Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Ted Strickland is apologizing after suggesting that the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was fortunate timing.
Strickland was in Cleveland speaking at an AFL-CIO event. A political news aggregator called the NTK Network posted audio of Strickland’s comments on YouTube, talking about the sudden death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia earlier this year.
“I mean the death of Scalia saved labor from a terrible decision. And I don’t wish anyone ill but it happened at a good time because once that decision had been made it would’ve been tough to reverse it,” said Strickland.
A recent Supreme Court ruling on union fees for non-members was a tie, essentially a win for unions. Scalia passed away a month earlier.
Strickland issued a written statement to apologize, calling the remark “insensitive.”
The attendees of the AFL-CIO event have also been criticized for applauding and laughing during the remarks.
The AFL-CIO did not return a request for comment.
