Democratic lawmaker holds hammer-and-sickle image behind colleague aligned with Democratic Socialist [View all]

[TexasTowelie]

Democratic lawmaker in Virginia holds hammer-and-sickle image behind colleague aligned with Democratic Socialists

RICHMOND, Va. — A Democratic lawmaker apologized Monday after jokingly holding up a hammer-and-sickle image behind Del. Lee Carter, a freshman legislator who is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Del. Mark Keam, D-Fairfax, later apologized on the House floor for using a tablet to hold the Communist symbol behind Carter, D-Prince William, at a meeting of the House of Delegates Finance Committee. But the episode could further strain relations between House Democrats and the anti-corporate left.

During a debate on legislation to offer tax breaks to companies that create jobs in economically depressed areas, Carter said the bill may be a “good-faith effort to help combat poverty” but it relies on a “deeply flawed mechanism.”

“That mechanism of racing to the bottom of cutting and hacking and slashing away at our tax code to try to fight over scraps and handouts from billionaires rather than trying to build the economy from the ground up that will actually help the people that are already here,” Carter said.

Read more: http://www.phillytrib.com/news/elections/democratic-lawmaker-in-virginia-holds-hammer-and-sickle-image-behind/article_5ffca1a4-fcec-5943-a720-b4650a760c12.html