ITALIAN AMERICANS CHARGE SEN. HARRY REID
WITH ETHNIC STEREOTYPING, DEMAND APOLOGY
Washington, DC--
Jan. 19, 2006
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is guilty
of “egregious poor judgment and bad taste” and
needs to apologize to Senator Rick Santorum and the
nation’s estimated 26 million other Americans of
Italian heritage, according to the Sons of Italy
Commission for Social Justice (CSJ), the anti-
defamation arm of the Order Sons of Italy in America
(OSIA), the oldest and largest Italian American
organization in the United States.
The charges followed a comment Sen. Reid made
during
the January 18 telecast of the nationally televised
PBS news program, The NewsHour with Jim
Lehrer. Part of the interview dealt with current
scandals involving lobbyists bribing members of
Congress with gifts, money and trips.
When newscaster Lehrer noted that Senator Rick
Santorum (R-PA) has been among those calling for
reforms, Sen. Reid said: “Having Sen. Santorum talk
about reform is like having John Gotti talk about
doing something about organized crime.”
The CSJ is “stunned” by the inappropriateness of
such an analogy, according to CSJ national
president, Albert DeNapoli, Esq. “We can only
surmise that Senator Reid’s remark was triggered by
Senator Santorum’s Italian heritage and we are
stunned by the egregious poor judgment and bad
taste that comment reveals.” De Napoli said.
"For the Senate minority leader to associate the
highest ranking Italian American in the Senate with a
criminal like John Gotti is beyond any political issues
that may exist between the two parties. Instead it
shows a profound lack of respect for a Senate
colleague as well as the nation’s estimated 26 million
law-abiding Italian Americans. We therefore ask
Senator Reid to issue an immediate public apology.”
Senator Santorum is the son of an Italian
immigrant. After earning a B.A., an MBA and a law
degree, he was elected to Congress in 1990 at the
age of 32. He served in the U.S. House of
Representatives until his election to the Senate in
1995.
About the Sons of Italy Commission for Social Justice
The Commission for Social Justice is the anti-
defamation arm of the Order Sons of Italy in America
(OSIA), the largest and oldest national organization
in the U.S. for men and women of Italian heritage.
Founded in 1905, today OSIA has 600,000 members
and supporters and a network of more than 700
lodges or chapters coast to coast. See
www.osia.org.
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Contact:
Kylie Cafiero
Director of Communications
phone:
202/547-2900
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