Denver, CO, October 28, 2013…The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today condemned as “deeply offensive” remarks that compared opponents to the effort to recall Colorado State Senator Evie Hudak to Brownshirts, Nazi paramilitary formations used by Adolf Hitler to intimidate political opponents.

Mike McAlpine, a leader in the effort to recall Senator Hudak, recently appeared on the Peter Boyles radio show and spoke about supporters of Senator Hudak that he claimed had acted inappropriately.  McAlpine said, “I mean, these people – the Brownshirts – have been doing it for decades and decades . . ..” Boyles responded, “Yeah . . . sure.”

Scott L. Levin, ADL Mountain States Regional Director, issued the following statement:

“Mike McAlpine’s analogy to the Brownshirts trivializes the genocide of the Holocaust and is deeply offensive to Holocaust survivors, their families, and those who fought valiantly against Hitler’s regime.

“It is beneath a public figure and community member to invoke such an inappropriate analogy. Further, Boyles had a responsibility – as we all do – to repudiate such a comparison. That he endorsed the analogy is reproachful.

“As the League has said many times before, reasonable people can disagree about political issues without drawing inappropriate comparisons to the Holocaust.  ADL calls upon McAlpine, Boyles, and all public figures and community members to refrain from making inappropriate Nazi analogies in the political arena.”

 

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.  As a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization, ADL is non-partisan and does not endorse or oppose any candidates for political office.