The DuPage Democratic Party is distancing itself from the remarks of its former social media manager, Mary Lemanski, who had referred to the parade tragedy in Waukesha as "karma" and has later doubled down on her comments.
Chairman of the DuPage Democratic Party Ken Mejia Beal said Lemanski’s post was not indicative of what they stand for and said the event in Waukesha was tragic.
"The Democratic Party of DuPage County immediately severed all ties with Mary Lemanski once we became aware of her callous and reprehensible posts,” Beal told the DuPage Policy Journal. “She does not speak for us and we unequivocally reject her statements about the tragic events that occurred yesterday in Waukesha. We as a party denounce violence of any kind. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families impacted by this heinous act, which shocked and saddened us all."
Beal was just elected chairman of the DuPage Democratic Party and has run for state representative in the 42nd House District, according to the Illinois Eagle.
"I firmly believe in the right to freedom of speech," a post from Lemanski on Twitter stated. "I also believe that you must be willing to accept the responsibility and the consequences of your actions for that free speech. I unfortunately made some remarks that were not in good taste regarding the Waukesha tragedy (sic) yesterday. I am accepting the consequences of my free speech, and so I have resigned as social media manager and the Democratic Party of DuPage County has accepted my resignation."
“We are deeply saddened by the tragedy in Waukesha,” DuPage Democrats said when it addressed Lemanski's remarks on its Facebook page. “We believe that violence is wrong. We are aware of statements made by a former member of our organization and find them to be incredibly insensitive and not in alignment of who we are as an organization or our values. Our organization does not support hate in any form."
Lemanski had posted on Twitter that she is perplexed as to why anybody cares about what she has to say. All the posts on her Twitter account, along with her picture, have since been deleted.
According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, Gov. J.B. Pritzker donated $5,000 to the DuPage Democratic Party in 2018.
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