Representative Quits Following Uproar Over Eugenics, Siberia Comments

The following excerpt comes to us via Inclusion Daily Express:

March 14, 2011

CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE– [Excerpt] A 91-year-old freshman lawmaker who suggested the mentally disabled should be shipped to Siberia resigned Monday from the state House and said he was sorry that his “big mouth caused this furor.”

Rep. Martin Harty’s comments came to light last week during testimony at a hearing on proposed cuts to the state budget. He said he was kidding around with a female caller who supported funding for the homeless when he raised the issue of eugenics and the world’s population growth.

Harty, a Republican from Barrington, said he didn’t know what to do with mentally disturbed people and suggested renting a spot off Russia. He said the woman called him an Adolf Hitler and hung up.

“I was just getting the hang of it some, but with the slightly unfavorable publicity I’ve been getting the last few days, I’ll never be an effective lawmaker,” Harty said in his handwritten resignation letter.

Entire article:
NH Rep Who Suggested Disabled Go To Siberia Quits
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=134436295

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Author: stevekuusisto

Poet, Essayist, Blogger, Journalist, Memoirist, Disability Rights Advocate, Public Speaker, Professor, Syracuse University

0 thoughts on “Representative Quits Following Uproar Over Eugenics, Siberia Comments”

  1. What I usually say in situations like this, applies well now: Don’t blame the politician as much as the people who elected him! Voters: Do Your Homework!

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