By Anna Gustafson
The former deputy press secretary to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer who resigned after writing inflammatory racial statements on her Facebook profile has been fired from her position as a campaign photographer for Democratic Council candidate Heidi Harrison Chain.
Chain spokesman Glenn DiResto said the candidate vying to replace City Councilwoman Melinda Katz (D-Forest Hills) axed Lee Landor over the week, just after the campaign learned of the 24-year-old’s online statement calling Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. a “racist” and President Barack Obama “O-dumb-a.”
“She was with us for a period of time, but after we got word of the Facebook statements she has no longer been associated with the campaign,” DiResto said.
A nationwide conversation on racial profiling was sparked after Gates was arrested in July while attempting to enter his Cambridge, Mass. home through the front door that had become jammed. Gates has said his arrest happened despite his showing identification because he is black. Obama originally criticized the Cambridge police, although later he retracted his statement and said the police were doing their job.
“I get it — white men have dominated for hundreds of years and there’s a lot of anger there,” Landor wrote in a Facebook post. “But HOW MUCH MORE can white people do to correct past injustices of their ancestors?”
Landor left Stringer’s office at the end of July. She had been “taking photos and doing minor stuff around the office,” DiResto said of the former Queens Chronicle reporter’s role in Chain’s campaign.
Chain is one of six candidates running for the 29th District seat, which covers Forest Hills, Rego Park, Kew Gardens and parts of Richmond Hill, Maspeth and Elmhurst.
Reach reporter Anna Gustafson by e-mail at agustafson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 174.
