By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — The Democratic Party of Arkansas today asked state a Republican state lawmaker to apologize for statements he made on a social networking website comparing Democrats to Adolf Hitler.

“All politicians in our state should be above this kind of rhetoric, comparing those with differing opinions to Hitler,” said Candace Martin, spokeswoman for the state Democratic Party, in a news release.

State Rep. Nate Bell

She requested that state Rep. Nate Bell, R-Mena, apologize “to the people of our state for resorting to this base level of rhetoric and to our World War II veterans who fought on the battlefield against Nazis.”

In a statement emailed to reporters this afternoon, Bell said he does not believe Democrats are Nazis and that his comments were intended to serve “as a warning against what elected officials should avoid becoming.

“Nazis were killers responsible for the death of members of my extended family in the past,” Bell said in the email. “I continue to remain focused on representing the people of my district and helping Arkansas overcome unemployment and economic troubles we currently have.”

On his Facebook page Saturday, Bell quoted a passage from Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” which said that as long as the government “is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation.”

On Monday, Bell wrote that “comparing Dems to Nazis is wayyyy to (sic) easy,” and then listed a series of bills he claimed were sponsored by Democrats during the recent legislative session that were designed to protect children.

“Let’s start with banning cell phones while parked in a school zone,” he wrote. “After all, it’s for the children. How about banning soccer goals in the entire state? Banning texting while walking? Banning private ownership of monkeys? The state determining how long my hamburger MUST be cooked? Banning wearing headphones while jogging? These were all Democrat bills introduced this session,” he wrote. “Dems use children to pass legislation regularly.”

In fact, not all of the proposals listed by Bell were filed by Democrats. Just two of them actually became law, and one apparently does not exist.

Act 37 of 2011, sponsored by Sen. Jerry Taylor, D-Pine Bluff, and Rep. Fred Allen, D-Little Rock, bans motorists from using cell phones “when passing a school building or school zone during school hours when children are present and outside the building” or “in a highway work zone when a highway worker is present.”

Act 772 by Rep. Donna Hutchinson, R-Bella Vista, requires that a soccer goal in a public recreation area be anchored according to guidelines promulgated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission or the state Department of Health.

The law is called “Jonathan’s Law” after Jonathan Brian Nelson, who died of injuries he suffered when an unanchored goal fell on his head at Elm Tree Elementary School in Bentonville.

Senate Bill 901 by Sen. Percy Malone, D-Arkadelphia, which would have required people who own primates to get permits and stopped new permits from being issued on Aug. 12, was approved by the Senate but died in a House committee.

The bill regulating the temperature of cooked hamburger meat, SB 408 by Malone, passed the Senate but died in a House committee. That measure would have required a restaurant that sells hamburger meet that hasn’t been heated to at least 155 degrees for at least 15 seconds to note on its menu that the meat is not cooked according to state Health Department guidelines.

SB 80 by Sen. Jimmy Jeffress, D-Crossett, which would have prohibited a pedestrian on or near a street, highway or intersection from wearing headphones in both ears while engaging in physical activity, was withdrawn by its sponsor.

A search of the Legislature’s web site did not turn up any bill filed or passed during the 2011 session that would have prohibited texting while walking.

In her news release, Martin also asked that Rep. John Burris, R-Harrison, minority leader in the House, and Arkansas Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb denounce Bell’s comments.

Burris said he had had read Bell’s Facebook comments and the statement he later emailed to the press explaining them.

“I think that pretty much speaks for itself,” Burris said of Bell’s statement. “I think he has made an attempt to clean up any misconceptions that are out there.”

Webb declined to comment.