A Republican state senator from Idaho has been accused of making racist remarks toward a Native American Democratic candidate for the state’s House of Representatives.
Senate incumbent Dan Foreman was asked about discrimination in Idaho during a bipartisan “Meet your Candidates” event in Kendrick on Tuesday, and reportedly replied that “discrimination doesn’t exist”, according to Boise State Public Radio.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Democrat candidate Trish Carter-Goodheart said that she “highlighted our weak hate crime laws and mentioned the presence of the Aryan Nations in northern Idaho as undeniable evidence of this reality.”
Carter-Goodheart has alleged that Foreman told her: “I’m so sick and tired of this liberal bullshit. Why don’t you go back to where you came from?”
Carter-Goodheart is a member of the indigenous Nez Perce tribe, one of five federally recognized tribes in the state of Idaho.
Foreman said in facebook post that he “made no, repeat no, racial slur or statement of any nature” and that such accusations were “patently false”.
Newsweek has contacted Foreman and the Idaho GOP regarding the allegations.
While Newsweek was unable to obtain a recording of the event, Carter-Goodheart’s account was corroborated by two event organizers, according to The Idaho Statesman.
A copy of Trish Carter-Goodheart’s statement, released on Wednesday. Carter-Goodheart said that Republican State Senator Dan Foreman asked: “Why don’t you go back to where you came from?” during a Tuesday event.
Trish Carter-Goodheart
“There is no systemic racism in America or Idaho,” Foreman added in a Thursday facebook post, before criticizing media coverage of the “phony incident.”
“I suppose we must expect this type of behavior. Just look at what they have done to former President Trump,” Foreman wrote. “It seems the more effective a conservative elected official is, the more that person is attacked by the left and most, not all, of the media.”
Idaho Sen. Dan Foreman, R-Moscow, waits for the State of the State address inside the house chambers at the state Capitol building, Monday, Jan. 9, 2017 in Boise, Idaho.
Otto Kitsinger/AP Photo
In her statement, Carter-Goodheart said: “I stayed because I wanted to show our community that I can, and will, handle difficult, unpleasant situations.
“After the forum, several members of the crowd came up to me and offered their support, apologizing for Sen. Foreman’s behavior. But it’s not the people in the crowd who need to apologize.”
Foreman is currently running for re-election in the 2024 Idaho Senate election for the state’s 6th legislative district.
Julia Parker, Foreman’s Democratic opponent, told The Idaho Statesman that Foreman stormed out of the event early following the outburst, and had threatened her earlier in the event, after she criticized his senate record.
“This accusation is also patently false,” Foreman wrote on Facebook. “I told my political opponent to stop deviating from the stated rules of the forum and not to repeat the offense during the ensuing proceedings after she violated those rules by making a personal and unwarranted insulting attack on me in her opening remarks.”
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