Brooklyn’s Jewish media has not been overly nice to Democratic Councilman Lew Fidler in the last two days. Yesterday, COMMUNITY Magazine converted itself to an almost cover-to-cover advertisement for his opponent in his campaign for the State Senate, and today, one of the most influential newspapers in the district, Hamodia, wrote a fairly scathing piece as well.
Underneath the front-page headline “Scandalous Claims,” one of the newspaper’s editors went after Mr. Fidler for insufficiently supporting tuition relief for the district’s yeshivas while boosting his Republican opponent, David Storobin. “In truth, Storobin’s conservative qualifications appear solid,” he wrote. “But for Fidler to claim the conservative mantle, in support of funding for yeshivos, is just scandalous, say people involved in yeshivah aid.”
Mr. Fidler is campaigning heavily on yeshiva funding and both candidates told Hamodia the issue was the most important one in the district.
The newspaper’s harshest words were over gay marriage, however.
“The deplorable bill that passed the state legislature last year may turn out to be somewhat of a watershed in politics in the Orthodox community,” the article continued. “I’ve heard people, several of whom I respect deeply, say that the bill is passed and there is little to gain from revisiting the subject. I disagree, Lew Fidler, as a NYC councilman, did not vote for the state bill in August, but he did vote for a council bill in 2010 demonstrating his support — financial and moral — for the beneficiaries of that legislation.”
“While the community cannot undo the harmful bill, they could make their protest known at the ballot box,” he added.
Hamodia is widely read in the Orthodox Jewish portions of Mr. Kruger’s former district, and Wednesday’s expanded weekend edition is the most notable one of the week. For religious families not using electronic devices on Shabbos, a newspaper might be more closely read.
In addition to the editor’s barrage on Mr. Fidler, the newspaper published several other pieces on the March 20th special election today, running pro-Fidler and pro-Storobin op-eds, as well as several letters to the editor on the subject.
Most of the content can be found on pages 46 and 47 here.
