Tuesday, October 24, 2006
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- A Democratic congressional candidate said at a recent campaign event that he was late because he was "on Injun time," prompting calls for an apology from a Republican office-seeker in South Dakota who is American Indian.
House candidate Steve Kagen, who arrived late to a campaign event in Green Bay after a meeting on an Oneida reservation, told the audience Friday, "Our excuse in Oneida was, well, we're on Injun time."
"They don't tell time by the clock. Our excuse here is that I am a doctor and that we're never on time," he said.
Kagen, 56, who is in a tight race in Wisconsin's 8th Congressional District with Republican John Gard, apologized Monday.
"I did not mean any harm by my words and I humbly apologize if I offended anyone. That was not my intent," he said in a statement, hours after the National Republican Congressional Committee released a tape recording of the comment.
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