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Monica Wehby, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, backs legislation that would prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation, her campaign manager said. Wehby cast some doubt on her position in a radio interview earlier in the day.

(AP Photo/Jonathan J. Cooper)

Republican Senate candidate Monica Wehby's campaign rushed to affirm her support for a federal bill prohibiting job discrimination against gays after she appeared to hedge on her position during an interview with a conservative radio talk show host.

"Monica supports ENDA, just like 10 other Republican senators," said Wehby's campaign manager, Michael Antonopoulos, referring to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The measure passed the Senate last year under the sponsorship of Wehby's opponent, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.

Merkley's campaign spokesman, Jamal Raad, charged that Wehby was "either pandering to conservative media or flip-flopping, one of the two."

Wehby, a pediatric neurosurgeon making her first run for political office, had not taken a position on the bill before the May 20 primary. On June 16, her former campaign manager, Charlie Pearce, said that Wehby was "supportive of ENDA at the federal level" and "believes that everybody should be treated equally under the law."

On Friday, Wehby appeared on Lars Larson's radio show and wouldn't say if she supported ENDA as Larson repeatedly pressed her about it.

"I haven't read every single aspect of this legislation," she replied. "But as a general concept I do not believe we should be discriminating against others."

She also said that "we also do need to protect our businesses as well and we need to be sure that we don't have tons of frivolous lawsuits out there."

Raad, Merkley's spokesman, said that Wehby's language was similar to what has been used by Republicans opposed to the bill. "That's like the Republican playbook in dealing with ENDA," he said.

Antonopoulos indicated that Wehby was firm in her support for ENDA and added that "Monica opposes discrimination of any kind."

Here's audio of her exchange with Lars Larson on ENDA:

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-- Jeff Mapes