HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Republican state legislator from Pennsylvania is backing away from a comment he made comparing labor unions to Adolf Hitler.

Sen. Scott Wagner said Wednesday on the Senate floor that labor unions, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hitler are about “power and control.”

The senator wrote in a letter posted Friday (http://bit.ly/1lbva2w ) on the York Daily Record/Sunday News website that he “used an unfortunate analogy” and has contacted union leaders to tell them that.

Wagner doesn’t want public sector unions to have their dues collected by the government, and his comment came during a debate to end that practice.

Wagner was elected less than three months ago from central Pennsylvania’s York County. He ran as a write-in candidate in a special election against the GOP’s preferred choice for the seat.

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