Sender: Email wasn’t racist

 FULLERTON, Calif. – An Orange County GOP official who sent an email depicting President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee said Wednesday she considered the email political satire – not racist – and would not step down, even as local party leaders called for her resignation.

 Speaking publicly for the first time outside her suburban ranch-style home, Marilyn Davenport read from a written apology she first issued two days ago.

 “I feel that it was inappropriate and I offended people,” said Davenport, who serves on the Republican Party’s Orange County Central Committee. “I think it’s only racist when the intent in my heart is to make it that way, and that was not the intent in my heart.”

Associated Press