School board candidate regrets offensive choice of word
By Hamilton Kahn
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ROSWELL, New Mexico (KOAT) — Sometimes, all it takes is a single word to cause an uproar.
A door-cam video that has gotten a lot of attention online captured a terse exchange between a woman candidate for the Roswell school board who is a Democrat and a Republican woman who had once sought a seat in the state House of Representatives.
The school board candidate, Sarah McArthur, was going door-to-door to get votes. Instead, she got a chilly reception from Tracy De La Rosa.
When De La Rosa asked if she was affiliated with Emerge, an organization that recruits Democratic women to run for elective office. McArthur said yes.
De La Rosa then said, “We don’t want Emerge candidates in New Mexico.”
Then, to her deep regret after the fact, McArthur’s response included a word that is considered to be a slur against the LGBTQ+ community.
“Well, we don’t want MAGA fa****s either,” McArthur said.
De La Rosa said, “Did you just say ‘fa****s’? because I got it on camera,” and McArthur said, “Good, I’m glad.”
Once the video was posted online, McArthur decided to make a public apology.
“I meant to say ‘fascist,’ and in the heat of the moment, the wrong word came out,” McArthur wrote. “I take full responsibility for using a hateful and unacceptable word. It was wrong and I deeply regret it. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ+ community and to everyone I’ve disappointed.”
In a subsequent Facebook post, De La Rosa had the last word — for now, at least.
“What happened to inclusion?” De La Rosa wrote. “I thought we could all believe whatever we want to believe without hate.”
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