Source: Beliefnet
Wire Service: AP
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/186/story_18632_1.html
On February 24, 2006 the Associated Press reported, "Mayor Ken Livingstone refused to apologize for comparing a Jewish reporter to a Nazi camp guard, and now he's facing four weeks off the job - suspended for bringing his office into disrepute. The famously combative mayor said Friday's ruling by a disciplinary panel struck a blow against democracy, but many wondered why he couldn't just say sorry. 'Had the mayor simply recognized the upset his comments had caused, this sorry episode could have been avoided,' said the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which brought the case before the Adjudication Panel for England. The Adjudication Panel ordered the two-term mayor suspended from his job for four weeks beginning March 1... Livingstone had denied any intention of offending the Jewish community when, in a testy conversation a year ago, he asked Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold whether he had been a 'German war criminal.' Finegold replied that, as a Jew, he was offended. 'Well you might be, but actually you are just like a concentration camp guard. You're just doing it 'cause you're paid to, aren't you?' Livingstone said. He referred to Finegold's employer, Associated Newspapers, as 'a load of scumbags' and 'reactionary bigots who supported fascism.'"