Republican Former Ohio Supreme Court justice accused of racist comments

Saturday, September 25, 2004 at 05:57PM
TheSpook

Republican former Ohio Supreme Court justice now serving as executive director of Ohio's largest state employees union has been accused of making racist comments to black staff representative Robert Steele during an April 29 meeting, records show . Andy Douglas, who retired from the court last year, was selected in February to provide day-to-day direction of the 37,000-member Ohio Civil Service Employees Association. According to a written complaint sent to union President Ron Alexander on June 25, Douglas said that the "food of choice" of staff representative Robert Steele, who is black, was "sweet potatoes and chitlins and greens," The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported Thursday. Told later that he had offended Steele, Douglas, who is white, returned to the room and denied wrongdoing, addressing Steele and other black employees as "you people," according to the complaint. Douglas declined to comment on the allegations from the April 29 meeting. The complaint was signed by seven union members.  [more ] and  [more ]

Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).