We at YWN are proud to continue our tradition of giving you a behind the scenes look of the real winners and losers of yesterday’s elections courtesy of our political reporter Jacob Kornbluh.
Winners
Orthodox Jewish Community
New York’s Orthodox Jewish Community flexed it’s electoral muscle yesterday and brought out a huge turnout. All the time spent by the various organizations including Agudas Yisroel, the Flatbush Jewish Community Council, Jewish Block Vote and Flatbush Community Advocacy Group appears to have paid off. For the first time ever there will be two frum Council Members from neighboring districts in Southern Brooklyn guaranteeing the community a big voice in City Hall. All these efforts mean Jewish voters are more engaged than ever.
Aronim
The minority chasidic sect in Williamsburg pulled off big victories yesterday. They took a risk in an early endorsement for Bill de Blasio for Mayor effectively shutting out their rival Zalis form the de Blasio world. Along with the powerful bloc vote of the Bobov community in Boro Park they played a big role in racking up huge number for Councilman David Greenfield’s victory over his lying competitor. Keep an eye on this new Satmar/Bobov alliance. Observers noticed that they seem to be moving in tandem these days. It may well be one of the most important political developments in recent years.
David Greenfield
Greenfield’s few enemies banded together in a shockingly dirty effort to defeat him. They found the perfect candidate – one who would be happy to spread any lies they asked him to spread and bankrolled his effort with over $100,000. Not only did they fail, they actually excited Greenfield’s supporters giving Greenfield the largest margin of victory of any candidate last night – a whopping 83%! Bonus: Greenfield was the first frum politician to endorse Chaim Deutsch – first on his radio show and then in an op-ed he penned Monday for Hamodia.
Chaim Deutsch
The odds were against him and he even had to pick up and leave his lifelong home to move into a new district but Chaim Deutsch pulled off a clear victory against David Storobin proving that his many years of hard work for the community as the leaders of the Flatbush Shomrim paid off. Chaim’s life-long dream of becoming a New York City Councilman has come true and expect him to be a leading voice on Public Safety as the political debate around stop and frisk and other police tactics heats up in a de Blasio administration.
Simcha Felder
The powerful Senator proved last night why “everybody loves Simcha.” Senator Felder cemented his reputation as the elder statesman of Jewish politics when he authored a letter praising Greenfield as “the hardest working Council Member I know” and in his last minute push to elect Chaim Deutsch to the New York City Council (we at YWN even received his robo-call). As one of Albany’s most influential politicians and now with two close friends in the City Council, Simcha has made good use of his role as the highest-ranking frum elected official in the United States.
Losers
Chaim Israel
What possesses someone who spent years working for the community to flush away his reputation and credibility in the span of a few short months we will never know. As the apparent campaign manager and spokesperson for Greenfield’s opponent, Mr. Israel single-handedly took our community to a new low in political campaigns ignoring all the halachos of motzi shem rah, richilus and loshon hara along the way. Israel’s woes began several years ago when Councilman Brad Lander booted him off the community board because he believed Israel to be a hinderance to building affordable housing in Boro Park. Since then he has been on a mission to destroy everything in his path but appears to have destroyed himself.
Dov Hikind
What would a winners and losers list be without the esteemed Assemblyman on our list? Mr. Hikind may want to consider a new career
after the night that he had. For starters, while the community’s two other frum politicians supported Chaim Deutsch, Mr. Hikind refused to do so. To make matters worst, last week Hikind hosted a strategy meeting at his home with Chaim Israel, Yaakov Yosef Hass, Peter Rebenwurzel and his son Yoni to make the final disgusting push to “defeat” Councilman Greenfield. We hear that Bill de Blasio is still furious that Hikind promised to endorse him and didn’t and that Governor Cuomo has stopped returning Mr. Hikind’s calls since a criminal investigation into his activities was launched. Mr. Hikind may want to start looking for a new profession.
Zalis
It’s not easy to drop from power so quickly but the Zalis appear to have done just that. Since Vito Lopez’s fall from grace, the Zalis no longer have anyone to advise them or protect them. Maybe that’s why they stuck with Bill Thompson when everyone else went with de Blasio, maybe that’s why they granted Joe Hynes a last minute meeting and threw out pashkevils on Aroni supporters of Hynes who went on to a historic defeat. Maybe that’s why they were the only mosod who refused to endorse Greenfield for re-election. Maybe that’s why they need to start looking internally for new political leadership before they become completely irrelevant.
