Potentially offensive Facebook posts don't deter councilman's reelection

The Amarillo Globe-News posted potentially offensive remarks from City Councilman Randy Burkett's personal Facebook page, dating back to 2013. The Amarillo Globe-News posted potentially offensive remarks from City Councilman Randy Burkett's personal Facebook page, dating back to 2013. Photo: Source: Amarillo City Councilman Randy Burkett's Personal Facebook Page Photo: Source: Amarillo City Councilman Randy Burkett's Personal Facebook Page Image 1 of / 35 Caption Close Potentially offensive Facebook posts don't deter councilman's reelection 1 / 35 Back to Gallery

If Amarillo voters were offended by Councilman Randy Burkett's politically charged Facebook posts, it didn't stop his reelection.

Burkett, 60, was reelected Saturday to the council with 55 percent of the votes cast for Place 3, according to the Amarillo city website. He faced four opponents for the Place 3 seat.

On Thursday, the Amarillo Globe News reported that some of Burkett's support was wavering, in the wake of the paper's drawing attention to potentially offensive posts on his personal Facebook page.

The next day on his campaign Facebook page, Randy Burkett for Amarillo City Council Place 3, he apologized to anyone offended by the posts from "years ago."

"I certainly did not mean to offend or harm anyone," Burkett said. "I take full responsibility for making a bad choice at the time."

He said he was bothered, however, by the paper's including comments and "likes" that included readers' names. The paper has since blurred names of commenters.

Some of Burkett's posts touched on race, such as this advice to young black men: "Pull up your pants, drop the N-word, take care of your communities, finish high school, don't have children out of wedlock."

Others were political in nature: "A man who doesn't want his child is a DEADBEAT DAD. A woman who doesn't want her child is a (sic) PRO CHOICE."

Some combined the two hot-button issues, such as a photo of President Barack Obama and the First Lady in the doorway of Air Force One with the caption: "Lifestyles of the Bitch and Blameless."

In an interview for the initial article, Burkett told the Globe-News that as many as five other people handled his personal account and he did not remember posting some of the items. He said the material did not accurately represent his world view.

"Anybody that knows me, knows that I'm not a racist," he said. "I'm not a sexist. I'm not a bigot. I'm none of those things."

In an email Tuesday, Burkett noted that the Globe-News endorsed him before the story broke and stayed with the endorsement afterwards.

"I was also endorsed by the Board of Realtors and the Police Officers Association who both worked the polls for me on election day," he said by email.

In a five-way race, there is typically a runoff but Burkett said, "the voters in our city (rallied) around me and elected me hands down."