An anonymous flyer urging support for African American candidates in Tuesday's Macon-Bibb special election run-off characterizes black supporters of white candidates as "sellout Plantation Nigras."

The document, obtained by Telegraph of Macon editorial page editor Charles Richardson, is a typical "Sunday surprise," Richardson said. That is, a piece of racially inflammatory campaign material distributed around African American churches the Sunday before an election.

"Generally they hit on a Sunday because you don’t have time to respond to them. It makes certain charges that, by the Tuesday election, you can’t refute," Richardson said.

The flyer urges voters to support former Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis in his bid for the new position of Macon-Bibb County mayor, current Macon City Councilor Henry Ficklin in his campaign for the consolidated Macon-Bibb commission, and former Macon Finance Director Adah Roberts who is also seeking a commission seat.

Reached by phone Monday, Roberts denied responsibility for the flyer. "I was disappointed in the flyer," she said. "I don't like running a negative campaign [...] and I certainly didn't want to be part of one that has name-calling like that."

Ellis also denied responsibility. "I had no knowledge of this flyer until you sent it to me," he said in an email.

"The Ellis campaign is busy working trying to get out the vote. We spend all of our efforts campaigning and sharing our message of hope, growth, and opportunity for all of Macon-Bibb's citizens. We have not had time and do not have time to spend on nonsense such as this," Ellis wrote.

Ficklin has not yet responded to GPB's request for comment.

Tags: Charles Richardson, Macon-Bibb consolidation, Adam Ragusea, Henry Ficklin, C. Jack Ellis, Leah Flemming, Adah Roberts