Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) inaccurately claimed Tuesday during a House Financial Services Committee hearing that Clippers owner Donald Sterling is a Democrat, shortly after the NBA banned him for life for making widely-denounced racist comments.
“We’ve all heard of the comments that were recently made by Mr. Sterling from the LA Clippers, who is a Democrat — made absolutely offensive comments,” Duffy said, praising President Barack Obama for condemning the comments.
In fact, Sterling is a registered Republican, as confirmed by public records provided by Los Angeles County officials.
Sterling’s partisan affiliation appears to have no relevance to the national political debate. But descriptions of Sterling as a Democrat could be found early this week in conservative media outlets including the Drudge Report and National Review, which made the assertion based on Sterling’s past campaign contributions to several Democratic politicians. (He doesn’t appear to have made any contributions to Republicans.) National Review has since corrected its article.
Duffy’s spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The hearing by the Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations was held for the purposes of considering a resolution to authorize issuance of subpoenas to compel testimony of certain employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He invoked the NBA’s swift decision to ban Sterling as a contrast to the Obama administration’s alleged slow decision-making.
Duffy released a video of his remarks referencing the NBA and Sterling, which were first noted on Twitter by SNL Financial reporter Zach Fox.
