By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

Posted April 9, 2008 – One of Sen. Barack Obama’s Illinois delegates was asked to resign after likening two little Black children to monkeys.

Last weekend, Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski, a Carpentersville, Ill., village trustee, noticed the kids playing in a tree next to her house. Come down, and “quit playing in the tree like monkeys,” she told them.

Ramirez-Sliwinski says she wasn’t being racist; she was only thinking of the children’s safety. But one of the youngster’s parents didn’t quite agree and called police to complain.   The Carpentersville police slapped her with a $75 ticket for “disorderly conduct,” which under town law means that a “person does something that alarms or disturbs another.”

The Obama campaign agreed that the incident was disturbing and asked her to relinquish her post as a delegate.  “Given the incident, she is stepping down as a delegate and will be replaced,” said campaign spokesman Bill Labolt.