Maryland House Speaker Michael Busch has stripped delegate Mary Ann Lisanti (D-Harford) of her position after discovering she told a colleague that she campaigned in a “n*gger district.”
Lisanti, a White Democrat, was referring to Maryland’s Prince George County, which is 65 percent Black, The Root reports. She made the comment while drinking at an Annapolis, Maryland, cigar bar.
She issued an apology to leaders of the state’s Legislative Black Caucus, writing, “I am sorry for the hurt I have caused and will do everything I can to help heal the pain and regain the trust of my colleagues and constituents.”
WBOC reports Del. Darryl Barnes, the caucus chairman, called the apology “woefully inadequate,” and urged Busch to take action.
“It is clear that Delegate Lisanti is unsuited to continue in a position of leadership in the Maryland General Assembly,” Barnes said in a letter. Busch has since removed Lisanti from her role as chair of the Unemployment Insurance Subcommittee of the House Economic Matters committee, according to The Hill.
“I hope that through sensitivity training that Delegate Lisanti has agreed to and the help of her colleagues, she will develop a greater understanding of the impact that she has had on her fellow legislators and the entire House of Delegates,” Busch said in a statement.
