Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett is facing criticism for declining to fire a state official who recently made a Nazi slur, Lancaster Online reports.
Josh Fox, director of the critically acclaimed documentary "Gasland," called on Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett Tuesday to fire chief oil and gas geologist for the Bureau of Forestry under the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Teddy Borawski, who likened him to a Nazi last week. So far, no luck.
In an interview posted recently to Lancaster Online, Borawski was heard making the controversial comments toward Fox and the message of his Oscar-nominated movie, which focused on the detrimental effects of natural gas extraction.
(Audio below)
"Joseph Goebbels would have been proud," Borawski said, referencing the notorious Nazi propagandist when asked about the film. "He would have given him the Nazi Award. That, in my opinion, was a beautiful piece of propaganda."
Fox is now hitting back, taking Republican Governor Tom Corbett to task for not firing Borawski.
"If [Gov.] Corbett doesn't fire him, it means he condones these kinds of comments. This is on Tom Corbett's head as much as it is Mr. Borawski," Fox told Lancaster Online on Tuesday.
Fox continued, calling the nature of Borawski's service to the state into question.
"I thought I was alerting Pennsylvania to a grave danger. I do not expect to be demonized for trying to warn the state that I love," Fox said. "A person who would say such a thing should not be working for the state of Pennsylvania."
Borawski has expressed remorse for his words, offering his "sincerest and most heartfelt apology" for the inflammatory comparison. A department official has also announced that Borawski would be reprimanded, though wouldn't clarify to Lancaster Online what measures would be taken.
Corbett addressed the Borawski controversy himself earlier this week, but has taken no further action, a decision that has drawn some criticism for its supposed timidness.
"He's obviously made a statement of his belief. It's not a statement of this administration. It's not an appropriate statement of characterization," Corbett said at a press conference Monday, according to Lancaster Online. "And sometimes we say things in public that we wish we could get those words back."
Democratic State Rep. Josh Shapiro has since responded to the governor, urging Corbett to take stronger action and announcing flatly that there is no room for Nazi comparisons in political discourse.
LISTEN to Borawski's comments via Lancaster Online: