Later LePage said he 'didn’t know' if the IRS was on the path toward interning Americans. LePage compares IRS to Nazis, again

Maine Gov. Paul LePage compared the Internal Revenue Service to Nazi Germany for the second time in five days Thursday morning, saying the agency is “headed in that direction” — of committing a holocaust.

“What I’m trying to say is the Holocaust was a horrific crime against humanity and frankly, I would never want to see that repeated,” LePage told a reporter for 7 Days, an alternative weekly in Vermont. “Maybe the IRS is not quite as bad — yet.”


“But they’re headed in that direction?” the reporter asked, according to audio posted by the paper.

“They’re headed in that direction,” LePage replied.

The comments have drawn rebukes from two separate groups: IRS agents and the Jewish community. The governor is reaching out to the latter and ignoring the former.

”Governor LePage clearly doesn’t get it,” said Derrek Shulman, the Anti-Defamation League’s New England regional director. "He has not heard the deep concerns of his constituents and from people around the world. Analogies to the Holocaust and the Nazis are inappropriate when discussing the IRS. They trivialize and demean millions of Hitler’s victims, and offend all those who value civil discourse and respectful dialogue.”

Still, Jewish groups have been told to expect an apology from the governor during his weekly radio address on Saturday, one week after his original remarks. Shulman said he was “hopeful” the governor would deliver. Emily Chaleff, the executive director of the Jewish Community Alliance for Southern Maine, said her group and the ADL have a meeting scheduled with the governor for Friday morning.

Last Saturday, the tea-party-backed Republican governor created an uproar during his weekly radio address when he told Mainers they “must buy health insurance or pay the new Gestapo — the IRS.” On Monday, he backed off the remarks, saying it “was not my intent to insult anyone, especially the Jewish community” and admitting “the use of the word Gestapo has clouded my message.” He also called Chaleff to apologize.

But the apology didn’t last long. On Thursday, he exchanged the following words with 7 Days’ Paul Heintz:

“Do you have a sense of what the Gestapo did during World War II?” Heintz asked.

“Yeah,” LePage said. “They killed a lot of people.”

“And the IRS is headed in that direction?”

“Yeah.”

“They’re headed in the direction of killing a lot of people?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you serious?”

“I’m very serious,” LePage said, later adding: “I’m saying the federal government is taking away the freedom of Americans to make choices.”

Later in the interview, LePage seemed to realize he might be in hot water again, saying, “The Holocaust is probably a bad example. Americans should not forget that it did happen.”

“I apologize to Jewish Americans if they feel offended,” he continued. “But I also apologize to Japanese-Americans that were put in prison during World War II, and I also apologize to those who were accused of being Communists during McCarthyism, because that’s not the American way.”

While LePage is reaching out to Jewish groups, the people he’s comparing to Nazis — IRS agents — are receiving nothing but silence. National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley sent LePage a letter Tuesday requesting an apology. LePage hasn’t responded.

“I’m appalled,” Kelley said in an interview with POLITICO. “I couldn’t believe he said it again. It’s obviously what he believes.”

Kelley, whose 150,000-member union includes 86,000 IRS agents, said she’s afraid LePage’s remarks could “encourage violence against federal workers.”

“It was just political,” Kelley said. “And that’s not an excuse. And it’s just not OK.”

In his interview with 7 Days, LePage also said he “didn’t know” if the IRS was on the path toward interning Americans.

Maine Democrats were quick to pounce on LePage’s comments, saying the governor had “crossed a threshold” and coming just short of calling for his removal from office.

“It’s not even clear that he understands why his comments are controversial,” state Democratic Party Chair Ben Grant said in a statement. “I can’t say it more simply than this: Governor LePage’s fitness to hold office must now be seriously and openly questioned.”

The governor was attending a fundraiser for Vermont GOP gubernatorial candidate Randy Brock in South Burlington, Vt. Brock, a state senator, stood next to LePage for the length of the interview, according to 7 Days.

“If you asked me directly, ‘Do I believe the IRS are the Gestapo?’ I’d say, ‘No.’ Simple as that,” Brock said after LePage walked away.

This article tagged under: Paul LePage

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