Wis. candidate's remarks questioned

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - A Democratic congressional candidate said at a recent campaign event that he was late because he was "on Injun time," prompting calls for an apology from a Republican office-seeker in South Dakota who is American Indian.

House candidate Steve Kagen, who arrived late to a campaign event in Green Bay after a meeting on an Oneida reservation, told the audience Friday, "Our excuse in Oneida was, well, we're on Injun time."

"They don't tell time by the clock. Our excuse here is that I am a doctor and that we're never on time," he said.

Kagen, 56, who is in a tight race in Wisconsin's 8th Congressional District with Republican John Gard, apologized Monday.

"I did not mean any harm by my words and I humbly apologize if I offended anyone. That was not my intent," he said in a statement, hours after the National Republican Congressional Committee released a tape recording of the comment.

The committee also released a statement in which Bruce Whalen, a South Dakota Republican seeking election to the U.S. House, called Kagen's remark a "racist comment" that insults Native Americans everywhere.

Whalen, a member of South Dakota's Oglala Sioux tribe, demanded in the statement that Kagen apologize.

Whalen spokesman Lee Breard did not immediately return a message left at the campaign office Monday evening.

Kagen and Gard, a 43-year-old state lawmaker, are seeking to replace Republican Rep. Mark Green (news, bio, voting record), who is running for governor. Democrats need to capture 15 seats on Nov. 7 to gain control of the 435-member House.

Bobbi Webster, a spokeswoman for the Oneida Nation, said tribal members were not taking Kagen's comment as disrespectful and were not seeking an apology.

"Tribal members say that themselves," Webster said. "It is not uncommon to hear somebody come in late and say, 'Oh-oh. I am running on Indian time.'"

She said she didn't think the term was disrespectful in this case.

A Gard spokeswoman called Kagen's choice of words "unfortunate."

"You shouldn't hear remarks like this from people running for Congress," said Christine Mangi. "They should be held to a higher standard."

___

On the Net:

John Gard: Gard for Congress | 8th Congressional District, Wisconsin - Welcome!

Steve Kagen: "Together, We Will" Kagen 4 Congress