Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said Monday that a local report over the weekend about his family's membership in Newport's exclusive Bailey's Beach Club "got the facts wrong," disputing the reporter's characterization of the private club as "all-white." He did not dispute that the club, formally called Spouting Rock Beach Association, caters to the wealthy, but he said the club told him it has "diversity of membership." Pressed on whether he knows that the club has any people of colors as members, Whitehouse said, "I believe that there are. I don't spend a lot of time there."
A reporter for GoLocal Provincetown asked Whitehouse over the weekend about his historic membership in the "all-white" club, and he replied, "I think the people who are running the place are still working on that," and "I'm sorry it hasn't happened yet." Whitehouse spokesman Richard Davidson told The Washington Post on Monday that the club has "no such restrictive policy" on race or ethnicity. "The club has had and has members of color," he said.
Davidson also said GoLocal was wrong that Whitehouse had pledged to quit Bailey's Beach Club in 2006, then transferred his shares to his wife, Sandra, instead. Whitehouse "did not say that," and "recalls transferring his shares to accommodate a club policy of spouses not both being members," Davidson said. Whitehouse's wife is still a member, he added, and the senator, who is not, "has dedicated his entire career to promoting equity and protecting civil rights, as his record shows."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
-
Movies to watch in October, from 'The Exorcist: Believer' to 'Killers of the Flower Moon'The Explainer Taylor Swift and Martin Scorsese are coming to a theater near you
-
Animals and plants that have been used to fight disease
The Explainer The world's flora and fauna have long been medically important
-
Expiration dates can actually do more harm than good
The Explainer Confusion regarding food labeling is leading to unnecessary food waste
-
Biden creates White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention
Speed Read The office will be led by Vice President Kamala Harris
-
Sen. Bob Menendez charged with federal corruption, bribery
The longtime New Jersey Democrat finds himself in another round of legal peril
-
The Senate's nixed dress code isn't short of mixed reactions
Why Everyone's Talking About Conservatives are taking issue with the axing of a longstanding Senate tradition
-
Would a Biden impeachment help the Democrats?
Critics say the impeachment inquiry against the US president is 'so thin you can see right through it'
-
Rishi Sunak lambasts China after allegations of spy in UK Parliament
Speed Read
-
Judge denies Mark Meadows' request to move Georgia case to federal court
Speed Read
-
Former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson dies at 75
Speed Read
-
Clarence Thomas officially discloses trips from billionaire GOP donor
Speed Read
