While the Democrats and the Republicans are squabbling over each other in the ongoing campaign for mayor of New York City, one candidate is working out to gain the traction needed once the primaries are all over.
Since launching his campaign for mayor in late June, Jack Hidary, a Brooklyn tech guy, has managed to get more media coverage than most of the mayoral candidates in either party combined. And it’s not the end, according to his campaign. From now until the primaries are over, Mr. Hidary is working below the radar on a marketing strategy that will hit the airwaves and local outlets within weeks to tout his Independent vision to move the city in the right direction, YWN has learned.
The Hidary campaign is on course of landing a massive Jewish outreach campaign in the Orthodox community as well as whats called ‘light adverting’ to the general public, sources tell YWN.
Mr. Hidary is expected, in the coming weeks, to roll out some policy proposals on issues that are at great concern to the Jewish community, as well as his vision of continuing to lead the City’s government on the right path with Independent leadership, in an attempt to boost his name recognition ahead of the general election in November.
“In the case of the mayoral race, people really value independence and pragmatic solutions,” Mr. Hidary told YWN of his message as a third party candidate. “If you look at all of the potential Democratic nominees, they are all focused on a very narrow sliver of the electorate. They’re making all kinds of promises and if they keep the promises very few people will benefit and the majority of the city will be hurt.”
In advancing his candidacy, Mr. Hidary hired Joe Trippi to help him get to the top-tier through an hydrant effective and targeted way.
Part of that electorate Mr. Hidary is relying upon is the growing Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, who are targeted in this year’s election, in one way or another, by almost every campaign.
“What makes Hidary most intriguing to the Jewish community is the fact that, although he is not the only Jew in this race, he’s probably the candidate with the closest ties to the Orthodox community of anyone who’s ever run for mayor of New York,” Yossi Krausz writes in a debut profile of Mr. Hidary.
In a wide range interview with AMI magazine, Mr. Hidary said his Jewish identity is a plus in his run for mayor. ““I think a religious background is a positive. I think people have a sense of tradition, a sense of history, a sense of belonging, a sense of accounting, a sense of accountability,” he said. “It’s clear that there’s a crisis of integrity in this election now. I think having the family-oriented, traditional background I have is a positive.”
While he portrays himself as a social progressive, Mr.. Hidary claims he’s the only candidate in the race who’s willing to push forward school vouchers to release burden off the parents back. “I’m the only candidate who is in favor of vouchers, which I support with the provision that schools that get vouchers need to hire union teachers,” Mr. Hidary told YWN. “If the UFT [United Federation of Teachers] union understand that our proposal would add 25,000 jobs they would be inclined to help advance our cause. It’s a practical way to get it done; plus you’ll get qualified, trained, state-certified teachers in yeshivot.”
“There’s something called PD—Professional Development for Teachers. That costs between $2,000 to $5,000 per teacher. So I want to invest a lot of money into these UFT teachers so they have the skills they need for the future. Now we can deliver these great, trained teachers to the yeshivot as well,” he explained. “It’s good for the UFT, it’s good for the yeshivot. And the parents get a voucher of thousands of dollars that will greatly reduce the burden.”
After enduring recent battles with Mayor Bloomberg and absorbing some of his less sensitive comments about Orthodox Jews, Mr. Hidary maintains, Orthodox Jewish voters would adore a candidate who comes from the community, understands the issues and sympathies with their daily lifestyle.
On the issue of Metzitzah B’peh, Mr. Hidary told YWN he’s against government interference when it comes to religious and traditional practices. “We respect the right of every community in New York City to practice their religion and continue their traditions without interference from the government. This is one of the key freedoms that brought our community and so many others to America,” said Mr. Hidary.
Read the entire interview and profile of Mr. Hidary as published in the AMI magazine last week:
Ami Magazine Feature Article on Jack Hidary
Based on Mr. Bloomberg’s success in managing the City over the past 12 years, it’s a given that Mr. Hidary, with his business approach and vision, would gain some traction in shaping the narrative of the campaign in the coming weeks
(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)
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7 Responses
I think having the family-oriented, traditional background I have is a positive.”