Rockland Orthodox Jews
Despite having one of the stronger electoral turnouts in recent years, Orthodox Jewish candidates in Rockland don’t seem to have much success. Last year a frum County Legislator ran and lost when parts of the frum community refused to support him. This year similar event occurred to two Jewish candidates for Mayor of St. Lawrence handing a victory to Demeza Delhomme. So not only did the Jewish “machers” destroy the chances of a frum Jew being mayor they didn’t event get to elect their candidate Bernard Charles. To make matters worse, all the Jews who rushed to support David Fried after the primary woke up to find that he lost the County Executive race to Republican Ed Day.
Jewish Republicans
Jewish Republican operatives went all out for Joe Lhota. They spent time, money and effort and came up overwhelmingly short. Despite Lhota’s attention on the Jewish community he overwhelmingly lost the Jewish community’s vote. Lhota’s two Orthodox Jewish Republican operatives – Michael Fragin and Yaakov Schapiro were bested by de Blasio’s two Orthodox Jewish operatives Avi Fink and Pinny Ringel. Mr. Fragin and Mr. Schapiro must be seeing red.
(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)
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26 Responses
What is significant is that Orthodox Jews heavily involved in both sides of the election. All candidates has frum support. If you compare this to Eretz Yisrael, two conclusions are obvious. One is, of course, that the two-party, winner takes all, elections – unlike proportional representation – preclude the existence of anti-semitic candidates or parties since both candidates can’t afford to alienate frum Jews. The second, and most radical, is that frum Jews are more politically integrated in America than anywhere else in the world – America with its concepts of Freedom of Religion allows us political freedom unprecedented anywhere or anytime else.
YWN this is a disgraceful report. Totally not ethical from a journalistic standpoint! First of all by referring to a community by a nickname which is very unethical. Secondly, do you honestly think Boro Park is composed of only bobov and satmar???
Also, is a winner considered somebody that endorses a candidate only because “everyone” stands with that candidate??
Does YWN really believe a community of 5,000 will become “irrelevant” so quickly???
perhaps the losers are the “aronim” who made a huge “zechor bris” rally for DeBlasio while Deblasio innocently declared that he will absolutely not change anything Bloomy has implemented regarding the mtzita bpeh????
Seems that the frum community came out to vote, yet its candidates did not. With all the publicity against proposal 1 – GAMBLING CASINOS through shuls, media, and schools, we lost a big one. No big deal that Satmar or Bobov came ahead, they choose winners so that gratitude & $$$ will fill their coffeers.
Congrats to Deutsch & Greenfeld!
Hikind is still a favorite for many and to many.
America with its concepts of Freedom of Religion allows us political freedom unprecedented anywhere or anytime else. –
There is the same freedom of religion in Israel yet the coercion, coalition, money needs, support for communities are arranged differently so people do not vote for the best, experienced candidate rather the best-trader.
Simcha Felder is the highest ranking frum elected official? Is Sheldon Silver no longer frum???
” frum Jews are more politically integrated in America than anywhere else in the world”
The Republican Jewish Coalition’s exit poll in 2012 showed that Orthodox Jews voted for Obama over Romney by 4% — the exact margin among non-Jews. We are just like the goyim ;).
Lhota actually won a strong majority in ALL of the heavily Orthodox Jewish voting districts in Brooklyn.
charliehall: Sheldon Silver does not act frum in his capacity as a legislator. He supports and votes affirmatively for the most vile disgusting anti-Torah legislation.
And Romney won a strong majority in ALL of Brooklyn’s heavily Orthodox Jewish voting districts. Look at the Board of Election numbers.
Now that the elections are over, who will help those on food stamps that are flooding our Kosher markets? Who will help those children asked to leave our yeshivas for non-payment? Who will help members of the community who can’t afford rent.
Although many on this list are clearly motivated by personal honor,I only hope these winners and losers can join forces to address the dire straits the community finds itself in. If not we will all lose. Together we are unbreakable. Alone we will break like a matchstick.
Chaim Deutsch lives in the same house for years and years as far as I know
There is not a single shred of information in this article about vote count, turnout numbers, turnout percentages, voting percentages, or any other data that is necessary to support the conclusions expressed in this article. I have no idea whether the author is right or wrong about any of his conclusions, only that he has not provided us with the data that supports (or does not support) his conclusions.
Actually Woody, you are wrong on every point. But REALLY wrong. Horribly wrong.
Shame on you.
chaim israel ran a disgusting campaign. i have never seen such a pack of filthy lies spread about a candidate in my life.
