Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
ShareState reps urge Portman to sever ties over group's "Nazi" posting
Click image to enlarge
|
By MARILYN H. KARFELD
Senior Staff Reporter
Ohio Democratic state legislators have called on Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rob Portman to sever his ties with COAST, a Cincinnati anti-tax group. On its website, COAST (Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending & Taxes) referred to lawmakers in the General Assembly as “Nazis.”
In a press conference Monday, state Reps. Steve Slesnick of Canton, Kenny Yuko of Richmond Heights, Mike Foley of Cleveland, and Ronald Gerberry of Austintown denounced Portman for headlining a COAST fundraiser in Cincinnati that evening.
On its website explaining the rules for political action committees, COAST says, “The Nazis in the State Legislature have created draconian campaign finance reporting laws that make criminals of those who fail to complete their paperwork correctly.” It then suggests that people fill out the required paperwork, no matter how silly.
COAST has also taken heat for recent Twitter posts about two dead Congressmen, both of whom were Democrats. In recent posts, COAST called the late Sen. Ted Kennedy a “shovel-ready project;” on the death of U.S. Rep. John Murtha, the organization wrote “good riddance bad egg.”
The COAST comments “are highly inappropriate and disrespectful and have no place in the political discourse,” said Portman campaign spokeswoman Jessica Towhey. “Just as representatives of the group COAST were wrong to use these inflammatory words so is the Democratic Party wrong to use them to try to score political points.”
At the press conference, Slesnick, who identified himself as a Jewish American, called this “hateful name calling inappropriate and offensive. Nazi is never a term to throw around lightly. It makes a mockery of the most brutal genocide in history … I am outraged Portman is raising money for this organization.”
Such behavior “certainly scares me that we have people running for public office who will align themselves with this sort of thing,” added Slesnick. “What kind of personal relationships would (Portman) support as far as American-Israeli relationships?”
Yuko, noting the large Jewish population in his district, said he “was appalled to hear an organization using this language” and that Portman would align himself with them.
COAST has also said that restaurant owners have the right to kick out a gay and lesbian couple and that landlords have the right to evict gays from their homes, said Yuko. “There is no room for people with this kind of mentality.”
The legislators said they would circulate a letter in the General Assembly requesting Portman, a former congressman and former budget director under President George W. Bush, disassociate himself from COAST. In the Senate race, Portman will face the winner of the Democratic primary, either Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher or Sec. of State Jennifer Brunner.
COAST chairman Jason Gloyd said he understood the criticism and was only “just made aware” of the Nazi language on the website, which he called “a little overboard. We try to make a point to get people to act and to get people engaged in the political process. In that instance, we overstepped a little bit.”
As for the tweets about Kennedy and Murtha, Gloyd said, “The message got lost in the delivery.” A few COAST members have access to the Twitter account, and “I voiced my displeasure with a few of them. We will have tighter controls on them. I agreed with the message, but I didn’t like the delivery of the message.”
About 220 people attended the COAST fundraiser that Gloyd estimated would raise about $15,000. Portman addressed the crowd for about 20 minutes. While he made no reference to the Nazi analogy during his speech, Portman’s spokesperson that evening called the comments inappropriate and distracting from finding solutions to our economic challenges and the status quo, according to Gloyd.
mkarfeld@cjn.org
Originally published March 3, 2010
In a press conference Monday, state Reps. Steve Slesnick of Canton, Kenny Yuko of Richmond Heights, Mike Foley of Cleveland, and Ronald Gerberry of Austintown denounced Portman for headlining a COAST fundraiser in Cincinnati that evening.
On its website explaining the rules for political action committees, COAST says, “The Nazis in the State Legislature have created draconian campaign finance reporting laws that make criminals of those who fail to complete their paperwork correctly.” It then suggests that people fill out the required paperwork, no matter how silly.
COAST has also taken heat for recent Twitter posts about two dead Congressmen, both of whom were Democrats. In recent posts, COAST called the late Sen. Ted Kennedy a “shovel-ready project;” on the death of U.S. Rep. John Murtha, the organization wrote “good riddance bad egg.”
The COAST comments “are highly inappropriate and disrespectful and have no place in the political discourse,” said Portman campaign spokeswoman Jessica Towhey. “Just as representatives of the group COAST were wrong to use these inflammatory words so is the Democratic Party wrong to use them to try to score political points.”
At the press conference, Slesnick, who identified himself as a Jewish American, called this “hateful name calling inappropriate and offensive. Nazi is never a term to throw around lightly. It makes a mockery of the most brutal genocide in history … I am outraged Portman is raising money for this organization.”
Such behavior “certainly scares me that we have people running for public office who will align themselves with this sort of thing,” added Slesnick. “What kind of personal relationships would (Portman) support as far as American-Israeli relationships?”
Yuko, noting the large Jewish population in his district, said he “was appalled to hear an organization using this language” and that Portman would align himself with them.
COAST has also said that restaurant owners have the right to kick out a gay and lesbian couple and that landlords have the right to evict gays from their homes, said Yuko. “There is no room for people with this kind of mentality.”
The legislators said they would circulate a letter in the General Assembly requesting Portman, a former congressman and former budget director under President George W. Bush, disassociate himself from COAST. In the Senate race, Portman will face the winner of the Democratic primary, either Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher or Sec. of State Jennifer Brunner.
COAST chairman Jason Gloyd said he understood the criticism and was only “just made aware” of the Nazi language on the website, which he called “a little overboard. We try to make a point to get people to act and to get people engaged in the political process. In that instance, we overstepped a little bit.”
As for the tweets about Kennedy and Murtha, Gloyd said, “The message got lost in the delivery.” A few COAST members have access to the Twitter account, and “I voiced my displeasure with a few of them. We will have tighter controls on them. I agreed with the message, but I didn’t like the delivery of the message.”
About 220 people attended the COAST fundraiser that Gloyd estimated would raise about $15,000. Portman addressed the crowd for about 20 minutes. While he made no reference to the Nazi analogy during his speech, Portman’s spokesperson that evening called the comments inappropriate and distracting from finding solutions to our economic challenges and the status quo, according to Gloyd.
mkarfeld@cjn.org
Originally published March 3, 2010
 |
||
| Heights Parent Center seeks nominees |
Submit news tips and story ideas
Do you have a news tip or a story idea? Click here to tell us about it.
Article Rating
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of clevelandjewishnews.com.
You must register with a valid email to post comments. Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments. Registration is free.
Registered users sign in here: |
Become a Registered User |
