Rep. Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski, and Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, need to review some 20th century history. Their utter illiteracy and obliviousness are both dangerous and insulting.
As reported in the Anchorage Daily News, Carpenter objected to pandemic safety measures at the Alaska Capitol during a recent email exchange between all 40 House members. Those measures will require returning lawmakers to undergo a virus screening and, if cleared, wear a sticker indicating that fact when they enter the Capitol.
Carpenter compared that requirement to the Nazis labeling of Jews with Star of David armbands during the Holocaust.
“‘How about an arm band that won’t fall off like a sticker will?’ Rep. Ben Carpenter wrote in a message copied to all 40 members of the Alaska House. ‘If my sticker falls off, do I get a new one or do I get public shaming too? Are the stickers available as a yellow Star of David?’”
There was immediate pushback. Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, said being asked to wear a sticker clearing one to enter a building was not like being shipped to a concentration camp. It was, he said, “more akin to needing a boarding pass when you get through TSA.”
Rep. Grier Hopkins, D-Fairbanks, told Carpenter to “keep your Holocaust jokes to yourself.”
Vance rushed to Carpenter’s defense, replying to Hopkins that, “‘We should all be concerned about the implications of being labeled as ‘non-compliant’ or wearing a badge of ‘compliance.’”
The utter ignorance displayed by both Carpenter and Vance should make voters ashamed for having sent either to the august halls of the Alaska House of Representatives. They should be called out for their stupidity and retired in the general election this fall.
Hal Spence
Homer
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