Maryland Attorney General -- and likely 2014 gubernatorial candidate -- Doug Gansler is coming under scrutiny for comments he made about race… and about another Democrat who’s running for governor, Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown.
The Washington Post has obtained a secretly taped speech, recorded on July 15, in which Gansler says Brown doesn't have much to show for his time in office… and argues that the Lieutenant Governor is trying to rely on race as he mounts his gubernatorial bid.
Brown is black, Gansler white.
On the recording, Gansler said: “Right now his, his campaign slogan is, 'Vote for me, I want to be the first African American governor of Maryland.' Which is fine.”
Gansler went on to say that there’s no one bigger on diversity than he is – and notes that he was an early backer of Barack Obama’s bid for the presidency in 2008; Brown had, at first, given his support to Hillary Rodham Clinton.
On the recording, Gansler said: “I’m all about picking the candidate, and so when it was time to pick the candidate for president of the United States, when Barack Obama wanted to run, I said I’m not going to judge somebody by the color of their skin, I’m gonna judge by the content of the character and who is the better candidate, and I thought Barack Obama was the better candidate, so I chaired his campaign.”
But Gansler appeared to indicate that race could play a role in his choice for running mate; Gansler said he plans to announce his pick for Lieutenant Governor shortly after he officially declares his candidacy in September… and, he said: “It’ll be an African American, and it’ll be somebody from either Baltimore or Prince George’s.”
The Gansler campaign isn’t disputing the authenticity of the tape… but has accused the Brown campaign of illegally recording the remarks. Brown's campaign says it had nothing to do with the recording, and the Washington Post says that the source of the recording was not employed by either campaign.