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Bill Lawrence, a Republican candidate for a Chittenden County House seat, appears to have promoted a number of xenophobic posts through his Twitter account, including claims that Muslims have infiltrated the Obama administration.

An Underhill resident, Lawrence is running his first political campaign after 30 years in the hotel and airline businesses, according to a bio he submitted to VTDigger. He identifies himself as an active member of St. Thomas Church and the Knights of Columbus. Lawrence also serves on the Audit Committee for the Essex-Jericho-Underhill Ecumenical Ministry Food Shelf.

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In an interview Thursday, Lawrence said that the surfacing of the tweets — a number of which are more than a year old — represents a “smear against my campaign” from his opponents “because they know they are not going to win.”

The posts Lawrence has retweeted include a number of political conspiracy theories, including that members of the Muslim Brotherhood have infiltrated the Obama administration. Another tweet accuses longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin of having ties to Muslim groups, including Al Qaeda.

“I’m not a racist, I’m not a xenophobe and I am, let alone, not homophobic,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence claimed that not all of the tweets were retweeted by his account, and that some came from another Bill Lawrence on Twitter, including one that calls for Muslims to be burned in public. He said that he did not retweet that item, but added that he shut down his Twitter account after that tweet and others were found and publicized, including the Vermont Political Observer.

“I have no problem with Muslims coming to America, as long as they are vetted the way the process works,” Lawrence said.

Asked if he thinks the Obama administration has been infiltrated by Muslim extremists, Lawrence said it was possible, adding that the “government also has concerns about it.”

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A section of Lawrence’s political site calls for “building relationships with all groups,” a goal Lawrence said he could achieve because of his career “working for Choice Hotels International across the country for 16 years and with the Econo Lodge Franchisee Association for 2 years.”

Lawrence is vying for one of the two seat in the Chittenden-3 district. He said he has been knocking on doors frequently, adding “I feel good about winning.”

Also running are Democrats George Till and Trevor Squirrel, as well as Republican Debby Rackliff.

The posts come on the heels of bigoted Facebook posts made by Burlington school board member David Kirk. The school board has asked its lawyer if the social media posts by Kirk violate its policies, and a group of parents have started a petition calling for Kirk to resign.

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