One Republican campaign consultant is out of a job after making some "defamatory comments" about her employer's primary opponent.
According to the Hartford Courant, Connecticut state Rep. Penny Bacchiochi, who is gearing up to run for lieutenant governor, fired consultant Regina V. Ross Roundtree after Roundtree, who is black, wrote a controversial Facebook post about "white privilege" that mentioned Bacchiochi's Republican-primary opponent Heather Bond Somers. The news site reports that Somers called on Bacchiochi to reject the "defamatory comments" that included "outrageous assertions about Heather Somers and her campaign."
According to the Courant, Roundtree wrote the following in the post, which has since been removed:
People think what they think, but help the party out and don't plaster your complete sense of privilege. This is an example of what is sometimes phrased as 'white privilege.' The way Heather talks. The arrogance and belittlement of Penny's and her family's feelings or any other person who has experienced racism. Our feelings or the fact that we may say something is an embarrassment to the party.
That comment got the 44-year-old in a lot of trouble. The Courant reports that Somers' campaign issued this statement:
While a Republican primary may become very heated over the discussion of a candidate's record and vision there is no place for the personal, divisive and defamatory assertions which are becoming common from the Bacchiochi camp. The Heather Somers campaign calls on Bacchiochi to immediately disavow herself of these divisive comments which have no place in the Republican Party or in public discourse.
In response, Bacchiochi released her own statement:
Regina Roundtree's comments are unacceptable and were in no way made with permission from my campaign. … The campaign had no prior knowledge of the statements attributed to her that were made on a third party social media web site. The campaign has severed all ties with Ms. Roundtree.
According to the Courant, however, Roundtree still holds her consultant job with the GOP's Tom Foley, who is eyeing the state's gubernatorial seat.
"Whatever involvement she had in the lieutenant governor's race is unrelated to the work she does for our campaign," a Foley spokesman told the news site.
Read more at the Hartford Courant.