Candidate Compares No-Smoking Laws to Nazis
A Republican candidate for the Senate drew fire from Jewish groups for likening no-smoking laws to the yellow stars Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany.
John Raese, who is seeking to oust Sen. Joe Manchin (D- W.Va.) lashed out at an April 12 GOP event at laws that require his businesses to post no-smoking signs.
“In Monongalia County now, I have to put a huge sticker on my buildings to say this is a smoke free environment,” he said in remarks first reported by Politico. “This is brought to you by the government of Monongalia County. OK? Remember Hitler used to put Star of David on everybody’s lapel, remember that? Same thing.”
Raese owns a business that produces steel and limestone as well as a number of radio stations and a tourism site.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center blasted the comparison as “inappropriate” and “callous.”
“It compares signs that are meant to protect people’s health with the yellow stars designed to dehumanize and degrade millions of Jews by a racist, genocidal regime,” it said in a statement.
The National Jewish Democratic Council called on Raese to apologize.
Raese stood by the comments. “I don’t see anything that’s incorrect in any of the statements I made,” he told the Charleston Gazette. “It’s all very factual.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
