Lawmakers call on House Republican to apologize after comparing Lamont to Hitler

By ANDREW MASSE, DENNIS VALERA, CHRISTIAN COLÓN

Click here for updates on this story

    Connecticut (WFSB) — A state representative is on the hot seat after comparing the governor to Adolf Hitler on Facebook and doubling down on her comments.

Representative Anne Dauphinais is criticizing the governor’s extension of his emergency powers, as well as the vaccine mandate.

Now, she is refusing to apologize for her comments.

In the Facebook post where she defended herself, she described it all as “dictatorial madness”.

She went on to say:

“This Governor, with the help of the one-party rule we have in this state right now, has taken dictatorial powers for himself for what will be almost 2 full years when this latest extension expires. Hitler too was a dictator enabled by the rule of the single Nazi party.”

Dauphinais claimed Lamont is “segregating us from our work places coercing people to make unwanted medical choices in order to keep their jobs, pay their mortgages and feed their families.”

She also cited several quotes from sources in the Jewish Virtual Library, as well as the Holocaust Encyclopedia website, comparing Lamont’s vaccine mandate for state workers, teachers, and contractors to when Hitler forced Jewish government workers to retire and banned Jews from civil service, those with questions about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine to when the Germans would burn books that were considered of “un-German spirit”, among others.

In her post, Dauphinais stated she was called out by an unnamed person(s) for her previous comment, adding:

“My comments were neither anti-Semitic nor factually inaccurate.”

She did, however, clarify her original comment, which weren’t immediately available, saying:

“I do want to take this opportunity to not apologize but clarify to Governor Lamont, for I was not clear that I meant that he was acting like Hitler in the early 1930’s – to date, he has not called for putting the unvaccinated in camps.”

The governor’s emergency powers have been extended six times, saying while we’ve come a long way, we’re not out of the woods yet.

“There is something called Delta. It hit and hit hard, forcing a lot of changes in the rules coming from the federal government,” Lamont explained.

Republican lawmakers and some Democrats have taken issue with the numerous extensions for the governor’s emergency powers, which include requiring masks in places like schools and funding the state’s vaccination campaign.

‘What you want is the people’s voice to be at the table and this is a very problematic precedent,” Senator Kevin Kelly said.

Representative Dauphinais also took a jab at the governor’s vaccine mandate, which requires state workers to either vaccinate or submit to weekly testing.

In her post, she says…

“This Governor is dividing us, calling on those that are vaccinated to discriminate against those that are unvaccinated.”

So far, twelve state employees have been separated from their employment for refusing to comply.

In a statement, the governor’s communications director rebuked representative Dauphinais’ comments, saying…

“The representative’s comments are disgusting, repulsive, and disrespectful to the history and memory of victims of the Holocaust. Such anti-Semitic rhetoric has no place in state government, and no place in our public discourse.”

The Anti Defamation League’s Connecticut chapter is also speaking out about this. In a statement, they say:

“Comparing our Governor to Hitler is offensive and ignores the evil of the Holocaust. We call on Rep. Dauphanais to apologize and educate herself so she can understand the harm her words cause. Such reckless analogies from an elected official exploit the experiences of Holocaust survivors, and they cheapen and delegitimize the memory of victims. Learn more about how and why Holocaust analogies can be disrespectful to victims, survivors, and their descendants here.”

Speaker of the House Matt Ritter (D) issued a statement in response to Dauphinais’ comments:

“This is part of a disturbing trend on the far right to abandon decency, decorum, facts and history for offensive, racist and anti-Semitic rhetoric. Rep. Dauphinais’ casual Hitler comments – joined with the recent floor speech of Rep. Mastrofrancesco comparing wearing masks to George Floyd’s murder – must be called out by other Republican members of the General Assembly. Republicans need to look in the mirror: Is this your party?”

The Senate Democrats referred Eyewitness News to the House Democrats, since Dauphinais is a member of the House.

We have reached out to the House and Senate Republicans, but they have not yet returned our request for comment.

At last check, about ninety-eight percent of state employees have agreed to the vaccine mandate. Roughly a thousand are not compliant.

The latest extension for the governor’s emergency powers lasts until February.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.