Heh.

MILWAUKEE —

Democrat Mahlon Mitchell denies he nearly used a racial slur while joking with brewery owners on a tour as part of his run for governor.

Mitchell, who is black and leads the statewide firefighters union, made the comment while visiting Hop & Barrel Brewing Co. in Hudson earlier this month. The videotaped visit appeared on Mitchell’s Facebook page and was noticed by Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnist Daniel Bice.

“I thought I was saying head man in charge,” Mitchell said Wednesday during a sit-down interview with WISN 12 NEWS. ‘I do not use the word.”

In the July 6 exchange, Mitchell was chatting with owners Justin Terbeest and Brian Priefer when he asked if they had a competitor. Mitchell said, “You’re the cumma sum laude, I’d say. You’re the head …” and then stopped himself just as it appears he began to use the N-word.

He then laughed and wrapped up the video.

I don’t believe his denial for a second. Go watch the video. The exchange comes with about 9 seconds left in the video. It is perfectly clear what he was saying/not saying and the joke he was making. What is more telling is that he apparently thought that the joke was so innocuous that he published the video himself. This is part of a trend of Mitchell using crude and offensive humor in public settings. I do know that if Scott Walker, or any Republican for that matter, had even approached the language that Mitchell used, he would have been forced to resign by now.

Another one!

Mahlon Mitchell last ran for public office during the 2012 recall elections, when he was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor and lost to Rebecca Kleefisch. The nearly 1.2 million votes Mitchell received in that election gives him the highest vote tally in a single election of any of the candidates running for governor so far.

At 40, Mitchell is also the first major Democratic contender who is younger than Gov. Scott Walker, who recently turned 50. Mitchell, like Walker, grew up in Delavan and attended Delavan-Darien High School.