Category Archives: Jewish Vote - Page 3

NJDC Says Romney’s Bachmann Endorsement is ‘Yet Another Effort to Drive Jews Away’

Posted on 05/05/2012 No comments

Michele Bachmann’s endorsement of Mitt Romney seems to be yet another effort by Romney to drive American Jews away from him in droves. On so many issues that matter to the vast majority of American Jews—including choice, protecting vital social safety net programs, and Obamacare—Bachmann is on the opposite side, to say the least. As Bachmann told ABC News previously, Romney was not extreme enough when it comes to repealing Obamacare—despite Romney’s declaration that he will ‘repeal Obamacare,’ and ‘stop it in its tracks on day one,’ and his pledge to end health care benefits for tens of millions of Americans. – Staff of the National Jewish Democratic Council

Jack Lew Speaks to the American Jewish Committee Global Forum

Posted on 05/05/2012 No comments

The White House Reports: Thursday Night, White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew spoke at the American Jewish Committee Global Forum. There, he praised the Committee’s decades of work to build a better world at home and abroad. He also stressed the steps the President has taken to prevent a second Great Depression and create an economy built to last. And he reiterated our commitment to the unbreakable bonds between the United States and Israel.

Below are his full remarks as prepared for delivery. Read more »

Israel – Former PM Olmert Says ‘Exreme Right-Wing’ Americans Toppled his Government with ‘Millions and Millions’

Posted on 05/05/2012 No comments

In the interview Olmert gave CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that aired on Friday,  Olmert said that his peace plan was supported by a majority of Israelis and that  it could have been, and still can be, implemented were it not for “superior  powers” in the U.S. which he would not name. Olmert told Amanpour that he was working toward a peace agreement in 2008,  knowing that this would mean handing over East Jerusalem to the Palestinians. “But I had to fight against superior powers, including millions and millions of  dollars that were transferred from this country (the U.S.) by figures which were  from the extreme right wing, that were aimed to topple me as Prime Minister of  Israel. There is no question about it.” – Haaretz Via Forward

London – Conservative Boris Wins Mayoral Race by 62K Votes out of 2M

Posted on 05/05/2012 No comments
“With results declared in all 181 councils being contested across the country, Labour had gained 823 new councilors while the Conservatives had lost 405 and their Liberal Democrat coalition partners were down by 336,” Reports the Chicago Tribune.
Jacob Konrbluh Writes: Boris’ victory can also be credited for the Jewish community, a traditional Labour voting bloc, for heavily favoring the Mayor over former Mayor, Ken Livingstone.

As the Jewish Chronicle’s editor @stephenpollard tweeted: Read more »

Clinton Endorses Palestinian-Friendly Congressman vs. Jewish House Dem

Posted by on 05/04/2012 No comments

Former President Bill Clinton endorsed today Bill Pascrell in the NJ9 Democratic Primary versus Jewish Congressman Steve Rothman. Both were pushed into the same district due to redistricting. Pascrell was one of 50-plus Congressmen to sign a pro-Palestinian letter to President Obama afew years ago.

Before people want to name Pascrell as Anti-Jewish, it is worth noting that he signed a letter to AG Eric Holder on behalf Sholom Rubashkin well before Rothman did: Pascrell, as we reported back in March, was letter number twelve (and the first NJ Dem to write) while the Jewish Rothman was – two months later – number 32 out of fifty-plus lawmakers who wrote to Holder asking a review of the arrest and prosecution of Agriprocessors’ former boss.

The Republican in this race is Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

France – Presidential Candidate Hollande: ‘A Trip to Israel Will be Part of My Plans’

Posted on 05/04/2012 No comments

Both presidential candidates in France who will face off in a second round of voting on Sunday said they will travel to Israel if they win.

“Yes, this trip will be part of my plans,” Socialist Francois Hollande, whom all polls predict a win, told French Jewish news website Tribunejuive.info which interviewed the two candidates. Hollande said that peace between Israel and the Palestinians should include “two neighboring and sovereign states each within its own legitimacy.”

“Even beyond the Israeli-Palestinian issue, we must be very firm with respect to Iran, whose nuclear program is a vital danger for Israel and for world peace,” he also said. He said he is “totally opposed” to the boycott of Israeli products which, he added, “is illegal and does not serve the cause of peace.” Extreme-left  parties and the Greens, which are potential partners of the Socialists if Hollande wins, support such a boycott.

