The Republican candidate for chief executive of Dallas County, Texas, is trying to run away from a horribly racist comment he made last year. Seems that he told some of his fellow Republicans that they should persuade black voters to use their food stamps on Election Day rather than go to the polls.
Ron Natinsky is the Republican candidate for Dallas County judge. In Texas, counties are headed by a commissioners’ court — the equivalent of a county commission in other states. The chief executive is known as the county judge — the equivalent of a county executive. Natinsky faces an uphill battle in a county that has turned increasingly blue in recent years. However, his race got a lot tougher when The Dallas Morning News discovered a speech he gave to a Republican club in the Dallas suburb of Coppell last year. In the speech, Natinsky urged Republicans not to put up a candidate against longtime Democratic congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson in the 30th District, who represents most of the majority-black areas in and around Dallas. Why? If more voters in the heavily black southern portion of Dallas County — where Johnson’s district is anchored — come to the polls, it could hurt Republicans in downballot races–including Natinsky’s own race against Democratic incumbent Clay Jenkins.
For those who don’t know, Johnson’s district is the most Democratic district in Texas, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+30 — meaning a comatose Democrat could win here. A Republican actually was willing to play the role of sacrificial lamb, but according to Natinsky, other Republicans talked him out of it. In explaining why, Natinsky went off the deep end with a spiel that has to be reproduced in full to be believed.
“We don’t want to motivate her voters. We don’t want another five or ten thousand of her people going to the polls. What we want them to think is, ‘There’s no reason. She doesn’t have an opponent. I don’t need to go to the polls. I’ll go spend my food stamp money at the grocery store, or whatever, you know, on Election Day.’ So there’s a little bit of strategy to why you would leave a seat like that open.”
This isn’t just a dog whistle, folks. This is a dog whistle being blown into a megaphone. It plays into a classic stereotype about blacks as being more willing to live off public assistance rather than find a job. The only surprising thing about this rant from Natinsky is that it was so blatant.
The video had been available on the Coppell Republican Club’s Vimeo channel for almost a year, but when local Democrats found out about it in the last few days, they pounced. State senator Royce West, for instance, said in a colossal understatement that any suggestion all blacks live on food stamps was “outrageous.” If Natinsky didn’t have the decency to apologize, West suggested that “we need to look at him to determine if he’s a racist.” Marc Veasey, the Metroplex’s other black congressman, accused Natinsky of engaging in a brand of politics “that should have been washed away 50 years ago.” The fact anyone could even think this was even remotely acceptable to say now, Veasey said, is yet more proof “that we must still fight for change.” For her part, Johnson — who is all but assured of a 12th term after only a Libertarian and an independent filed against her — reminded her constituents that the stakes are far too high to stay home on Election Day. “Our future depends on your participation,” she said.
Natinsky’s explanation so far has been to plead ignorance. When The Morning News collared him for a comment, Natinsky only said:
“I haven’t seen the video and don’t remember what I said a year ago.”
That’s been his only comment so far — he’s said nothing about it whatsoever on Facebook or Twitter. But don’t worry — The Morning News is doing its best to jog his memory. The Coppell Republican Club made the video private soon after news of it broke, but The Morning News got a clip of Natinsky’s racist comments. Watch below:
Gee, I thought the GOP was supposed to be the party of personal responsibility.
Almost as telling is the deafening silence from other prominent Republicans. I searched for any statement from a prominent Republican denouncing these remarks. Unless I’m very wrong, no prominent Texas Republican — including Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick — has stepped up to denounce this. This sort of talk is unacceptable and should be condemned in the strongest terms regardless of partisan affiliation. Abbott, Patrick, and other Texas Republicans need to show some leadership and distance themselves from Natinsky.
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Edited by D.H.
