George Allen a racist? Say it isn't so George..

New Report That Senator Uttered Slurs - New York Times New Report That Senator Uttered Slurs By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 — Another acquaintance of Senator George Allen said Tuesday that she heard him use a racial slur in 1976, contradicting a statement he made Monday in an effort to tamp down similar accusations. Mr. Allen’s campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, called the account by the woman, Ellen G. Hawkins, “another false accusation.” Mr. Allen, a Virginia Republican whose re-election campaign has been knocked off balance by the accusations, said Monday that he did not remember ever using the term and that “it is absolutely false that that was ever part of my vocabulary.” Mrs. Hawkins, who described herself as a rural Virginia housewife and an active Democrat, said in an interview Tuesday that she heard Mr. Allen use the slur repeatedly at a party on election night in 1976. She said Mr. Allen used the term while deprecating the intelligence of the black players on the Washington Redskins football team, which Mr. Allen’s father coached. Recalling remarks about its star running back, Larry Brown, Mrs. Hawkins said that Mr. Allen “started in effect bad-mouthing him, saying what a shiftless you-know-what” he was. She said she remembered the conversation because she was a big fan of the team and was shocked. She said Mr. Allen’s statement on Monday was “just plain a lie.” She described her recollections in an e-mail message forwarded to The New York Times. Her former husband, who she said was at the party, did not return a call for comment. Mr. Wadhams said the encounter “did not happen.” He said that Mr. Allen remained “very good friends” with Mr. Brown and that as governor of Virginia, Mr. Allen had appointed Mr. Brown to the board of visitors at George Mason University. Mrs. Hawkins is the third acquaintance in two days to recount hearing Mr. Allen use racist slurs. The accusations are the latest twist in events set off when Mr. Allen called a young Democratic campaign operative of Indian descent “macaca.” Critics said the term was a racial pejorative derived from the name of a monkey species. Mr. Allen apologized for any offense and said he had just made up the word. A college football teammate, Dr. Ken Shelton, has said Mr. Allen used racial slurs and engaged in a racist prank in college in the early 70’s. An anthropology professor, Christopher Taylor, said that as a graduate student at the University of Virginia he heard Mr. Allen use the epithet. Mr. Allen’s campaign issued former teammates’ statements saying they did not remember his using the term. The campaign also issued a statement from his former wife, Anne Waddell, who confirmed meeting Mr. Taylor but disputed his recollection. She said Mr. Allen “would never utter such a word.”