Imagine the uproar if Bush had said this?.....from the liberal Livingstone:
London mayor carpeted over Nazi jibe
September 1, 2005
smh.com.au
London: The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, is to face a disciplinary hearing for comparing a Jewish journalist to a Nazi concentration camp guard.
The local government watchdog, the Standards Board for England, said on Tuesday an investigation into charges that Mr Livingstone "failed to treat others with respect and brought his authority into disrepute" had concluded that the issue should be dealt with by a hearing.
The Adjudication Panel for England, which will conduct the hearing, could bar him from office for up to five years, censure him, order him to apologise or force him to undergo training.
Mr Livingstone said the investigation had cleared him of the more serious charge of failing to comply with the Greater London Authority's code of conduct.
"The tribunal will now consider the issue of whether I treated a journalist with respect," he said in a statement.
The panel generally holds hearings 15 weeks after receiving reports of alleged misconduct, but announced no specific date for Mr Livingstone's hearing.
The outspoken Mayor has refused to apologise for the comment, which drew calls for contrition from Holocaust survivors, the Government's race-relations watchdog and even the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
Mr Livingstone said he had not meant to offend the Jewish community when he asked the Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold whether he had been a "German war criminal".
Mr Finegold, who had approached the Mayor for comment after a reception for gays and lesbians in February, replied that he was Jewish.
Mr Livingstone told the reporter he was "just like a concentration camp guard. You're just doing it because you're paid to, aren't you?" He referred to Mr Finegold's employer as "a load of scumbags and reactionary bigots".
Mr Livingstone, a staunch left-winger, has long had a testy relationship with sections of the British media. |
