By MyNewsLA.com
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, and the Orange County Republican Party Thursday defended their endorsement of a school board candidate and Huntington Beach official for making what some say were bigoted remarks online.
The Greater Los Angeles Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the Orange County Republican Party for its endorsement of Gracey Van Der Mark, a member of the Huntington Beach Finance Commission and a candidate for a seat on the Ocean View School District Board of Education.
Rohrabacher’s Democratic opponent in the November election, businessman Harley Rouda, ripped the incumbent for his stamp of approval of Van Der Mark as well.
Citing an OC Weekly article referring to a now-deleted YouTube video, Van Der Mark is accused of joining group of “right-wing protesters” at an anti-racism workshop in Santa Monica last year, CAIR officials said.
Monica last year, CAIR officials said.
In a comment on the video, she is accused of writing, “This meeting was being ran by the elderly Jewish people who were in there. The colored people were there doing what the elderly Jewish people instructed them to do.”
Van Der Mark did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The alternative newspaper also reported she created a playlist on YouTube dubbed, “Holocaust hoax?” Van Der Mark reportedly later said the playlist was “research,” according to CAIR.
CAIR officials also accused her of posting anti-Islamic comments on social media.
“It is unconscionable that the OC GOP would endorse a candidate who has proven herself to be an equal-opportunity bigot,” said Hussam Ayloush, CAIR-LA’s executive director.
“That the OC GOP would make Ms. Larrea-Van Der Mark its sole endorsed candidate in this race — especially over other Republican candidates — is both shocking and telling of the message the party is sending to its constituency.
“At a time when biased-driven school bullying is at an all-time high, the last thing our schools need is a bully and a bigot setting the vision and goals of a school district.”