4 months ago
Republican Erie County Executive Chris Collins is apologizing for a joke in which he compared Democratic New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, an Orthodox Jew, to both Hitler and the anti-Christ.
During an Erie County Republican Party dinner in Buffalo Saturday, Collins, according to one published report, joked that Nostradamus predicted there would be three anti-Christs. Collins said Napoleon and Hitler are widely considered the first two, and that he was pretty sure Speaker Silver was the third. A spokesperson for Collins called the account of the joke "fairly accurate."
Speaker Silver's office said it was aware of the joke but declined to comment. Collins' office released the following statement Monday morning:
"Saturday night, I made a poor joke regarding the Speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver. I want to extend my sincerest apologies to him for my comments. I have placed a call to the Speaker's office to offer my apologies directly.
"While we may disagree strongly on policy matters, my statement had no place in our political discourse and I am truly sorry to both the Speaker and to anyone else who I may have offended."
Collins declined our request for an on-camera interview.
At least one local Jewish leader was disappointed by Collins' initial comments.
"I have met Chris Collins a number of times and have no reason to think he is anti-semitic or anything like that," Buffalo Jewish Federation President Dan Kantor said. "I think that his comments were primarily pointed to the way business is done in Albany, and he picked a very bad metaphor... I think it's an unfortunate situation and I think it's going to hang over him for quite a while unfortunately."
Political experts believe the comments could haunt Collins if he runs for governor in 2010.
"Well, I think you could see it in an ad somewhere," Canisius College Political Science Professor Michael Haselswerdt said. "I mean, it is certainly legitimate to bring something like this up even though, you know, it probably wasn't really serious."
Erie County Democratic Chairman Len Lenihan was quick to pounce.
LENIHAN: Anytime you put arrogance and ignorance together, it's bad combination and this is exactly what this statement exemplifies.
REPORTER: But he has apologized and Jewish leaders sensed there was no malice or anti-semitism in his comments, shouldn't that be enough?
LENIHAN: Well, you know, let me say something, though. He's a representative of members of this community. When he speaks, speaking at a public event in front of hundreds of people in Downtown Buffalo, he is not there as a prankster and a jokester, he is there as this community's county executive. And he should sound reasonable and intelligent. And he didn't. He sounded dumb, and stupid, and ignorant.
