19286: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Lawmaker (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By BRENDAN FARRINGTON

   TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Feb 26 (AP) -- A Florida congresswoman apologized
Thursday for making comments about "white men" in the Bush administration,
but refused to back off statement that the president's Haitian policy is
racist.
   Rep. Corrine Brown, who is black, said during a briefing on the Haiti
crisis Wednesday that the president's representatives were "a bunch of
white men." She was speaking to Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega,
a Mexican-American.
   After Noriega told Brown he resented being called a racist and branded a
white man, she responded "you all look alike to me," according to
witnesses.
   Brown, a Democrat from Jacksonville, said Thursday her remarks were not
directed at Noriega, but toward Bush's policy. She said she sent Noriega a
letter to apologize.
   "I apologize right up front," she said. "But I am concerned about the
crisis that is about to happen in Haiti and about the blood and about the
government collapsing and about the people suffering and I just pray that
we will intervene before it's too late."
   The State Department would not confirm receipt of the letter. A
spokesman said the agency doesn't comment on "intergovernmental
communication of that sort."
   Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-Texas, said Brown should resign.
   "Congresswoman Brown's comments demonstrate a complete lack of ethnic
sensitivity. This irresponsible statement represents a step backward for
race relations," Bonilla said.
   Brown said her remarks came at an emotional moment. She said she's angry
Bush is spending $200 billion in Iraq while doing nothing to help Haiti,
where rebel fighters are trying to oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
   "They are poor and they are black and we have just turned our backs on
them and I'm very upset," she said.