Mass. Lawmaker Compares Bill Making Lobbyists Wear Badges To Nazi’s Treatment Of Jews

Republicans in the Massachusetts state House have proposed a package of ethics reform that include making lobbyists wear badges to identify themselves when in the Statehouse. The proposal comes after former House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi (D) became the third consecutive Bay State speaker to be convicted of or plead guilty to felony charges when he was found guilty on seven counts of federal corruption charges earlier this month. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

But the head of the powerful House Rules Committee John Binienda (D) finds the ethics reforms “revolting,” telling reporters that making lobbyists wear badges is just like what Nazis did to the Jews during the Holocaust:

“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 Jew and who wasn’t, and that’s something that I just don’t go along with.” [...]

“I know who the lobbyists are when I go out there,” said Binienda.

Binienda immediately apologized for the remarks, which were first published this morning, saying he made a grossly “inappropriate analogy.” “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,” he said. The Anti-Defamation League New England had called for him to apologize this morning.