Lawmaker Compares Lobbyist Badges to Holocaust Tattoos
Boston.com - The Anti-Defamation League New England has called for an apology from a state lawmaker who, in criticizing a proposal to require lobbyists to to wear badges, compared them with Holocaust victims.
“Casual references to the Holocaust in a legitimate discussion about domestic Ethic Reform are offensive and destructive,” said Derrek L. Shulman, regional director of ADL New England.
Representative John Binienda, a Worcester Democrat who heads the House Rules Committee, said a Republican proposal to force lobbyists to wear badges while talking to lawmakers smacked of tattoos that Jews were forced to wear.
“The idea of the badge by lobbyists to me, I kind of find that revolting,” Representative John Binienda, a Worcester Democrat, told the State House News Service in article posted this morning. “Hitler during the concentration camps tattooed all of the Jewish people so he would know who was a Jew and who wasn’t, and that’s something that I just don’t go along with.”
Shulman called for Binienda to “retract and apologize for his comments immediately, and demonstrate his understanding of why his comments are outrageous.”
House Republicans made the proposal as part of a package of ethics changes offered after former House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi was convicted on federal corruption charges earlier this month.
DiMasi, who took a kickback in exchange for getting a software contract approved, is the third consecutive speaker to plead guilty to or be convicted of a felony.
The proposal to require badges for lobbyists was pitched by Republicans as a transparency measure, so that members of the public, the press, and lawmakers themselves would know which special interests were attempting to influence lawmaking.
Even though lawmakers know many of the lobbyists, the badges would serve as a reminder, Republicans have said. Binienda told the News Service that was unnecessary.
“I know who the lobbyists are when I go out there,” said Binienda.
Really? This guy was serious with this sh!t? I mean, he made several references to the Holocaust and he doesn't think that maybe, just maybe he's venturing into territory that may be a bit dicey? No? Unless we will be rounding up lobbyists and sending them into gas chambers, I think they can deal with wearing an ID badge. I know that viewpoint may be really out there, so you can address your complaints to our e-mail account.
Obligatory Office Space quote: "You know, the Nazis had pieces of flair that they made the Jews wear." ~ Peter Gibbons
-Big Ran
PS: And people ask me why I wanted to move out of Worcester after growing up there. At least I was born in Boston.
