NAACP: Smitherman Can't Be Both

If you're following the back-and-forth about whether Christopher Smitherman can be both local NAACP president and a City Council candidate, here's another round:



Richard McIntire, a spokesman for the NAACP national office in Baltimore, says tonight that Smitherman cannot. He says the organization has a policy dating to 1968 that requires anyone in a local leadership role to "relinquish their position temporarily during the period of the candidacy." The policy also says that if the person wins the elected office, he or she has to resign the NAACP position, according to McIntire. He said he couldn't fax the policy.



If it seems like you read something different than that here earlier this week, you're not imagining it. McIntire said Wednesday, in a voicemail, that the organization's constitution didn't speak to the issue. He said then:



"Customarily, what occurs is if there is a branch president that is seeking elective office in their community, once they announce as a candidate, they will step down as president. The branch's first vice president will assume the presidency. And then pending the outcome of the election, if that individual were successful in their run for elective office, it would be up to the branch to determine or vote whether or not there was a conflict of interest and then they would proceed accordingly."



As for the discrepancy, McIntire said Friday that he and I must have misunderstood each other.