AUGUSTA, Ga. – A Republican Party official has resigned from the Augusta housing authority board after fallout from an e-mail in which he appeared to endorse "making the downtown whiter."
Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver said Monday that Dave Barbee resigned from the Augusta Housing Authority effective Sunday.
A release from Copenhaver's office said Barbee expressed "sincere regret" for poor wording in the Aug. 7 e-mail -- which urged developers to support a plan to shut down a public housing development and replace it with "high income folks who will tend to be White."
"We will be making the downtown Whiter with moving 200 whites in and moving 500 blacks out!" he wrote.
Copenhaver was among a group of local politicians calling for Barbee to step down.
"He apologizes to anyone in the Augusta community that he may have inadvertently offended," Copenhaver said in the statement. "I have accepted his apology and with God's help, may we forgive and move forward as a community of trust and hope."
Barbee, who is white, is the GOP's chairman for the 10th Congressional District. Party officials said he has not been asked to step down from that position.
Barbee has said his message was poorly worded and did not represent his position as a member of the authority.
The authority is responsible for overseeing low-income housing in Augusta.
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