Rep. Walt Minnick, Lone Dem Endorsed By Tea Party, Rejects Endorsement

The one Democratic member of Congress endorsed by the Tea Party Express formally rejected the endorsement on Monday, citing disgust with a satirical, racist letter penned by a spokesman for the group.

Rep. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho) announced his rejection of the endorsement in a letter to the co-chair of the Tea Party Express on Monday -- roughly three months to the date after he became the sole Democrat to earn the group's backing. The congressman cited a fake letter (since removed from the web) that Tea Party Express spokesman Mark Williams wrote pretending to be a "Colored" person denouncing Abraham Lincoln for offering welfare to slaves.

Statement:

The reprehensible blog post by your spokesman was clearly in poor taste. Whatever his reasons for writing it, his words reflect on all of those associated with the Tea Party movement. The proper response to his perceived slight on the issue of race was not to use inflammatory sarcasm. Rather, I would have expected your organization to instead highlight the Tea Party I know, the one with good, decent folks who care very much about the serious financial issues facing our nation and who themselves would find Mr. Williams' blog post distasteful.

Instead, the Tea Party Express has apparently decided to stand by Mr. Williams and support him in his own contention that he did nothing wrong. I cannot agree with that course of action. Since the Tea Party Express refuses to reject and rebuke Mr. Williams, I have no choice but to decline your endorsement.

I thank you very sincerely for your kind words about my work as a Congressman, and hope that your group can see the error of its ways.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/19/rep-walt-minnick-lone-dem_n_651662.html