Rabbi Describes As ‘outrageous’ a Substantial Vote Cast for a Nazi

The substantial but losing vote for Harold Covington, an avowed Nazi, in his bid for nomination as the Republican candidate for North Carolina Attorney General was described as outrageous” by Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies of Yeshiva University of Los Angeles.

“We are shocked and sobered by the outrageous news that, in the year 1980, 56,000 citizens of North Carolina, representing 100 counties, cast their votes” for Covington and that Covington “carried 45 of those 100 counties,” Hier said.

Covington, 26, is the leader of the National Socialist Party, one of several groups lumped together under the heading of the American Nazi Party. Though he did little campaigning, Covington received 56,006 votes in the primary last Tuesday. Covington has been disavowed by state Republican leaders who admitted he came closer to winning than they had thought possible.

Hier said the vote “shows that forces of hatred and anti-Semitism in our country are moving from street comer brawls to the ballot box and into the political mainstream.” He declared “it is time for the political and religious leaders of our country to reflect upon the future course of our society when an avowed Nazi garners 43 percent of a national party’s statewide vote.”

Covington declared after the primary that “There are many closer Nazis in the Republican Party. Most conservatives are closer Nazis. If you scratch a conservative, you’ll find a Nazi underneath, just as, if you scratch a liberal, you’ll find a Communist.” State Republican Party chairman Jack Lee commented: “I don’t say it’s an embarrassment. It’s a freak.”