Florida’s Republican Secretary of State Michael Ertel submitted his resignation today after photos emerged of the politician in blackface at a 2005 Halloween party.
A spokesperson for Governor Ron DeSantis said that the newly elected Republican leader had ‘accepted Secretary Ertel’s resignation’ this afternoon, hours after his office was shown the photos obtained by the Tallahassee Democrat.
In the pictures, Ertel, 49, is dressed like the highly-offensive mammie character in blackface, red lipstick and a New Orleans Saints bandanna.
The Republican politician then finished it off with falsies and a shirt that read ‘Katrina victim,’ clearly meant to mock the victims of the disaster just two months after the storm devastated the Louisiana coast.
Michael Ertel at 2005 Halloween party.
When asked to comment on the photo, Ertel said: “There’s nothing I can say.”
“It has been an honor to serve you and the voters of Florida,” Ertel’s resignation letter stated.
“I want people to be able to lead and not have these things swirling around him,” DeSantis said. “I’ve got to have an administration that’s going to be focused on what matters to Floridians, and I don’t want to get mired into kind of side-controversies.”
Ertel is now the second high-profile Caucasian to lose their job in the past few months over their belief that blackface is acceptable at Halloween.
Former NBC host Megyn Kelly lost her network job after her comments defending racist Halloween gags, including blackface.
Ertel had only been on the job for just a few weeks, having been appointed by Gov. DeSantis to his new position on December 28.
He was previously the Seminole County supervisor of elections, a post he was appointed to by Jeb Bush in 2005 before winning reelection four times.
The photos that have emerged were taken just eight months after Bush selected Ertel to replace Dennis Joyner, who stepped down from the post citing poor health.
It was a swift decision by Ertel, who prior to his time in Florida politics did public relations for the US Army, spending eight years crafting the media response to major events including the LA riots and the three-year armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina.