Mayor won’t resign over ‘Gorilla face’ Michelle Obama rant because ‘that’s

KXLY recently reported that Patrick Rushing, mayor of Airway Heights, Wash., is facing increased pressure to resign after a Facebook comment about the Obama family was criticized by some locals as racist.

“I made a mistake”, he acknowledged in an interview with the Spokane Spokesman-Review.

Rushing told The Spokesman-Review that he is not a racist.

“If I do resign, that’s admitting I’m a racist and I’m not”, he told The Spokesman-Review.

Rushing has reportedly refused to step down, according to the news station, and won’t comment on the message posted from his account. “The woman is not attractive except to monkey man Barack”.

City Council members have called for Mayor Rushing to resign, but so far he has refused, prompting the city attorney, Stanley Schwartz, to draft a resolution.

Rushing explained the remark as “just playful back and forth banter that my friends and I do”.

Deputy City Manager and Police Chief Lee Bennett says that’s not enough. “When you become a public figure I’m no longer Lee Bennett citizen”, Bennett pointed out.

There is an Airway Heights city council meeting scheduled for Monday, July 20 to discuss the Mayor Rushing. However, because Rushing was elected, the city council can not force him to resign.