State Rep. Andrew T. Fenrich resigned last Friday as Allegheny County Democratic Primary Committee secretary after his office sent a letter to party workers that apparently called Democratic gubernatorial candidate Milton J. Shapp “that little Jew.” Although Mr. Fenrich did not sign the letter, and claimed that a typographical error was to blame, he took responsibility for the letter emanating from his office and quit his 15-year party post under pressure from county leaders. He will continue in his post of state representative, which he has held since 1949. He has been accused in the past of racial slurs, but none has been substantiated and he has not been linked to hate groups. His name and those of two other Primary Committee officials were typed in at the bottom of the letter. In the controversial phrase, a three-letter word was blacked out in the phrase “that little—Shapp” in all copies of the letter. There was no hard proof, however, that the deleted word was “Jew.” Mr. Shapp has run unsuccessfully for Governor in the past.
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