UPDATE: Statement from Delegate David Englin:
While I support the effort to create a top-level commission to recommend policies to reform government, it is deeply disturbing that Governor McDonnell would appoint as its chair Fred Malek, whose history in “reforming” government includes creating lists of Jews serving in government to track and remove from government service. Was there really no more qualified individual in Virginia to lead this panel? Has he done anything to disavow and make amends for his previous anti-Semitism? Otherwise, it’s one more slap in the face from McDonnell to Jewish state employees, coming right on the heels of allowing uniformed state police chaplains to proselytize to Jewish troopers and their families. These continued missteps from the McDonnell Administration are distractions from the competent and effective governing Virginians expect and deserve.
UPDATE #2– Another Jewish Delegate speaks out. Statement from Delegate Adam Ebbin:
It is cause for profound concern that Governor McDonnell would appoint Fred Malek to head his Commission on Government Reform. Malek’s Nixon administration record of creating a list of Jews–with an eye towards removing them from public service–is still alarming today. There are certainly many capable Virginians who could assume this important position
…
Later that day (according to a July 3, 1971, tape widely publicized on its release by the National Archives in 1999), Nixon and Colson, now alone, had the following exchange:
Nixon: Well, listen, are they all Jews over there?
Colson: Every one of them. Well, a couple of exceptions.
Nixon: See my point?
Colson: You know goddamn well they’re out to kill us.
, had the following conversation (this, too, is from the July 3, 1971, tape that was released in 1999):HaldemanAlso that day, Nixon and his chief of staff, H.R. “Bob”
Nixon: Now, point: [Fred] Malek is not Jewish.
Haldeman: No.
Nixon: All right, I want a look at any sensitive areas around where Jews are involved, Bob. See, the Jews are all through the government, and we have got to get in those areas. We’ve got to get a man in charge who is not Jewish to control the Jewish … do you understand?
Haldeman: I sure do.
Nixon: The government is full of Jews. Second, most Jews are disloyal. You know what I mean? You have a [White House Counsel Leonard] Garment and a [National Security Adviser Henry] Kissinger and, frankly, a [White House speechwriter William] Safire, and, by God, they’re exceptions. But Bob, generally speaking, you can’t trust the bastards. They turn on you. Am I wrong or right?
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Why does it matter, why should we care about these natural spaces? Because it is our responsibility to ensure our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren will have the benefits of our foresight. There aren’t any do-overs when it come to preserving these unique special areas. Once you pave over them they are gone,gone,gone.