Blake P. Graves Resigns: Staffer Email Embroglio Costs A Man A Job

By Kleinheider Posted on June 17, 2009 at 2:41 pm

UPDATE: Director of Legislative Administration Connie Ridley tells Post Politics that Graves was not fired or dismissed. A former intern, Graves agreed to stay on as a temporary hourly legislative employee to help out in offices that needed it. Graves indicated to Ridley that he would be leaving the legislature in that capacity to pursue full-time work.

Jeff Woods reveals that the Democratic legislative staff member who sent an email making fun of several minority groups has been dismissed by the House Speaker:

According to sources, House Speaker Kent Williams, acting at the request of Democratic leaders, already has dismissed the intern, who has been identified as Blake Graves who was working in the office of Rep. Karen Camper, D-Memphis.

“It was offensive to Asians,” says our source, just to mention one of the pictures. Democrats think they can claim the upper hand in this little contretemps because their staffer has been fired, unlike the Republican offender, Sherri Goforth, who was merely reprimanded.

The graphics contained in the emails are available for viewing here. The firing of Graves comes only days after the revelation that a Republican staffer, Sherri Goforth, had sent out a racially inflammatory email about President Barack Obama.

Although Graves has spent his tenure in the legislature working for Democratic legislators Reps. Joe Towns and Barbara Camper, he was honored in a resolution earlier this year recognizing his affiliation with the College Republicans.

A legislative intern from January until April of this year, Graves became a “Temporary Legislative Assistant” just last month making him a state employee.

Immediately after Graves sent the offending email on Monday (the very same day the Goforth email hit the blogs), he sent a follow up email to the list of both Democratic and Republican staffers the email was sent to.

“Everyone, please excuse that e-mail I sent, I totally missed the words used in it. So please accept my apologies for that e-mail. Nonetheless, have a great Monday!” said Graves to his list of recipients.

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Tags: anti-Asian, Blake Graves, Connie Ridley, Kent Williams, racist emails, Sherri Goforth