Maryland State Sen. Richard Colburn

What do members of an international environmental group that has eight Great Lakes chapters have in common with a sweet, but communist fruit?

Members of the local chapter of Waterkeeper Alliance are “watermelons: green on the outside and red or socialist on the inside,” said Maryland State Sen. Richard Colburn.

Waterkeeper Alliance member Richard Dove, a retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel and a registered Republican responded in a press release:

“I understand that Sen. Colburn aligns himself with big agriculture and the commercial farms that keep him in office, but … having served tour tours of duty in Vietnam, I take it personally when someone calls me a Red, a socialist.”

Waterkeeper Alliance wants an apology from Colburn, whose personal Web site calls him a “shore senator.” Contacted this morning, Colburn staffer Lauren Elcik told Great Lakes Echo that the group had not contacted the senator for an apology.

“Once we receive letters asking for an apology the senator will address it at that time,” Lauren Elcik said.