Ramapo, NY – Jewish Community Bracing for Union Fire in Upcoming May 15’th Major Tax Vote

Posted on 05/03/2012 No comments

As we reported Wednesday, tax payers in most of Ramapo, New York are heading to the polls to vote in School Board elections. This is annually a hotly contested battle because most property tax in Ramapo, goes to the School system, and a Board of nine members – three in a rotating system run each year – decide the outcome. Here is an open letter sent by a Tax Payer to MonseyScoop.Com:

This Tuesday, May 15th, we need your vote! The past five years have seen the realization of the outrageous five year contract with the East Ramapo Teachers Union. This burdensome contract gave 10-12% YEARLY INCREASES in salaries to union members, payments that came out of the pockets of Monsey taxpayers. But now, all this can change. The contract is ENDING, and on May 15th! Read more »

Brooklyn – Fidler Takes 87-Vote Lead as 130 Mostly Pro-Storobin Ballots Have Yet to be Counted

Posted on 05/03/2012 2 comments

Democrat Lew Fidler took the lead in the ongoing fight to settle the Special Election held in Brooklyn a while ago for New York’s soon-to-be-dissolved 27′th State Senate District. David Simpson, the spokesman from the opponent David Storobin, e-mailed as follows:

“There are still more than 130 ballots yet to be counted, almost all of which we expect will be cast for David Storobin and will make him the winner. These ballots are being held up in court by Mr. Fidler’s legal team in an attempt to steal this election by disenfranchising Russian voters on a bogus fraud claim. These votes were cast legally in accordance with election law governing absentee ballots, and we’re proving that in court. After the Fidler campaign exhausts it’s legal maneuvering and the court orders those ballots to be counted, Mr. Fidler’s premature victory claim is going to make him look pretty silly.”

Congressional Jew-Count Plummeting

Posted on 05/03/2012 No comments

U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor

Dan Klein Writes: Enjoy the summer lull, because soon the sprint to Simchat Democracy will begin. Though the election is six months away, we can call the results now: the next Congress will have fewer Jewish members than the last. The number of Members of the Tribe on the Hill has been topsy-turvy the last few years.

Nine members joined in 2006 and 2008 to reach a record high of 45, but eight left only two years later—four of the classes of 2006 and 2008 and two long-term Senators were defeated and two resigned. For the first time in years, Jews were less over-represented than Episcopalians. There will be a minimum of ten fewer Jewish incumbents in the 113th Congress, a dramatic fall of 18 over two cycles. But unlike in 2010, the bulk of the 2012 losses are coming not from defeat, but resignation, redistricting, or runs for higher office:

Reps. Gabrielle Giffords, Anthony Weiner, and Jane Harman all resigned from office for very different reasons, while Sen. Joe Lieberman, Sen. Herb Kohl, Rep. Gary Ackerman (there might be only one Jewish rep in New York City!), and Rep. Barney Frank are all retiring basically for the same three: they’re old, they’re sick of the state of Congress, and, at least for Frank and Ackerman, they’re irritated by redistricting.

Josh Mandel To Address Telshe Yeshiva Memorial Tribute Dinner May 6th

Posted on 05/03/2012 No comments

Ohio State treasurer and Republicans U.S. Senate Candidate Josh Mandel will attend the upcoming memorial tribute dinner dedicated to the memory of the Rosh HaYeshiva Harav Chaim Stein ZT”L and deliver a brief message. The milestone 70th anniversary dinner to be held this Sunday May 6th at the Renaissance hotel will be attended by alumni and friends from across the world. Mandel is the grandson of both a Holocaust survivor and a U.S. Army Air Corps veteran. He holds a Bachelor Degree from The Ohio State University and a Law Degree from Case Western Reserve University. Treasurer Mandel and his wife were married in Jerusalem in 2008 and reside in the Cleveland area. Mr. Mandel has a chavrusa at the Telshe Yeshiva and met Rav Chaim Stein on a number of occasions. – Matzav

William Daroff and Other Jewish Lobbyists Outline 2012 Federal and State Elections

Posted on 05/03/2012 No comments

Cleveland Jewish News Reports: The November election is six months away, but Republicans and Democrats are already vying for the Jewish vote with competing claims that their candidate is stronger on Israel than his opponent.

William Daroff, vice president for public policy and director of the Washington office of Jewish Federations of North America and a registered lobbyist, and Joyce Garver Keller, Columbus-based lobbyist and executive director of Ohio Jewish Communities, highlighted state and federal elections at a Jewish Federation of Cleveland event for the Campaign for Jewish Needs. Read more »

Bowing Out, Gingrich Thanks Adelsons

Posted on 05/03/2012 No comments

Gingrich recovered in substantial part because of $25 million funneled by the  Adelsons to SuperPACs backing him, but ultimately could not catch up with  Santorum or Romney. “While they weren’t directly associated with the campaign, it would be  impossible for me to be here and thank everybody without mentioning Sheldon and  Miriam Adelson, who singlehandedly came pretty close to matching Romney’s  SuperPAC,” Gingrich said in his remarks. Gingrich and Adelson have been friends since Gingrich’s term as House speaker  in the mid-1990s, coming together because of shared thinking about Israel and  skepticism of the motives of the Palestinians, along with a shared antipathy of  labor unions. Adelson, a Las Vegas casino mogul, has clashed repeatedly with  unions. – Forward

Jewish Hitler Sympathizer Praised in White House ‘Jewish Heritage Month’ Proclamation

Posted by on 05/03/2012 No comments

Ron Kampeas Reports: Why on earth, considering what we know about Gertrude Stein and her dalliances with Nazis, would the White House cite her in a presidential proclamation marking Jewish American Heritage Month?

