A noted political scientist joined
one of Sen. George Allen's former college football teammates in claiming the
senator used a racial slur to refer to blacks in the early 1970s, a claim Allen
dismisses as "ludicrously false."
Larry Sabato, one of
Virginia's most-quoted political-science
professors and a classmate of Allen's in the early 1970s, said in a televised
interview Monday that Allen used the epithet.
Sabato's assertion came on the
heels of accusations by Dr. Ken Shelton, a radiologist who was a tight end and
wide receiver for the University of Virginia in the early 1970s when Allen was
quarterback. He said Allen not only used the N-word frequently but also once
stuffed a severed deer head into a black family's mailbox.
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Allen's campaign released
statements from four other ex-teammates defending the senator and rejecting
Shelton's claims.
Christopher LaCivita, an Allen
strategist, said Allen and Sabato were not friends nor did they associate with
each other in college.
"Larry is obviously relying on
words he heard from someone else," he said. "We believe it's completely
inaccurate."
Sabato, director of the University
of Virginia Center for Politics, would not tell The Associated Press how he knew
Allen used the N-word. He told Chris Matthews on MSNBC that he did not know
whether it was true that Allen used the word frequently while in
college.
"I'm simply going to stay with
what I know is the case, and the fact is he did use the N-word, whether he's
denying it or not," Sabato said.
Allen, a Republican, has been
mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2008. Questions about racial
insensitivity have dogged him during his re-election bid against Democrat Jim
Webb.
Allen's use of the word "macaca"
in referring to a Webb campaign volunteer of Indian descent in August prompted
an outcry. The word denotes a genus of monkeys and, in some cultures, is
considered an ethnic slur. But the senator insisted he did not know that and had
simply made up the word. (See
also:What Was He Thinking?
Sen. Allen's Racial Slur Caught on Video Twice)
Allen vehemently denied that he
used the N-word.
"The story and his comments and
assertions in there are completely false," Allen said during an interview with
AP reporters and editors. "I don't remember ever using that word and it is
absolutely false that that was ever part of my
vocabulary."
Shelton said Allen used the N-word only
around white teammates. Shelton said the incident with the deer
head occurred during their college days when he, Allen and another teammate who
has since died were hunting on a farm the third man's family owned near
Bumpass, Va., 40 miles east of the
university.
Shelton said Allen asked the other
teammate where black families lived in the area, then stuffed a deer's head into
the mailbox of one of the homes.
"George insisted on taking the
severed head, and I was a little shocked by that," he told the AP. "This was
just after the movie 'The Godfather' came out with the severed horse's head in
the bed."
Shelton said he came forward because of
Allen's presidential prospects and the "macaca" incident.
"When I saw the look in his eye in
that camera and using the word 'macaca,' it just brought back the bullying way I
knew from George back then," he said.
Shelton described himself as an
independent who has supported Democratic and Republican candidates. He said he
regretted that he had not spoken against Allen in the early 1980s, when he first
entered politics. Shelton said he began writing down his
recollections as Allen's career "ascended to heights I never could have
imagined."
Shelton's claims came a week after a
debate in which Allen bristled at questions about his Jewish ancestry. Allen
later acknowledged publicly for the first time that his grandfather, a prisoner
in a Nazi concentration camp, was Jewish, and on Monday he said both his
maternal grandparents were Jews.
Explaining his initial reaction,
Allen has said his mother swore him to secrecy when she told him about his
ancestry last month. (AP)
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