NJ SENATE REPUBLICANS P.O. Box 099 Trenton, NJ 08625 www.senatenj.

j.com Phone: (609) 292-5199 Fax: (609) 9848148 June 17, 2011 Contact: Adam Bauer Senator Robert Singer 732.901.0702

Singer: "Nazi Comments Reflect Poorly on Opponents of Pension and Benefits Reform" Lakewood In response to comments made yesterday by an opponent of legislation reforming the state pension and benefits system for public employees comparing the Governor and Legislative leaders to Nazis, Senator Robert Singer (R- Ocean/Mercer/Burlington/Monmouth) issued the following statement: "As someone of the Jewish faith who lost family in the Holocaust, I find comments made as part of yesterday's demonstrations comparing Governor Christie, Senate President Sweeney, and Assembly Speaker Oliver to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis deeply offensive. There is simply no excuse, none, for those comparisons to be made in legitimate political discourse. Yesterday's comments reflected poorly on both the individual making them as well as the organization he represented." "Pension and benefits reform for public workers is a difficult and emotional issue for lawmakers, advocates, and public employees alike. It is an issue that is deserving of a full and thoughtful debate by people of good will, and nobody expects that debate to be devoid of passion and hyperbole. However, comparing those who support the compromise legislation to the most cruel, murderous regime the world has ever known is neither historically accurate nor acceptable rhetoric by any standard." "Supporters and opponents of this legislation each hold perfectly valid points of view, and a free society both accepts and celebrates their differences. The rights exercised by the individual who made those hateful remarks are available to him because people from all walks of life and points of view died in the fight to eradicate Nazism."
Adam R. Bauer Director of Communications Senate Republican Office 609.292.5199 abauer@njleg.org