From the proclamation:

From Aaron Copland to Albert Einstein,  Gertrude Stein to Justice Louis Brandeis, generations of Jewish  Americans have brought to bear some of our country’s greatest  achievements and forever enriched our national life.

The timing is particularly ironic given the current controversy over the Gertrude Stein-related exhibition at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. In response to complaints that the exhibit ignored the writer’s relationship with fascism, the museum is now changing its exhibit.

- Snip

I looked up Wikipidia, and they have this quote from stein: “I say that Hitler ought to have the peace prize, because he is removing all the elements of contest and of struggle from Germany. By driving out the Jews and the democratic and Left element, he is driving out everything that conduces to activity. That means peace … By suppressing Jews … he was ending struggle in Germany,” (New York Times Magazine, May 6, 1934).[

Orthodox Jewish Mag Asks Ron Paul in Interview if he is an Anti-Semite

Posted on 05/03/2012 No comments

Turx of Ami Magazine Writes: I asked Dr. Paul how he reacts to being branded as anti-Semitic, and then inquired if he had any message to the Jewish people to assuage their fears that some of his policies would lead to anti-Semitism. However, it seems my use of the phrase “Jewish people” was a poor choice. “I don’t see people as belonging to groups,” he responded. “Your liberty, his liberty, her liberty—it’s all the same. You can run your life and your programs and your religious beliefs with no government interference. Everyone should have liberty, and you should not be denied anything because you belong to a group. And you should never get special things because you belong to a group. Read more »

Jewish Week Recaps Bloggers’ Fight Re Obama’s (Late) Shiva Call to Netanyahu

Posted on 05/03/2012 No comments

The Jewish Week Reports: It’s no secret that President Barack Obama and Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu have an icy relationship. So when it took Obama three days to extend condolences on the death of Netanyahu’s father, it raised some eyebrows.

In an exchange on Twitter with other users, The Republican Jewish Coalition quipped “seems like he took his time about it” and asked “3 days doesn’t seem like a curiously languid pace to you?” Read more »

Report: NY State Senate Special Election Vote Count to Favor Fidler

Posted on 05/02/2012 No comments

Jacob Kornbluh, who at times contributes to this blog, tweets tonight that the recount court battle for the NYS Senate Special Election is continuing tomorrow. Democrat Lew Fidler who is trailing his opponent David Storobin by three votes, will likely take the lead. The seat, Senate District 27, is dumped from the new maps. Therefore, the winner may never get to serve in the State Senate; certainly not more than a few out-of-sessions months.

[In Defense of] Obama’s 2′nd Foot-on-Table Moment with Netanyahu

Posted by on 05/02/2012 No comments

On Wednesday morning, the White House issued a readout of Obama’s condolence call to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from Air Force One, writes Natasha Mozgovaya from Haaretz. But, notes Mozgovaya, Mitt Romney was one of the first to issue a statement after the passing of Netanyahu’s father… Some voices in the Jewish community wondered in the past few days whether Obama would do the same… On Twitter, the Republican Jewish Coalition asked Wednesday: Obama also took three days to get around to it when it was [Turkish President] Erdogan who was bereaved, right?

In defense of Obama, according to Jewish Shiva laws non-family members are not suppose to give condolences until three days after the passing of the person. Perhaps Obama was sensitive to Jewish customs… But then again, close friends reach out to one another sooner than three days after a death in the family…

Israeli Politics in Tailspin Over Iran

Posted on 05/02/2012 No comments

Jon Alterman Writes: Politics in Israel has always been a contact sport, but rather than battle to win over the center, an increasing number of political battles are conducted entirely on the fringes. Small religious parties seek greater social spending for their constituents, while a party representing secular Russian Jews focuses on undermining a law exempting ultra-Orthodox Israelis from military service.

