Boggs McDonald offended by Lott

Friday, Dec. 20, 2002 | 11:21 a.m.

Las Vegas City Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald was among the black youth who desegregated schools in the South three decades ago.

So the controversial comments by her fellow Republican, embattled Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, hit home especially hard for Boggs McDonald, who in November lost to incumbent Rep. Shelly Berkley, D-Nev, in a congressional race.

"Of course it was tremendously offensive," Boggs McDonald said Thursday. "Speaking only as a Republican Party faithful, I believe he (Lott) owes it to President George W. Bush and other Republican senators to step aside."

Lott called a news conference today to announce he is stepping down as majority leader.

"As one of the children who desegregated the schools (in Richmond, Va.), I am distressed to hear him (Lott) suggest that going back to the days before desegregation would have made things better," Boggs McDonald said.

"It is totally out of step with today's Republican Party." Richmond schools desegregated in 1970.

Republicans had been set to discuss Lott's fate on Jan. 6.

"I'm finally glad that this matter can finally be put to rest," Boggs McDonald said this morning. "Now our party can begin to heal."

Lott's comments were made Dec. 6 at the 100th birthday party of retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., who in 1948 ran for president on a platform of segregation and banning interracial marriages.

Lott said: "We wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years" had Thurmond won the presidency. Lott has apologized several times, including on BET, the black cable television network. He called his comments insensitive.

"This is a new GOP, and Trent Lott owes his position in the party to the cultural change brought about by President Bush," Boggs McDonald said. "Whether (Lott's) apology was sincere or contrite is not the issue. There are so many other Senate Republicans who can articulate President Bush's vision."

Mayor Oscar Goodman, Boggs McDonald's colleague on the City Council, agreed, saying Lott's comments were "just plain wrong."

Goodman, a Democrat, said Lott is now suffering the consequences for his insensitive remarks.

Earlier this week, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said he would continue to support Lott, provided Lott becomes a champion of minority issues.

Boggs McDonald stopped short of criticizing Ensign, who supported her recent campaign efforts. She said she doubts Lott "has the credibility to become a champion of minority issues."

She said Lott should not have put fellow Republican senators such as Ensign in a position of having to decide whether to defend him.

Boggs McDonald added, "The Democrats talking about censure are hypocrites because there was no censure when Sen. (Robert) Byrd (D-W.Va.) used the 'N' word on CNN, then apologized for it."

Last year Byrd used the phrase "white niggers" in a taped broadcast interview. He then apologized, saying "the phrase dates back to my boyhood and has no place in today's society."

Earlier this week Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., declined to comment on whether Democrats would push for censure of Lott.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., had gone on record as saying Lott should voluntarily step aside."

Lynette Boggs McDonald

LAS VEGAS COUNCILWOMAN