Lawmaker denounces comment as racist

COLUMBIA, S.C., Oct. 20 (UPI) -- A South Carolina state senator has called for the resignation of two Republican county chairmen for what he says were anti-Semitic comments.

"The words of these key Republican leaders are disgusting, unconscionable and represent prejudice in its purest form," state Sen. Joel Lourie, a Jewish Democrat, said in a story published Tuesday in The State, Columbia, S.C.

Lourie denounced Edwin Merwin Jr., head of the Bamberg County Republican Party, and James Ulmer Jr., head of the Orangeburg County Republican Party, for an opinion piece published Sunday in The (Orangeburg) Times and Democrat.

Both Ulmer and Merwin have since apologized for the Jewish reference contained in the piece, which defended the opposition of U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., to congressional earmarks.

"There is a saying that the Jews who are wealthy got that way not by watching dollars, but instead by taking care of the pennies and the dollars taking care of themselves," the piece read.