State lawmaker under fire for racist remarks

Community groups and at least two legislators revived a call for Republican Rep. David Stringer to resign from office Friday after recordings of racist comments he made to university students Nov. 19 were published by the Phoenix New Times.

Among other remarks, the Prescott lawmaker can be heard saying “AfricanAmericans and other racial groups don’t … blend in” after coming to the United States and that, unlike immigrants of European descent, they “always look different.”

The recordings surfaced less than six months after Stringer was pilloried for saying there weren’t “enough white kids to go around” in the state’s public schools and calling immigration an “existential threat” to the country.

The Prescott representative ignored a bipartisan push for him to step down at the time and won re-election in the November midterms.

Reached by phone Friday, Stringer said he was not prepared to comment on the new recordings and likely would issue a statement Monday. He did, however, accept a request from incoming House Speaker Rusty Bowers to give up his position as chairman of the House Sentencing and Recidivism Reform Committee.

“His remarks don’t reflect the sentiments of the Arizona Legislature, the constituents we represent, and the policies we enact,” Bowers said in a statement issued hours after the recordings came out, calling the statements “vile.”

“These comments render him incapable of performing his duties as (committee) chair,” Bowers said.

‘Lawmaker shouldn’t have a seat’

Arizona Anti-Defamation League spokesman Carlos Galindo-Elvira called Stringer’s comments “racist, “bigoted” and “outrageous” on Friday, saying they raised “serious questions on (Stringer’s) fitness for office.”

Josselyn Berry, co-director of progressive coalition ProgressNow Arizona, also issued a statement saying Stringer “continues to be a disgrace to Arizona” and “should resign immediately.”

State Rep. and incoming Minority Whip Reginald Bolding said in an interview that he believes “100 percent that (Stringer’s) removal of himself from committees is not sufficient,” and that formal censure and removal “have to be on the table.”

Bolding said he believes many of his colleagues “would absolutely recommend such measures.”

“David Stringer has obviously shown a pattern of his prejudice toward people of color here in this state, and he is someone who I believe should not be representing the state of Arizona in any form or fashion,” Bolding said.

“The people of Arizona want to make sure that they have people who are receptive and responsive to them no matter what they look like, and if a person’s race or appearance is going to influence the way a lawmaker speaks to them or treats them, then that lawmaker shouldn’t have a seat in our House of Representatives.”

Democratic Rep. César Chávez, who represents Maryvale, said on Twitter that Arizona is “enriched by (its) diversity and cultures” and state government “has no room for individuals such as David Stringer.”

“We must look to move forward from this divisiveness,” he wrote.

Gov. Doug Ducey, who had pushed for Stringer to resign earlier this year, was on a trade mission in Mexico on Friday and did not immediately react to the controversy.

Spokesman Patrick Ptak said, “As the governor has previously stated, this type of rhetoric should disqualify someone from serving in the Legislature.”

State Republican Party Chairman Jonathan Lines issued a statement describing the remarks on the recordings “racist commentary which can only be attributed to a perspective that is out of touch with reality.”

The students who debated and taped Stringer are part of a political-history and leadership club at Arizona State University, according to Stephen Chmura, the sophomore who provided copies of the recordings to The Arizona Republic.

As Stringer was speaking to the club, members began researching him and read about the comments he’d made in June, Chmura said. They decided to challenge his views to see whether his positions had evolved.

“We were itching to talk to him about it,” Chmura said. “We knew what we were up against.”