FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Denver, CO, March 16, 2022 …The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today condemned as deeply offensive remarks made by Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters to a Colorado Springs reporter that referred to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold as a “Soros operative Gestapo.” According to television station KRDO, Peters responded to legislation introduced in the Colorado Legislature to prohibit anyone convicted of an election-related offense from being an elected official, by stating, “This is not ‘an elections bill’, this is an attempt to further limit transparency into Colorado’s election process. Soros operative Gestapo Griswold’s Senate Bill 22-153 is a bald attempt to prevent anyone from knowing how our voting systems work. Among other things, it criminalized election officials’ free speech. [emphasis added]”
Scott Levin, ADL Mountain States Regional Director, issued the following statement:
As an organization that is committed to honoring the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, the Anti-Defamation League is deeply disturbed by reports that an elected official would label another official as ‘Gestapo.’ The Gestapo were the brutal Secret State Police that perpetrated horrific Nazi crimes. There is simply no comparison between the Gestapo, who coordinated the roundup and deportation of Jews that led to their murder in extermination camps, to the alleged actions of a political opponent. Reasonable people can disagree about political issues without drawing inappropriate comparisons to the Holocaust. Peters’ comments trivialize the genocide of the Holocaust and are deeply offensive to Holocaust survivors, their families, and those who fought valiantly against the Nazi regime.
ADL is a leading anti-hate organization. Founded in 1913 in response to an escalating climate of antisemitism and bigotry, its timeless mission is to protect the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment for all. Today, ADL continues to fight all forms of hate with the same vigor and passion. ADL is the first call when acts of antisemitism occur. A global leader in exposing extremism, delivering anti-bias education and fighting hate online, ADL’s ultimate goal is a world in which no group or individual suffers from bias, discrimination or hate. ADL’s Mountain States Region covers Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. More at https://mountainstates.adl.org/.
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