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  • "Russian Federation Council Speaker Agreed With RA Leadership"

    "RUSSIAN FEDERATION COUNCIL SPEAKER AGREED WITH RA LEADERSHIP"

    [ Part 2.2: "Attached Text" ]

    By Michael Levenson
    Boston Globe   November 21, 2013

    [FORM]
    http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/11/21/ethnic-tensions-flare-over-gover
    nor-judicial-nominee/VYK9FoJg5AEfSk7RH4mmSJ/story.html Tears were
    shed and Hitler was quoted on Wednesday, as ethnic tensions erupted
    at the State House and threatened to derail Governor Deval Patrick's
    nominee for a seat on the Superior Court.

      The charged struggle centers around the leadership role that the
    nominee, Joseph S. Berman, has played in the Anti-Defamation League,
    a national organization dedicated to combating anti-Semitism and
    other forms of discrimination.

      Berman's nomination stirred opposition because, for years, the
    organization refused to label as genocide the slaughter of Armenians
    by Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1923, a stance that angered the
    Armenian community. But in 2007, the organization reversed course
    and called the slaughter "tantamount to genocide," quieting the
    controversy until it flared again around Berman's nomination.

      A commercial litigation lawyer from Weston, Berman has been a
    national commissioner of the organization since 2006, and a member
    of its regional board and executive committee.

    At Wednesday's meeting of the Governor's Council, the elected
    eight-member panel that approves judicial nominations, Councilor
    Marilyn M. Pettito Devaney led the opposition to Berman, saying she
    had the five votes needed to reject his nomination.

      Devaney, a Democrat from Watertown, home to a large Armenian
    community, stood and denounced Berman's affiliation with the
    Anti-Defamation League, as the governor looked on, chagrined.

      "In 1939, Hitler, carrying out his horrific mission to exterminate
    the Jews, said, 'Who remembers the Armenians?'" Devaney said, her voice
    trembling and eyes filling with tears. "I do. And many others do, too."

      Devaney said if she belonged to "a group who denied the Holocaust,"
    she would resign. Several other councilors agreed that Berman's ties
    to the Anti-Defamation League are a concern, while raising their own
    separate objections.

      Patrick, who chairs the Governor's Council, postponed the vote
    on Berman's nomination until Dec. 4, forestalling an embarrassing
    political defeat. The governor called Berman "more than ready to serve"
    on the Superior Court.

      "I'm going to work hard to get the votes," Patrick told the
    councilors. "I haven't had an opportunity to do that. I'm not ready
    today."

      Several councilors strongly objected to the delay and urged Patrick
    to allow them to vote immediately on Berman's nomination.

      "We're not going to change our minds," Devaney said. "To prolong
    this serves no purpose."

      Councilor Terrence W. Kennedy agreed, saying that even though he
    supports Berman, a delay will not save the nomination.

      "It's a democracy, and I don't think the vote is going to change,"
    he told Patrick.

      Typically, the lieutenant governor would chair meetings of the
    council, a fractious and often rebellious panel that dates to the
    Colonial era. But because Timothy P. Murray resigned as lieutenant
    governor in May, Patrick has had to fill that role.

    The fight over Berman's nomination harkens back to the bitter
    controversy over the Armenian genocide that engulfed the
    Anti-Defamation League six years ago.

      In 2007, the organization fired its New England regional director,
    Andrew H. Tarsy, after he broke rank with national leadership and
    said it should acknowledge the genocide.

      The organization had expressed concern that doing so could harm
    Israel's relations with Turkey, a rare Muslim ally.

    Many Jewish and Armenian leaders in New England criticized Tarsy's
    firing and urged the organization to recognize the genocide. After
    several days of outcry, the national director, Abraham H. Foxman,
    issued a statement in 2007 calling the massacre of Armenians
    "tantamount to genocide" but stopping short of labeling it an actual
    genocide.

      Anti-Defamation League leaders said Wednesday that that phrase is
    not meant to obscure the historical suffering of Armenians.

      "ADL policy right now is crystal clear: that we recognize the
    Armenian genocide," said Robert O. Trestan, director of the New
    England Anti-Defamation League. "We're on the record making that
    recognition more than five years ago, and we've moved on from the
    issue, and it doesn't seem appropriate, more than five years later,
    to bring this up in light of a judicial nomination."

      Reached by phone on Wednesday, Berman declined to discuss the issue.

      Councilors have also objected to Berman because he donated about
    $110,000 to Democratic candidates over the last decade, contributions
    that they say make it appear as though his nomination was a reward
    for his financial support. In addition, at least one criticized his
    nomination because he once represented a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay.

    Jeffrey S. Robbins, the chair of the board of the New England
    Anti-Defamation League, was among those who testified in support of
    Berman at his nomination hearing last week.

      "The assault on Joe Berman is particularly egregious" because Berman
    was one of the most vocal and effective voices within the organization
    urging it to acknowledge the massacre as a genocide, Robbins said.

      "That's the kind of courage and principle that should be rewarded,
    and not penalized," he said.

      Michael Levenson can be reached at [email protected].

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