In election after election, the major parties’ share of the vote diminishes, leading to weak coalitions that are ideologically incoherent and that are forced to dole out Cabinet posts and largesse to their members to stay in power. Governments become tentative and fragile. The problems call for decisiveness, but the politicians rarely feel they can afford to be. Read more »

Ramapo, NY Taxpayers in Showdown with Unions Ahead of School Board Vote

Posted by on 05/02/2012 2 comments

Taxpayers in the East Ramapo Central School District (ERCSD) in Rockland County NY, are gearing up for a major showdown with the Teacher’s Unions ahead of the May 15 annual School Board and Budget vote.

The five-year contract with the teacher’s is up for a renewal later this year, and the nine-member Board will vote and decide the final print of the contract. Read more »

With Obama and Bibi Both Running, is 2012 a Replay of 1988 or 1992?

Posted on 05/02/2012 No comments

Ron Kampeas Writes: In 1988, the Dukakis-Bush race had no discernible effect on a race that saw Yitzhak Shamir edge Shimon Peres for Israel’s premiership. Four years later, however, Shamir’s contentious relationship with President George H. W. Bush is believed to have helped cost the Israeli prime minister the election.

So far, 2012 is looking more like ‘88 than ‘92, according to Aaron David Miller, a former longtime State Department Middle East negotiator who worked for the Bush administration.

“An Israeli prime minister is judged first and foremost by whether he can avoid catastrophic political decisions, then on the capacity to give Israelis a sense of security, then on the capacity to manage the U.S.-Israeli relationship,” said Miller, now a public policy fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Jewish Heritage Month: First Jewish Woman to Serve in U.S. House: A Republican Elected in 1925

Posted on 05/01/2012 No comments

Jewish Haritage Month.Gov featuers Florence Prag Kahn as a Jewish success story in the United States. Following is from Wikipidia: Prag Kahn was an American teacher and politician who in 1925 became the first Jewish woman to serve in the United States Congress. She was only the fifth woman to serve in Congress, and the second from California, after fellow San Franciscoan Mae Nolan. Like Nolan, she took the seat in the House of Representatives left vacant by the death of her husband, Julius Kahn. Florence Kahn was elected as a Republican to the 69th Congress, by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her husband, who had just been re-elected to a 13th term. She was reelected to the 70th, 71st, 72nd, 73rd, and 74th Congresses, serving from December 7, 1925 to January 3, 1937. She was the first woman on the House Military Affairs Committee.

Obama Proclaims May 2012 Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted on 05/01/2012 No comments

President Obama Writes: Three hundred and fifty-eight years ago, a band of 23 Jewish refugees fled Recife, Brazil, beset by bigotry and oppression.  For them, receding shores marked the end of another chapter of persecution for a people that had been tested from the moment they came together and professed their faith.  Yet, they also marked a new beginning.  When those men, women, and children landed in New Amsterdam—what later became New York City—they found not only safe haven, but early threads of a tradition of freedom and opportunity that would forever bind their story to the American story.

Those 23 believers led the way for millions to follow. Read more »

Opinion: Romney Making Inroads With Jewish Voters

Posted by on 05/01/2012 No comments

The AJC poll shows President Obama getting only 61 percent of the Jewish vote, a decline of 17 points down from the 78 percent he got in 2008. 11 percent are undecided, but when asked whom they are leaning towards, 5% picked Romney and 6% picked the president. Even before the Veep pick, the national convention, and the campaign effort which is expected to be aggressive and carefully area targeted in the months ahead, that gives Mitt Romney roughly 33% of the Jewish vote.

Based on this poll data, one could confidentially assume Mitt Romney getting around 39% of the Jewish vote in November. It matches President Reagan’s 1980-1984 support. Read more »

‘Israel Project’ Chief Leaving to Start New Firm

Posted on 05/01/2012 No comments

Government affairs guru Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi is resigning as chief executive officer of The Israel Project, a pro-Israel nonprofit educational organization, and starting her own public relations and government affairs company. Her new firm, Laszlo Strategies, will veer away from Israel-focused advocacy, aiming to primarily work with organizations advocating for medical innovations and the disabled, Laszlo Mizrahi told POLITICO. Autism, cerebral palsy and other neurological conditions will be of particular focus. She’ll start work with 13 employees, including longtime associates Denny Roberge and Michael R. Shannon. – Politico

Bob Turner Says he Plays Catch-up in Late U.S. Senate Start

Posted on 05/01/2012 No comments

Soon-to-be-gerrymanderd 9th District Congressman and US Senate candidate Bob Turner was making the rounds at the Capitol this morning, speaking on the radio and with reporters, including Capitol Tonight’s Nick Reisman and yours truly. Turner, who will face Wendy Long and George Maragos in a June GOP primary for the right to take on incumbent Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, admitted that he is making up for  late start — that is getting into the race 72 hours before the GOP convention in March. And he kept up the Republican mantra that was repeated during the convention with competitors agreeing to, at least publicly, focus their criticism on Gillibrand and on President Obama. – Times Union