NH Lawmaker: Send Mentally Ill to Siberia

A 91-year-old New Hampshire lawmaker said he wished America had its own Siberia to send "defective people" to. Then "the mentally ill, the retarded, people with physical disabilities and drug addictions" could "freeze to death and die and clean up the population,” state representative Martin Harty told a constituent who manages a community mental health program. The constituent's account of the exchange was read yesterday at a public budget hearing, reports the Concord Monitor, which adds that Harty confirmed to the paper that he had made the comments.

Harty told the paper that in a world that’s "too populated," nature can get "rid of stupid people." But "now we're saving everyone who gets born." The constituent said that when she suggested he sounded like Hitler, Harty said, “Hitler did something right, and I agree with (it).” He denies the Hitler comment, and says the Siberia line was a joke. Harty’s fellow legislators say the first-termer has “shown signs of great confusion” at work; Harty himself says he has voted by looking “at the people around me” and going “along with them." (More New Hampshire stories.)