[images and captions added by this website] Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, August 31, 2005 [Dossier: Are we Powerful or what?] UK mayor disciplined over Nazi remark London mayor Ken Livingstone, was insufficiently respectful to young Jewish journalist who badgered him LONDON Mayor Ken Livingstone will face a disciplinary hearing for comparing a Jewish journalist to a Nazi concentration camp guard, England's local government watchdog said. The Standards Board for England said an investigation into charges that Livingstone "failed to treat others with respect and brought his authority into disrepute" had concluded that the issue should be dealt with by a disciplinary hearing. The Adjudication Panel for England, which will conduct the hearing, could bar Livingstone from office for up to five years, censure him, order him to apologise or force him to undergo training, said a spokesman for the Standards Board. Livingstone said the investigation had cleared him of the more serious charge of failing to comply with the Greater London Authority's code of conduct. The Standards Board spokesman said he did not have the confidential report and did not know whether it had partially cleared Livingstone. "The Standards Board has rejected the allegation that I failed to comply with the GLA's code of conduct in relation to this exchange," Livingstone said in a brief statement. "The tribunal will now consider the issue of whether I treated a journalist with respect." The panel generally holds hearings 15 weeks after receiving reports of alleged misconduct, but announced no specific date for Livingstone's hearing. The outspoken mayor has refused to say he was sorry for the comment, which drew calls for contrition from Holocaust survivors, the government's race-relations watchdog and even Prime Minister Tony Blair. The mayor said he had not meant to offend the Jewish community when he asked Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold whether he had been a "German war criminal." Where do they get these names? Oliver Finegold (left) whose picture has not appeared in connection with this story elsewhere Finegold, who had approached the mayor for comment after a reception for the gay and lesbian community in February [2005], replied that he was Jewish. Livingstone told the reporter he was "just like a concentration camp guard. You're just doing it because you're paid to, aren't you?" He referred to Finegold's employer [The Evening Standard] as "a load of scumbags and reactionary bigots." Finegold recorded the comments and they were later played before the London Assembly, which passed a unanimous motion calling on the mayor to withdraw them. The mayor said shortly after making the remarks that he had been deeply affected by the reaction of Jewish groups and others. "I have nothing to apologise for," he said at the time. "My words were not intended to cause such offence." He defended his attack on Finegold, his employer The Evening Standard and its sister paper, The Daily Mail. Livingstone, a staunch left-winger once nicknamed "Red Ken" by the tabloid press, has long had a testy relationship with sections of the British media - especially with Associated Newspapers, parent company of the Mail and the Standard. © 2005 AAP   A Radical's Diary applauds Mr Livingstone's comments to the over-sensitive journalist Finegold London mayor Ken Livingstone branded Ariel Sharon a war criminal Tumult of pained Holocaust survivors, outraged Board of Deputies, Holocaust Educational Trust, community leaders, and their journalist- and politician-sycophants Mayor of London Ken Livingstone still won't abase himself before bad-mannered journalist Gilad Atzmon asks, Why should he? Or Rather, Who should apologise? Mr Irving writes a Radical's Diary: Support for Livingstone over his retort to a journalist who turned out to be a Jew Princess Michael (Austrian born) hints at problem-ownership of the British press. Quote: "If [Prince] Harry had worn a hammer and sickle, nobody would have got excited. . . . The press has a different sensibility because of its ownership structure." German press screams: "anti-Semitism!" - Yes, but is it true?

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