Florida – A Miami congresswoman is again taking aim at a German insurer that is sponsoring a pro golf tournament in Boca Raton, urging the PGA to drop Allianz because it has refused to pay billions in life insurance claims to Holocaust survivors.
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In a batch of letters, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen took the PGA Tour’s brass to task for joining forces with Allianz, among the world’s largest insurance companies with a huge presence in the United States. The Republican lawmaker accused Allianz of refusing to pay the debts of thousands of Jews murdered in Nazi death camps, even while the company spends heavily on advertising events such as the PGA Champions Tour tournament starting Monday.
Last week, she chided PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, writing that “doing business with Allianz effectively pardons their shameful behavior and ties your organization to their appalling treatment of Holocaust survivors.”
PGA Tour officials said they are aware of the controversy but they will keep Allianz as a sponsor. They said the event donates profits to local charities.
“We are working very hard to create the best event possible so we and our sponsors can continue to bring benefits like these to the Boca Raton area,” PGA officials said in a statement to The Miami Herald.
The lawmaker’s letter-writing campaign is designed to shame Allianz and those who associate with the Munich-based company. It follows her similar offensive last year to put pressure on National Public Radio stations, Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion and the cable television network CNBC to stop airing the company’s sponsorships and advertising.
Good for her. What is ironic is that yesterday we read the article about how generous the German Govm’t was in giving money to Yad Vashem.