Massachusetts state Rep. John Binienda (D) apologized Thursday for comparing a proposal to make lobbyists wear badges when talking to lawmakers to Adolf Hitler’s forced tattooing of Jews during the Holocaust.
“Yesterday, I made an inappropriate analogy regarding a proposed change to the House Rules,” he said in a statement. “No comparison can be made between the Nazi regime and a rules proposal made by members in good faith. I apologize to the sponsors as well as the people of Massachusetts for my words and look forward to working with the sponsors on these proposals.”
Binienda, who heads the House Rules Committee, was quoted by the State House News ServiceThursday as saying: “The idea of the badge by lobbyists to me, I kind of find that revolting.”
“Hitler during the concentration camps tattooed all of the Jewish people so he would know who was Jew and who wasn’t,” Binienda said, “and that’s something that I just don’t go along with.”
Derrek L. Shulman, the regional director of the New England chapter of the Anti-Defamation League, quickly called on Binienda to apologize. “Casual references to the Holocaust in a legitimate discussion about domestic Ethic Reform are offensive and destructive,” the Boston Globe reports Shulman said.
Jillian Rayfield
Jillian Rayfield is a Reporter/Blogger for TPM, and started as a News Intern in May 2009. She graduated from Cornell University in May 2008 with a degree in Film, and worked as a Research Assistant for a market research firm in London in between.