Last month, the mayor of Hallandale Beach, Keith London, bizarrely accused fellow commissioner Anabelle Lima-Taub of profiting from bleaching her sphincter, causing public outrage and series of #MeToo posts on social media. Now, Lima-Taub is the one under fire for apparently comparing the mayor to Adolf Hitler during Wednesday night's regularly scheduled commission meeting.
Both the mayor and Lima-Taub are Jewish, so did the commissioner really compare the mayor to Hitler? The vice mayor says yes. She and the mayor are offended. Lima-Taub says absolutely not.
Whatever the interpretation, the commissioner did throw out the names Hitler and Fidel Castro in her comments focused on London. Here's what happened.
The first item on the Wednesday night agenda was a proclamation, sponsored by London, to make October 2018 Domestic Violence Awareness month in Hallandale Beach. During her opening comments, Lima-Taub called London "the biggest, most corrupt criminal to ever grace the city" and said the mayor's domestic violence proclamation a was a "joke" before making the following statement:
"A man who sat here a month ago and dared to talk about my private parts, sponsoring a proclamation for domestic violence. Wow. That's like Hitler having a proclamation for Jews. Or Fidel Castro having freedom day for Cubans."
Moments later, Vice Mayor Michele Lazarow and Commissioner Mike Butler got up from the dais. That meant the commission no longer had a quorum and the meeting had to halt until they returned. Lazarow later called the commissioner's comments "disgusting" and demanded a public apology.
"I know you don't like the mayor, and I know that he has made inappropriate comments and remarks for which he has apologized. As a Jew, to listen to you sit here and compare anyone to Hitler makes me sick to my stomach," Lazarow said toward the end of the meeting. "There was one Hitler. Only one. Hitler murdered millions of innocent people. Murdered millions of innocent people. No one is like Hitler. There is one Hitler. The worst in our society are not like Hitler."
London remained silent Wednesday but admitted he was offended in a statement made to the Miami Herald on Thursday.
"Of course I'm offended, but more so for Holocaust survivors in our community who shouldn't have their experiences trivialized for petty politics and personal attacks," London wrote. "I've said controversial things from time to time. I've apologized for doing so. I hope Commissioner Taub will learn from my example and do the same."
Lima-Taub did not apologize. Instead, after the meeting, she took to Facebook and doubled down on her comments.
"A man who has a history of abuse of women, firefighters and African-Americans, sponsoring a domestic violence proclamation (to deflect from his humiliating sexual inappropriate comments about my private parts) in an attempt to garner more votes is sickening," Lima-Taub wrote. In the post, she called the mayor's accusations about anal bleaching last month "abusive" and repeated both the Hitler and Castro comments almost verbatim.
Since the anal bleaching comment -- possibly a reference to her mother's med spa -- Lima-Taub has continued to accuse London of what she calls abusive behavior, including unwanted touching of her rear-end.
Her late-night post ended with the following:
"I am incensed that this man tries to legitimize his actions via this proclamation. How disrespectful for every woman who has endured sexual, physical or mental abuse at the hands of men. When will people say enough is enough!!!!!"
A day, and much public criticism later, and Lima-Taub said she still does not think her comments were offensive.
"I think if you want to make it offensive to politicize it like the vice mayor, you can," Lima-Taub said. "I didn't compare him to Hitler. But I do compare him to every man who has ever sexually harassed a woman."
(c)2018 Miami Herald
