Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Ted Strickland is apologizing after suggesting that the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was fortunate timing.
Strickland was in Cleveland speaking at an AFL-CIO event. A political news aggregator called the NTK Network posted audio of Strickland’s comments on YouTube, talking about the sudden death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia earlier this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0anCsKsvCSg
“I mean the death of Scalia saved labor from a terrible decision. And I don’t wish anyone ill but it happened at a good time because once that decision had been made it would’ve been tough to reverse it,” Strickland said.
A recent Supreme Court ruling on union fees for non-members was a tie, essentially a win for unions. Scalia passed away a month earlier.
Strickland issued a written statement to apologize, calling the remark “insensitive.”
The attendees of the AFL-CIO event have also been criticized for applauding and laughing during the remarks.
The AFL-CIO did not return a request for comment.
