[VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] This was not the typical campaign stop for a candidate running as a favorite in becoming the next mayor of New York City. While Democratic mayoral hopeful is viewed as a favorite by the rank and file in the Orthodox Jewish community, voters are less inclined to support him, at least some who have beef with the issues he has expressed his position on, during the campaign for mayor.

At a brief late-night campaign stop outside Landau’s shul in Midwood, Mr. Thompson faced a tough crowd of voters who wanted to know what he’ll do to keep crime down, help Yeshiva parents with tuition relief, ease the burden of small business owners and lower the costs of parking tickets. Mr. Thompson nodded his head in response, trying to ease the tension by promising it’ll all be good if elected mayor.

“I’m just concerned as many of my friends are,” one voter confronted Mr. Thompson. “Crime has never been so low. Stop and Frisk is effective. When we’re going to cut that out and all of a sudden see crime go crazy, then we’re going to have the mayor say ‘You know we got to allocate $100 million for a study why crime is going up again?’ You don’t want to see that. We had the good years of Giuliani, Bloomberg kept that up and we gotta keep that.”

“It is not going to happen. We don’t have to do that,” Mr. Thompson responded in a low tone voice.

Another voter argued for segregated beaches for the growing Orthodox Jewish population. “When are we going to have separate swimming beaches in New York? So the religious community would have a place where the children can go and swim. When is that going to happen?” the voter pressed. Mr. Thompson, not willing to alienate his base, had nothing to say other than we are committed for a civil society.

Strolling along Ave. L, Mr. Thompson was followed by a voter who wanted to hear specifics on what his stance is on tuition relief for parents struggling to make ends meet and collapsing under excessive tuition costs. “I know you don’t support vouchers, but you wouldn’t support some type of financial backing to help alleviate where most of us would not be able to send our kids to public schools? Maybe bigger tax breaks or tax credits. That’s a huge thing in the community.”

Mr. Thompson diverted the conversation in explaining that it would open the door to funding not only yeshivas but all private and parochial schools. “All of a sudden I’ve opened the door, and I can’t limit it. I can’t say just for Yeshivas. It’s a huge door that you wind up opening. I realize I’m helping working people and just average middle class people, but I’m also opening the door for some very wealthy people,” he said. The voter was not impressed. “There’s got to be some middle ground,” he further pressed.

At some point, Mr. Thompson was also confronted by a voter who wanted know whether he agrees with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie who signed a bill banning so-called gay conversion therapy, also known as reparative therapy, or the practice of trying to change a person’s orientation for the better. “Because Christie has said, that all of the studies have shown that it is not real,” a stumbling Thompson responded, while the voter insisted it is real. “The Rabbi said people have success with it,” the guy insisted. >At that point, Mr. Thompson, accompanied by some community leaders, took his campaign to a more friendlier environment – Pomegranate Supermarket, two blocks away. Mr. Thompson was greeted there by a more friendlier crowd who wished his success in his bid for mayor of New York City.

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)