Candidate speaks at Nazi rally

Tony Zirkle at Hitler’s birthday celebration.

By SCOTT SMITH

Tony Zirkle, a Republican candidate for Indiana’s 2nd congressional District, spoke before a large picture of Adolf Hitler Sunday, at a gathering hosted by the American National Socialist Workers Party.

Flanked by individuals wearing Nazi swastika armbands, and standing next to a swastika flag, Zirkle was pictured on the group’s Web site holding aloft a Seventh Day Adventist book.

The gathering, according to the ANSWP Web site, was held to celebrate the 119th anniversary of Hitler’s birth. Zirkle is pictured under a headline which reads “56 White Activists celebrate the birth of Adolf Hitler in Chicago.”

“I’ll speak before any group that invites me,” Zirkle said Monday. “I’ve spoken on an African-American radio station in Atlanta.”

Zirkle said the neo-Nazi group’s invitation “gave me an opportunity to witness to them,” and said he handed out numerous copies of a 19th-century book of Adventist prophecy called “Desire of the Ages.”

“I don’t really know much about them,” Zirkle said of the swastika-clad ANSWP members. “When the press attacked me on the segregation issue, they invited me to speak.”

Speaking along with Zirkle at the rally were a former German SS officer, a former congressional candidate from Illinois, and Bill White, the commander of the organization, according to the ANSWP Web site.

Goshen businessman Luke Puckett, who is also seeking the Republican nomination in the 2nd District race, circulated the Web link and copies of the pictures to the media Monday.

Puckett attached a quote to those e-mails, and his press secretary, Kyle Bailey, said the campaign would not comment further.

“I cannot believe that in 2008, anyone could think so backward,” Puckett wrote.

Zirkle’s appearance at a neo-Nazi function follows a string of controversial statements by the Crown Point attorney, including the suggestion that racial segregation could serve a useful purpose, and that convicted child sex offenders should be executed by the guillotine.

Zirkle has also attempted to draw media coverage to his campaign by changing his middle name to a cypher and publicly tearing up copies of adult magazines.

The ANSWP Web site said Zirkle spoke at the Chicago event on his past experiences “prosecuting Jewish and Zionist criminal gangs involved in trafficking prostitutes and pornography.”

“They were concerned with respect to prostitution and the targeting of young, white women,” Zirkle said of the Nazi group.

Zirkle went on to say that “Jews were basically prominent in getting the pornography industry started in the United States.”

Asked if he was worried that some might be offended by his appearance at a neo-Nazi event, Zirkle compared his appearance to former President Jimmy Carter going to speak to the Palestinian group Hamas.

“I understand that’s the risk people who want to be statesmen have to take,” Zirkle said.

Asked for his personal opinion on Hitler, Zirkle paused for a moment.

“Obviously, I never knew him,” Zirkle said. “I think he was a mass murderer, and from what I’ve heard in the media, I also understand that in his own mind, he was standing up against the injustices practiced against his country.”

Zirkle said Hitler was initially successful at reducing crime, “and the economy certainly improved,” but ultimately served to warn others that absolute power corrupts.

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