A war of words has erupted between the two power brokers in the Orthodox community in the race for Brooklyn District Attorney, late Friday.
In the first public battle since the 2012 primaries, Councilman David Greenfield and Assemblyman Dov Hikind, surrogates for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes and challenger Ken Thompson respectively, traded blows after Mr. Greenfield said at a press conference that Mr. Thompson vowed to “target the Jewish community” for prosecution.
http://youtu.be/oSd3obqCJgY
Mr. Greenfield’s line of attack was based on a January interview in which Mr. Thompson attacked Hynes for treating the Orthodox Jewish community, in general, at a higher standard in prosecution cases.
“Councilman Greenfield ought to apologize for spreading disgusting lies about Ken Thompson in the Orthodox Jewish community,” Assemblyman Dov Hikind wrote in a statement released by the Ken Thompson campaign. “Unlike D.A. Hynes, who has said that Orthodox Jews are “insular” and worse than the Mafia, Ken has repeatedly stated that he will restore confidence, and fight for safety and justice for every community in Brooklyn. With such an indefensible record of prosecuting inconsistently depending on which way the political wind blows and flip-flopping before an election, it’s no surprise that Mr. Hynes and his defenders have resorted to unconscionable gutter politics to distract voters from the truth. Baseless slandering from a desperate campaign has no place in Brooklyn.”
In a back and forth Twitter conversation, councilman Greenfield, maintained his Thompson criticism in response to Mr. Hikind’s attack.
“Hikind can yell and scream,” Mr. Greenfield tweeted. “but it won’t change the fact that his candidate for District Attorney has promised to target the Orthodox Jewish community.”
For their part, the Hynes camp said they were glad that Mr. Hikind was with the Thompson team.
“We are proud of the strong support we have in the Orthodox community,” George Arzt, a spokesman for Mr. Hynes told Politicker. “We are happy that Dov Hikind, with all his baggage, is with our opponent.”
“There’s a reason why 2 dozen Jewish community leaders stood with me to support DA Hynes & no one showed up to his opponents press conference,” Mr. Greenfield continued. “We don’t always agree with Hynes but we know him, trust him and support him. His opponent would target Jews. Don’t walk, run to polls on 9/10!”
“My job includes defending community. If Ken Thompson walks back his remarks on Orthodox Jews, I’m happy to move on,” Mr. Greenfiled later tweeted, directly referring to Mr. Hikind’s call to apologize.
The battle over the Orthodox Jewish votes, based on Friday’s war of words, is expected to become the battle of the giants in which one way or another will have a tremendous effect in the community following the primaries.
(Jacob Kornbuh – YWN)
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12 Responses
Is there anyone running as a Republican, for the DA race?
Boro Park does NOT have nuclear weapons
Dov has been a leader of our community for 30+ years… i would trust Dov before some 20 years olds playing politics looking to make a name for themselves…
greenfeld is right! this tompson is a anti-semite he wants to throw jews into jail to show he is tough and claims jews get special treatment, he is a liar, jews Dont COmmit Crimes thats why jews arent being convicted not bcuz any special treatment, and in fact with the weberman case we all saw how tough charles hynes was with proscuting him, so dont say lies of special treatment!
and Hikind is supporting tompson bcuz he hops onto the band wagon of nuchem rosenberg, what a disgrace, the fact is when hikind endorsed tompson he called community leaders, and not a single 1 showed up!
The real and only giant is councilman greenfield. He is emes and stands up for the emes. I think this has become quite obvious to the community.
Your article says they traded blows that would seem to indicated a physical confrontation and is therefore erroneous.
Someone in this debate ought to consider the difference – or the similarity – between “targeting” the Jewish community and “serving” the Jewish community. The allegations against Mr. Hynes, i.e., that he has been reluctant to pursue cases against Orthodox Jews, may not be good for the frum community. The hard facts in these situations are hard to come by, and as far as I know, neither Mr. Greenfield nor Mr. Hikind has the hard facts to support his position. If they did, they would discuss the facts in public rather than trade conclusory accusations.
I’m surprised that Hikind is risking his reputation on a matter he’s likely to lose on….The community at large will vote for the incumbent.
Not getting involved, no, but hynes had conservative endorsement.
what reputation, shalom2010? that of an unabashed political opportunist?
I meant that Hikind does have some political clout in the community, and he risks it all by enagaging in full court showdown with Greenfield which he likely to lose anyway.
To#4
Who told you to say that?