City Council votes no confidence in mayor who posted racist comment about the Obamas on Facebook

AIRWAY HEIGHTS, Wash. -- The Airways City Council voted 5-1 Monday for a resolution expressing no confidence in their mayor after he posted a racist comment about the Obamas on his public Facebook page.

KHQ reported that while many residents and council members of Airway Heights called for Mayor Patrick Rushing's resignation at the council meeting, Rushing told the council he will not step down as mayor.

The City Council has also asked Rushing to resign. But Rushing said he will remain in office unless there is a recall.

Rushing said in the council meeting Monday that he has deleted his Facebook page, calling it "the Devil's tool."

His comments on Facebook compared the Obamas to monkeys.

According to KHQ, the Facebook post read:  "Gorilla face Michelle, can't disagree with that.  The woman is not attractive except to monkey man Barack.  Check out them ears. LOL."

Rushing told The Spokesman-Review (http://bit.ly/1dZhyHl ) that he is not a racist, that his comments were playful banter between him and some friends.

“I made a mistake. I owned up to my mistake,” Rushing told the newspaper. “If I do resign that’s admitting I’m a racist and I’m not.”