The hottest race in this Thursday’s Primary Election, is the race between Shlomo Mostofsky and Theresa Ciccotto for Civil Court Judge. “While there is a third Jewish candidate in the race, his fundraising and support has not materialized in to make him a serious contender,” said one political consultant.
As a result, insiders believe it’s a matter of which community pulls out their vote in this Thursday’s primary. “Traditionally, this has been a Jewish seat. Theresa is trying to take advantage knowing that this third Jewish candidate may peel off enough votes in the race to allow her to sneak a win from her Bay Ridge community,” the political consultant explained. “If the Jewish communities of Boro Park and Midwood come out big in support of Mostofsky he should win this race.”
In recent days, Mostofsky, who is a leading askan and past-President of the National Council of Young Israel, has secured serious support from political and religious leaders. Councilman David Greenfield was the first to endorse Mostofsky citing his years of askanus and extraordinary legal skills. That announcement was followed up with statements that were released by several prominent rabbonim and askonim including HaRav Yisroel Belsky, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zweibel and Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser singing Mostofsky’s praises and citing their personal experience working with Mostofsky as one of the leading askanim of our time.
If that wasn’t impressive enough, Esther Pollard, the wife of imprisoned Jonathan Pollard, made a rare endorsement of Mostofsky for Judge as an expression of appreciation for all the years that Mostofsky has spent leading the fight to free Jonathan Pollard from prison.
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(Dov Gordon – YWN)
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6 Responses
Charles Finkelstein is definitely a viable candidate, and he was approved by the Bar.
Wow, I used to expect better than this from YWN, but it seems there are no limits. That “third Jewish Candidate” in the race goes by the name of Charles Finkelstein. I am not in any way involved with his campaign nor am I even allowed to vote in the upcoming election. What I will say, however, is that I have had countless meetings with public officials and Mr. Finkelstein; in my opinion, there are not many like him. He is not only someone who is selfless, someone who is the quintessential “family man,” someone who represents everything that a Mentsch is supposed to represent, but he also shoulders the burdens of many people in the community as if they are his own. At a time where people, and YWN specifically, critique politicians for “buying” seats due to large donors, I find it the ultimate hypocrisy that you would attack someone’s qualifications for this race based on whether or not he is a serious monetary contender. Again, I cannot vote, but I will tell you that Mr. Finkelstein is one of the best people I have ever met. Although he may or may not be a “serious contender,” he is certainly a person who will carry the Judgeship with honor, integrity and nobility. I cannot think of someone who is more fit for such a position. “It is not the size of the Dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.”
What does money have to do with a judicial election and what’s the benefit of a “Jewish” seat on Civil Court?
The election of judges always seems a little odd to me because they really can’t campaign and certainly can’t make promises or take stands on issues.
This is a brilliant political analysis by Dov Gordon. EVERYBODY knows that Finkelstein can NOT win. The only thing he can do is to help Theresa from Bay Ridge win bay taking votes away from a leading asian – Shlomie Mostofsky.
Yaakov,
Don’t be naive, money matters. Just as how the Tischler bros are going to lose so is Finkelstein. Except the Tischler bros are entertaining. Finkelstein will take votes away from the Heimishe candidate and may help Theresa Sicotto win. If Finkelstein really cared about keeping this judgeship Jewish he would drop out.
The fact that Charlie hasn’t raised serious $ is a reflection of the fact that his campaign doesn’t have serious support from the community. There’s a reason why every major askan is supporting Mostofsky. It’s because he CAN win and will make a kiddush hashem. I hope Charlie doesn’t ruin it for all of us.