If people only knew how those connected and in politics dread this post after every election.
People need to be held accountable.
And stop with the lashon hara cry.
It won’t work.
They are public people, and will be held accountable publicly.
I voted for deblasio yesterday. Three times.
Richie Taylor is a winner
bklynmom who wrote: “There is the same freedom of religion in Israel yet the coercion, coalition, money needs, support for communities are arranged differently so people do not vote for the best, experienced candidate rather the best-trader”
1. In Israel, secular people believe the goal of a country is freedom FROM religion. While some liberal Democrats hold this view, it is a distinct minority in the USA and has been such since the late 18th century (we can thank Benjamin Franklin, James Madison and especially George Washington for that). Religious toleration even of weird old-fashioned groups that one considers to be misguided and antiquated, is a basic part of the American character (Baruch ha-Shem). Is Israel as in Europe, religion is something the governments wants to control and use as a vehicle for governance.
2. People in Israel can and do vote for the best candidate who reprsents their views, butg with proportional representation those candidates tend to be extremists who oppose compromise, e.g. Lapid doesn’t need hareidi votes, and Shas doesn’t need secular Ashkenazi votes. Under the “winner take all” system, both parties need to appeal for all votes which is why both parties tend to avoid alienating any ethnic or religious group. A fanatic bigot such as Lapid would get at most 15% in the US, meaning he would never be more than an “also-ran” in a primary or minor third party — that same 15% in Israel makes him a leading politician.
What about Rabbi Nelkenbaum. Deutch got in but not Eric Salgado(who?) Is he a winner or loser?
dont just call hikind a looser put up a candidate against him in next years assembly election. but this time put a strong one not a 20-something year old
Youfailed to meantion that Hikind was the first to endorse Ken Thompson, who went on to win in a landslide.
As ususal, Kornbluh exposes his bias and that’s why I have a major issue with this Op-Ed. He is no political reporter, and I am very disappointed that Yeshiva World would allow such an unprofessional, slanted, and slandering analysis of yesterday’s election.
The moment he wrote ‘ZALIS’ and personally disparaged two people by name, it was very obvious from where he was coming.
It would be nice to have have an independent neutral writer present to us detailed numbers – broken down by polling stations – in the neighborhoods where we all voted.
Only then will we all see who delivered which votes where!
Kornblue.
First of all the aronim grand endorsement of di Blasio Sunday night after the grand rebbi shabbos tshuva drosha was typically aronim manipulation.
36 hours before the polls opened they brought DI BLASIO down to endorse him. There was nothing courageous about joining the tide after all polls were out with the predictions. And there is no risk to go with the winner.
Next time all organizations will wait for the last minute to endorse and we will be in bad shape.
Just like in Israel.
It is time for the politicians to wake up and see that the machers are only feathering their own nest.
Everybody wants to be kingmaker, and di Blasio if he had brains will know who is reliable.
What early endorsement by the aronim, Actually they were the last to endorse. SUNDAY NIGHT BEFORE PRIMARY DAY, IS ABOUT THIRTY SIX HOURS BEFORE THE POLLS OPENED. IT IS JUST PERFECTLY FIGURED TO GET YOURSELF INTO THE NEWS CYCLE
Early endorsers were Satmar of Williamsburg and Dov Hikind.
AND IT IS SHAMEFUL AND COUNTER PRODUCTIVE WHAT YOUR ANALYSIS IS DOING.
Dov Hikind is the real winner! he endorsed DA ken thompson 1st and evryone was with hynes, like both satmar’s david greenfield, later evryone satmar, greenfield, belz, pupa, etc copied hikind and endorsed thompson, so who is the real winner?? open ur eyes and see the turth
lets see you even approve this comment?
You write ‘disgusting push to defeat david greenfeld’. What happened to democracy? Must Dov Hikind support david g to be worthy of our vote? What makes it ‘ disgusting’ to be on the opposing team? It is clear that david greenfeld and his supporters condemn, slander, and oust any individuals who dont support him. These are a dangerous ilk threatening our basic freedoms. And why is chaim israel mentioned here? He was not even on the polls tuesday!Are you perhaps threatened by this truly prominent man of integrity who has delivered time and again to the community? Chaim israel spearheaded SBCO which provides affordable housing w/i the community! And you have the nerve to call him a ‘hindrance’ to housing developments?! Shame on you! David Greenfeld should stick around the experienced folk. It would do us all good if he’d learn a thing or two from real men like Dov Hikind and Chaim Israel!