Oh really? So why are you pro Gay Marriage?
“Mr.. Hidary claims he’s the only candidate in the race who’s willing to push forward school vouchers to release burden off the parents back”
Incorrect! Erick Salgado is a very strong advocate for School vouchers.
“The Hidary campaign is on course of landing a massive Jewish outreach campaign in the Orthodox community”
Won’t help him. My Sefardie neighbors tell me they would never vote for him! He does NOT have the support of the Sefardic community! They know he’s just another Steven Cymbrowitz! They have had enough! The Frum community will be voting en mass for Erick Salgado.
For someone who goes by “not getting involved”, you were sure eager to go out of your way to advocate for your apparently preferred candidate.
Members of the frum community will vote for whomever they seem to have the right balance of a) priorities which line up with their own and b) a realistic chance of winning.
Hidary, running as an independent, is a better fit under those 2 criteria than Selgado, who any honest observer will acknowledge has extremely little chance of carrying the Dem nomination.
*seem = deem
A Great choice for Mayor. He has my vote.
Re Comment 1.
You are getting involved… You have an obvious agenda, and judging from you spelling of Sephard, I doubt you have any Sephardic contacts.
Where did you see him taking a stance on Gay marriage? The whole thing doesn’t matter. The city will have no say in it in the coming years. I think that when you are shopping you should make sure that you don’t use a cashier before he passes you gay marriage litmus test, or before banking you should make sure that the Teller is Anti-Toeiva.
My point is that this candidate doesn’t have an official stance on this issue, and he shouldn’t have. This is just a gotcha issue used by a few to drei a kup (except in a state election, when such a law is on the balance. But now, it passed already, and it anyway doesn’t have anything to do with the city. You can find hypothetical issues, of course to drei a kup further, but reasonably, it makes no sense to bring this up here).
Gotta say, you passed the spelling test for Salgado, which makes me think that you are closer to him than to any Sephardic Jew. However, he has no chance, given his lack of funds and appeal, with or without the Frum community. Hidary has the finances, he can appeal to the voters as an entrepreneur, innovative thinker and independent minded.
We will see when he rolls out more fully how he registers, but Salgado is a lost cause and few Jews will waste their votes for him, just to make a statement on a totally irrelevant issue to the current Mayoral campaign.
1. Most Shomer Shabbat Sephardic Jews will vote for Erick Salgado as directed by the psak of our rabbaniem like the Rav of B’nai Yosef, Rav Haim Benoliel.
2. Jack Hidary has zero chance of winning the only people who will vote for him will be “Orthodox”/Sephardic Jews. Erick Salgado had decent Hispanic support in the last Marist Poll.
3. There are many things a mayor can do regarding toevah, (A)He has a tremendous control over the public school system, (B) Many libraries and Hospitals have literature that openly promote toevah, he can end that, (C)He can end the practice of “Parent A” and “Parent B” on many documents, (D) He can help create religious exemptions to many toevah city laws, (E) MOST IMPORTANTLY ERICK SALGADO WILL HELP STOP ALL NEW TOEVAH LAWS FROM BEING PASSED!
Every single one of the other candidates besides Erick Salgado will push for new toevah laws to be passed on a city level, as well as advocating (through City Council Resolutions) for them on a state and federal level. One of the things that led to NY State passing toevah “marriage” was a City Council Law that “only” advocated putting signs up telling gays where they could get “married”.
There are many things that they still want like the bathroom bill which will allow men who think their women in women’s bathroom, and will force stores (including seforiem stores, and even daycares) to hire men dressed as woman, There is currently a bill that would take away all tax exemptions to groups that “discriminate” against toevah!
Are substantial contributions to the mayoral campaigns of Quinn and Weiner in the prior election a reflection of a family-oriented candidate’s good judgement?
CRAIN’S reported:
“From 2007-2008, he [‘Our Candidate’] donated cash to the mayoral campaigns of Council Speaker Christine Quinn and former Congressman Anthony Weiner…”
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20130612/BLOGS04/130619944