Wisconsin tea party organizer and children's book author Kim Simac has admitted to comparing American public schools to the Nazi regime.
Simac, also Republican candidate for the Aug. 16 recall election of Democratic state Sen. Jim Holperin, wrote a controversial post on tea party social network Patriot Action Network last October. The post recently disappeared from the site going into the general election, Talking Points Memo reports.
From Simac's blog post:
I am done raising my kids but if I was a young parent today I would take my kids out of the public school system today. At what point will we stop talking about the comparisons to what is occurring today and what actually happened by the regime of the Nazi's in the past?
Although the original piece is now a broken link, TPM located a cached version.
In response to questions about her post, and its subsequent disappearance from Patriot Action Newtork, Simac told Wisconsin Public Radio's Glen Moberg Thursday that officials must be careful of what is being taught in schools.
"I mean we can't deny the fact that the world is changing and that we need to stand up for our American values," Simac told Moberg. "I don't think that that's a conversation that I should hide from."
Simac has the support of her party, but also has a history of touting controversial views. Last month, she recommended teaching creationism alongside evolution in schools, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
"Why not put a cross in a school? Why not talk about Easter in our schools?" She said to the Sentinel.
Holperin is one of 14 Wisconsin state Senate Democrats who left Wisconsin for Illinois in February to protest and delay Senate vote on Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill.
Simac has also been connected to conservative political commentator Glenn Beck, who has noted one of her children's books on his show, and reciprocally, Simac's removed post references a Beck commercial. Beck earlier this week criticized Norway's Utoya Island summer camp for kids, calling it "a little like the Hitler Youth or whatever."