WASHINGTON — The incoming Speaker of the Nevada State Assembly told his colleagues on Sunday morning that he will not be leading them in the new year. He faces a firestorm of criticism over his history of racist comments.
Jon Ralston, a journalist in Nevada, says that Assemblyman Ira Hansen (R), who was just elected as the next legislature Speaker, sent an email to his caucus early in the morning to tell them of his plans.
“Politics that try to hurt people win. I have to leave, “In the email, Hansen wrote. “I hope you all know that the Ira you’ve known for years and weeks is the real Ira and not what the media says about me.”
“You are a great group that can hopefully do great things, and my staying will hurt the caucus,” he added. “I hope the best for you. Thank you for not giving up during these hard days. If this was only about “me,” I would fight until the end, but it will hurt all of you.”
Hansen has written a column for 13 years in The Sparks Tribune, a Nevada newspaper. The Reno News and Review looked at all his columns, many of which were not online, and published some excerpts last week.
Hansen wrote in one column, “The lack of gratitude and the willful ignoring of white history when it comes to ending slavery is a disgrace that black leaders should own up to.”
“Today, it may be sexual harassment for Army men to look at women in the ranks with “longing in their eyes,” he wrote in another. “In reality, women don’t belong in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps, with a few exceptions.”
Hansen also wrote at one point that he proudly hangs a Confederate flag on the wall of the room where he writes his columns.
The Nevada politician’s writings were harshly criticized as soon as they came out. The Reno-Sparks NAACP asked the Republican caucus in the state to think again about choosing Hansen as Speaker.
Governor Brian Sandoval (R) put himself apart from Hansen by saying, “Assemblyman Hansen has said things in public about race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation that I completely disagree with. This kind of awful speech is not allowed.”
Hansen said in a statement released later on Sunday that he was resigning as speaker-elect and that he had been the victim of “character assassination”:
For the good of Nevada and the cause I support, I need to step down as Speaker Designee. Tens of thousands of people who have read my columns and listened to my radio shows over the past 20 years know that this has been a carefully planned attack to eliminate a conservative Republican in a key position in the State government. The politics of personal destruction and the deliberate attacks on my character have completely changed my views and record. Ultimately, this whole attack doesn’t have much to do with how I feel. The people in charge wanted to raise taxes by more than a billion dollars, and as Speaker, I stood in their way. I have already been an Assemblyman for two terms without these nasty attacks. This campaign to hurt my reputation didn’t start until I became a leader. This is happening for that reason, and the public needs to know that.
It’s unclear whether Hansen will also give up his seat in the assembly and his job as Speaker.
For the first time since the Great Depression, Republicans will be in charge of both parts of Nevada’s state legislature and the governor’s office next year.