ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska officials are investigating racist jokes about President-elect Barack Obama that have been circulating on state government e-mail accounts.
One of the five e-mails obtained by The Associated Press asks about the outcome of the Democrat’s victory after all the time and money invested and concludes: “Another black family living in government housing!”
State officials were unaware of the e-mails until asked about them by the AP.
Three of the racist messages were confirmed by the state’s information technology division after an electronic search of the government’s e-mail system, administration commissioner Annette Kreitzer said Wednesday.
“It’s embarrassing to the state,” she said.
Kreitzer said she alerted the office of Gov. Sarah Palin about the e-mails.
Bill McAllister, Palin’s spokesman, said in an e-mail that the matter concerned individual actions taken by a handful of state employees.
