A widely-viewed Facebook post from a Tarrant County Republican calls for a party leader to lose his job because he's Muslim.
The post came from a conservative activist who is a former Tarrant County precinct chair and one-time State Republican Executive Committee member. In the post, she called on people to demand a vote to unseat the party's new vice chair, Dr. Shahid Shafi, at the county GOP's executive committee meeting next month
But so far the response is just the opposite of what she asked for. The post triggered a backlash from many prominent Republicans in the county who called it a fringe movement that does not represent the party.
"I'm disappointed," said Darl Easton, Chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party.
He was in damage control Wednesday afternoon, preparing to send out a clear message.
"The leadership of the Tarrant County Republican Party unequivocally rejects the bigotry recently demonstrated by a few members of our party," Easton said, reading from a prepared statement. "Intolerance based on one's faith has no place in the construct of the Tarrant County GOP policy, and violates the very principles and moral values upon which our Nation and the Republican Party were founded."
Easton appointed Dr. Shahid Shafi, a Southlake City Councilman, to be his vice chair last month. Shortly afterward, Easton received a couple of messages from Tarrant County Republicans asking him to take back the appointment.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
"I said under what grounds? They never really came up with anything other than his religion," Easton said.
Then a post went public on the "Protect Texas" Facebook page. In it, former Tarrant County precinct chair Sara Legvold called for Shafi to be removed, calling him: "A practicing, Mosque attending Muslim who claims not to follow Sharia law or know what it is."
Easton calls that a "fringe view."
"I believe in the Constitution of the United States, no religious test for elected office," Easton said.
High-profile GOP leaders in Tarrant County have since stepped forward condemning the post and backing Shafi, including Texas Rep. Matt Krause (R-Fort Worth).
"It just didn't sit well with me because again we were talking about maybe replacing somebody from a political position that really seemed to have nothing to do with politics or the Republican Party platform," Krause said. "I don't think you want a narrative out there that you're not welcoming to people of a certain faith."
Shafi did not want to comment.
NBC 5 spoke by phone with Legvold, the activist who made the post. She did not want to appear on camera but said, "When you stand up for what's right, you make enemies."
Some county Republicans now want to see that recall vote just to show how much her view is outnumbered.
The question of religion came up in May when Salman Bhojani ran to be the first Muslim member of the Euless City Council. Opponents cited his religion as part of their objection to his candidacy. Bhojani narrowly won that election.
