Yesterday I received a very disturbing letter from a local community rabbi who was advocating for governor Corzine in the upcoming NJ governor's race. Not only was he advocating for him but the letter was actually sent out on Corzine letterhead. Let me start off by saying that I am not supporting Corzine in this election and I have said so in previous posts, and I think that if you are going to be advocating for one candidate over another why not look at the facts.
Governor Corzine has come down on the wrong side of the issue which most affects our community time and again and that, of course is funding for and assistance to private schools. To quote from an e-mail I got from the NJ School Choice group, "...Governor Corzine has promised time and again to oppose legislative support to private schools that are not structured as secular charter schools". Not only has Corzine said he does not support vouchers (even though they are never going to happen) he is actually responsible for $7 Million in technology funding being pulled from Yeshivos resulting in a net loss to our community while he increased funding to public schools, all while he is Governor. All other issues pale in comparison to this one for the community. The letter states that he is a strong supporter of Israel. Show me anyone running in this area that is not a strong supporter of Israel. The letter says that the Governor has worked hard to keep taxes down. ...Um, are we living in different states? The majority of us have seen our income and property taxes going in only one direction over the last few years, and it is the wrong one. The letter states in addition that in his budget he kept the property tax rebate for families earning $75,000 and under. I hate to sound like a snob, but my dear rabbi, how may families in our community at this point are truly earning under $75,000 combined? I would venture to say that this is the minority. Our state does not have a deduction for charitable donations, but this Rabbi has an assurance from the governor that he is going to work on it, funding has been cut from our yeshivos, but this rabbi has an assurance that the governor is going to look into it. The governor has had four years to do what is right for our community on this issue and he has not, but all of a sudden he is running for office and he is willing to take the lead on these issues? If you believe him I have a bridge to sell you. The governor is totally indebted to the teacher union and will never advocate for anything that would help private schools.
I don't know if Cristie is the best candidate, he has run one of the worst campaigns I have seen, but on this issue he is in our camp, the quote NJ School Choice again " He has consistently championed school choice throughout the campaign and has specifically pledged to support it as governor". Corzine's policies have not worked for the majority of the state's residents recently and we should not reward failure. Taxes are up, jobs are being lost (except in the government), businesses are leaving the state at a rapid pace due to the tax burden and corruption???? And you are asking us to throw our support behind this guy? Why because he has a D after his name? I don't care if the guy has a D an R an I or a Z for that matter, we need to get out there and vote on the issues and for who is going to be better in the long run for our community. Corzine has had four years to prove himself and he has failed. He is beholden to the teachers union and that is that. Period. End of story. It's time for change.
To the Rabbi in question, if you would like to advocate for an issue which has put the largest burden on our community that is great and we welcome your input, but in that case why not look at who is truly in our community's best interest and not at the letter next to the name.
UPDATE:
5 comments:
You have to give the Charedim credit for being organized. When it comes to politics they are all on the same page, as opposed to the MO community.
True. They vote as a block on issues which is something we need to start doing. The problem is you still have rabbonim and other people in our community, as you see from this, that will blindly support a candidate based on the letter next to their name.
You sare right. We need to speak with one voice when it politics. I dare say we even need to work with the Chareidi community. We all have the same concerns.
And we are working with them on this. Look no further than a meeting that was held jointly between the OU and Agudah in our community a few weeks ago and the amount of people from our community that went to the Agudah legislative breakfast. This is not an issue of hashkafah that divides us it is a crisis that the entire Jewish community is in together and thankfully we are all able to work together to try and solve the problem or at least alleviate the burden.
I'm blown away by the content of that letter. The govenor is trying? Well, people want results. This year was the smallest property tax increase. . .. .? Are NJ residents supposed to pat the govenor on the back?
Unbelievable.
Post a Comment