U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn met with black community leaders in Fountain on Friday and apologized for calling the president a “tar baby” in a radio interview.
A Colorado Springs Gazette reporter heard the Colorado Springs Republican say he hosted the meeting “because I respect each person here.”
Lamborn’s press assistant then kicked the Gazette reporter out of New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church, saying the Rev. James McMearn had decided to close the meeting to the news media, according to the newspaper.
Lamborn said in a radio interview during the debt-ceiling negotiations that he didn’t want Republicans to get too cozy with the president.
“Even if some people say, ‘Well, the Republicans should have done this or should have done that,’ they will hold the president responsible,” Lamborn said. “Now, I don’t even want to be associated with him. It’s like touching a, a tar baby and you get it . . . you know you’re stuck, and you’re part of the problem now, and you can’t get away.”
Lamborn wrote a letter of apology to President Barack Obama on Aug 1. The White House has not commented on the incident.
Lamborn’s office said Friday that the congressman has formed a minority citizens advisory board to offer “an even better perspective on issues of concern to the minority community.”
“I need to listen and learn and go forward from here,” Lamborn said to the crowd, according to the Gazette.
Allison Sherry: 202-662-8907 or asherry@denverpost.com
