Posted on January 13, 2015

Snyder Says Latest Agema Post ‘Absolutely Inappropriate,’ Renews Call for Civility

Jonathan Oosting, MLive, January 13, 2015

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Monday called a recent Facebook post by Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema “absolutely inappropriate” but again stopped short of saying whether he should resign.

Agema on New Year’s Eve reposted a racially-charged article on the criminal justice system that had originally been published in a white supremacist magazine, leading to a new round of criticism for the embattled tea party favorite.

He first came under fire about a year ago for a series of controversial Facebook posts disparaging gays and Muslims, leading RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, Michigan GOP Chair Bobby Schostak and others to call for his resignation.

Snyder, a Republican who indirectly rebuked Agema during his 2014 State of the State address, pointed to those past comments on Monday when asked whether he should resign.

“I made my feelings very clear that if you’re in public service or in the public eye, hopefully you can act with a degree of civility and treat people right,” the governor said. “I don’t consider those comments to be in line with that.”

Agema, who eventually took down the controversial post, defended himself last week in a thread on MLive’s Facebook page, noting that the article had previously been shared by retired Col. Allen West, a former Congressman “who is himself black.”

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