Senator Joe Pennacchio said a resolution (SR-155) adopted by Senate Democrats condemning certain comments by the President as racist is a demonstration of utter hypocrisy.

“We have numerous examples of elected Democrats at all levels of government making comments which are clearly discriminatory, and in some cases blatantly anti-Semitic,” said Pennacchio (R-26). “Where’s the official condemnation?”

Pennacchio highlighted several examples of discriminatory comments by elected Democrats that the majority party has chosen to ignore:

• In December of 2018, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-California) and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) made anti-Catholic comments in their review of a federal judicial nominee, insinuating who would not be able to rule fairly and impartially because he was a member of the Knights of Columbus, a highly-respected Roman Catholic charitable organization. Harris is now among the Democratic candidates for President of the United States;
• Rep. Rashida Talib (D-Michigan) said “there’s a kind of a calming feeling” she gets when she thinks of the Holocaust. Sen. Bob Singer has introduced a resolution (SR-145) condemning these comments that the Senate has yet to consider; and
• Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) said that support for Israel is “all about the Benjamins” – a bigoted reference to Jews controlling the money; and

“If he’s trying to be a racist, President Trump is doing a pretty bad job,” Pennacchio said. “Minority unemployment is at an all-time low and wages are rising for those at the lowest end of the socioeconomic spectrum. Still, Democrats are making false accusations of racism while ignoring discriminatory comments spouted from within their own ranks. Given that hypocrisy, it make it hard to take their criticism seriously.”

Pennacchio has signed on as a co-sponsor of a newly introduced Senate resolution that condemns all racist and discriminatory comments directed at elected officials at any level of government.

“Instead of using the Legislature as a political sounding board, let’s roll up our sleeves and deal with the serious problems that our constituents sent us to Trenton to fix.”