Dem chair critical of GOP chair's remark about KKK at Trump rallies


YOUNGSTOWN

Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman David Betras said he was “dismayed” to read a comment from Columbiana County GOP Chairman Dave Johnson that if a Ku Klux Klan member were at a public rally, the Donald Trump campaign wouldn’t throw that person out.

Johnson made the statement in a Vindicator column Friday about Trump’s campaign rejecting the comments of Kathy Miller, the Republican presidential nominee’s former Mahoning County chairwoman, who resigned after making controversial comments about race and black Americans.

On a Friday conference call with local black leaders, Betras said the Trump campaign “should do everything they can to keep the KKK out of their rallies.”

The black leaders spoke primarily about Miller and Trump’s campaign embracing racism, something Johnson has said isn’t accurate.

Johnson said, “I should not have said ‘the KKK,’” but criticized the columnist for including his statement.

Read more about the matter in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.