughout the state to communicate Mayor Giuliani's record of fighting crime and his commitment to first responders." But as a rival campaign has pointed out to us, it turns out Stanek has admitted to having a history of racially charged remarks. He was forced to resign his post as Minnesota's public safety commissioner in 2004 after it came to light that he'd admitted in a deposition that he'd used racist slurs in the past, including repeated use of the word "nigger." This isn't the first time this has happened to Rudy. Last June, he appointed a new co-chair to his South Carolina campaign who also had a history of racially charged remarks. The story of Stanek, Rudy's Minnesota guy, was laid out in the Star Tribune of April 17, 2004 (via Nexis):
Stanek's admissions in a sworn deposition as part of a police brutality suit against him in 1992 were reported by the Star Tribune in 1995, as he was making his first of five successful runs for the state House as a Republican from Maple Grove. Stanek admitted to the "nigger" slur in a deposition relating to a police brutality case against him:
Asked under oath in 1992 if he had ever used the word "nigger," he said he had "several times.".. In the deposition, he also admitted telling a racist joke and making negative comments about people because of their race. The Star-Trib also published some lively excerpts from the deposition, in which he admitted to using the word "nigger" repeatedly and said it was okay in certain contexts. From the deposition:
A: Uh-huh. Q: Have you used the word ... before on any other occasion other than discussing this case? A: Yes. Q: Excluding the ones that had to do with this case how many times? A: Several. Q: Have you used that term when you were not quoting what somebody else said but merely expressing your own thoughts or words? A: Yes. Q: Do you likewise feel it's OK to use it when talking to fellow police officers while on duty but with no members of the public present? A: No, I do not. And if I answered that question yes before that was incorrect. Q: The question I understood you said yes to, that is to say it is appropriate if you want to is in the confines of your own home with your friends. Did I get you correctly or did I misunderstand it? A: I believe it's appropriate in the context I'm entitled to my own opinion. If I express an opinion or say a word within the confines of my home, that I don't bring it to work, I don't bring it to the job, I don't take it to the public, that's my own business. Amid the furor, Stanek defended himself in an interview with another local paper by saying that using the word is "inexcusable" and that he hadn't used it since 1992. Last week, asked about former top cop Bernie Kerik, Rudy promised that was "going to check more carefully in the future" into the background of associates. Unclear if that happened this time or not. The Rudy campaign didn't immediately return a request for comment. |
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