NY Rep. Carolyn Maloney apologizes over use of N-word

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Rep. Carolyn Maloney apologizes over use of N-word, but slip may cost her against Sen. Gillibrand
By Michael Saul
DAILY NEWS POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

Monday, July 20th 2009, 2:51 PM

Monaster/News
Rep. Carolyn Maloney's use of the N-word may hurt her planned run against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

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Rep. Carolyn Maloney's planned Senate bid isn't even officially off the ground and already she's scrambling to say sorry for using the N-word in an interview.

"I apologize for having repeated a word I find disgusting," Maloney said in a statement Monday.

Maloney used the racial slur while relaying a story she'd heard.

The potentially damaging gaffe comes a week before Maloney's scheduled launch of her Democratic challenge to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand at the polls next fall.

Baruch College's political pro Doug Muzzio said Maloney's use of the N-word is, to be blunt, "stupid."

"A week before your announcement you don't want to apologize for anything, particularly a word that would offend a core demographic group," Muzzio said. "Is it fatal?

No. But it sure ain't good."

Maloney aides say the East Side congresswoman is undeterred by the controversy and will formally announce her Senate candidacy next Monday or Tuesday.

She spent last night raising about $300,000 for her House campaign war chest with a cash bash headlined by ex-President Bill Clinton at the St. Regis Hotel in midtown.

Asked about the flap at the fund-raiser, Maloney refused to expand on her earlier statement.

She made the slur while criticizing Gillibrand to City Hall, a biweekly publication and political Web site.

She was relaying a conversation she'd had with someone disappointed in the new senator's stance on English-only education - a hot-button issue in the Hispanic community.

"I got a call from someone from Puerto Rico, said [Gillibrand] went to Puerto Rico and came out for English-only [education].

And he said, 'It was like saying n----- to a Puerto Rican,'" she is quoted as saying, using the full racial slur.

In a statement, the Rev. Al Sharpton, who is supporting Gillibrand, lambasted Maloney, saying her use of the word was "alarming."

"No public official, even in quoting someone else, should loosely use such an offensive term and should certainly challenge someone using the term to him or her," Sharpton said.

Maloney explained, "It's no excuse, but I was so caught up in relaying the story exactly as it was told to me that, in doing so, I repeated a word that should never be repeated."

Sharpton said he takes Maloney's apology at face value, but he said the incident could hurt her in the African-American community.

"I personally don't think she's a racist, but I think it is disturbing," he said. "Does she [regularly] allow this kind of word in conversation?"

Gillibrand spokesman Matt Canter said the senator believes "any use of the word is offensive."

Despite the blowback, Maloney's team was still trying to score points off Gillibrand's English-only stance - a position the senator's aides say she opposes.

But in 2007-08, the "English First" group gave Gillibrand an A grade.

"Apparently, Sen. Gillibrand has changed her positions so many times that her own staff doesn't even remember what they are," said Paul Blank, a senior Maloney aide.

msaul at nydailynews.com

The Dark Knight, July 22 2009, 11:16 AM

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