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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Senator Apologizes To Judge Remarks Were Derogatory Toward Japanese-Americans

Charles V. Zehren Newsday

A chastened Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, R-N.Y., apologized on the Senate floor Thursday for racially mocking O.J. Simpson trial Judge Lance Ito, saying, “My remarks were totally wrong and inappropriate. I know better.”

D’Amato said in an interview that he also sent Ito a private note of apology expressing regret and sorrow over the “profound pain” his remarks had caused the judge. “I am sorry. I know better. I have no excuses,” D’Amato told Newsday. “I don’t blame people for laying into me now.”

D’Amato said he also personally apologized to Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii - who was wounded and lost an arm in World War II as a member of the U.S. military’s Nisei unit - and wrote a letter of regret to other Asian members of Congress.

D’Amato’s act of contrition was the second in as many days after his appearance Tuesday on Don Imus’ nationally syndicated morning radio show in which D’Amato launched into a pidgin English mockery of Ito, a Japanese-American. “Judge Ito loves the limelight,” D’Amato said, plunging ahead despite Imus pleading for him to stop. “Little Judge Ito.”

D’Amato’s apology Wednesday - “If I offended anyone, I’m sorry” - only seemed to outrage members of the Japanese-American community even more.

Thursday, the usually irrepressible D’Amato looked and sounded about as depressed and abject as he ever has been in public. “As an Italian-American, I have a special sensitivity to ethnic stereotyping,” he told his Senate colleagues. “What I did was a poor attempt at humor. I am deeply sorry.”

When asked later what he was thinking when he had launched into his routine on the radio program, a pained D’Amato said, “I was trying to banter. But I don’t want to use that as an excuse. Just because the show gets irreverent, that’s no excuse for me. That’s not what I am about.”

D’Amato, one of the most powerful members of Congress and chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, holds sway over the securities and banking industries that are dominated by Japanese-based corporations.

This is not the first time D’Amato has drawn fire from Japanese-American groups for making what they argued were racially motivated statements. In September 1990, he attacked the Tokyo government for not contributing more to the multinational effort against Iraq. “Profit, greed (and) avarice” motivate the Japanese, D’Amato said, accusing Tokyo of trying to “make some money” on refugees fleeing Iraq.

“I will not debate positions I took in the past because those were correct positions,” D’Amato said Thursday. “But as it relates to this latest thing, I am wrong.”

Japanese diplomats here expressed some concern Thursday over the senator’s remarks.

“I don’t know if Mr. D’Amato has a bad feeling toward Japan,” said Japanese Embassy spokesman Seiichi Kondo. But “as far as his latest statement, we had some concerns because it could have some racial prejudice to the Japanese people and people of Japanese heritage. I hope that the Japanese accent used by the senator was merely intended for humor and not anything else.”

Ito has not returned calls for comment.

But the Los Angeles Times quoted California Superior Court Judge Paul Boland as saying D’Amato’s comments were irresponsible and an unwarranted attack on a member of the judiciary. Indeed, Boland said, D’Amato’s comments “only serve to undermine public confidence in the justice system and the judiciary.”