Photo Credit: Dov Hikind
Bill Thompson has been campaigning with Assemblyman Dov Hikind,

Politicker’s Ross Barkan reports:

At 4 p.m. yesterday, Bill Thompson gathered with a former Republican senator and conservative Jewish leaders in a roped-off avenue in Crown Heights…

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“He doesn’t promise everything to everyone and give everyone the answer they may like to hear,” said former Senator Al Mr. D’Amato, surrounded by gawking Hasidim at the first event. He argued that that restraint helped to build trust. “When he gives you an answer,” he said, “you know that it is real.”

The message at the event, stressed repeatedly by Thompson backers including Assemblyman Dov Hikind and other more right-leaning Orthodox Jewish leaders, was that Mr. Thompson–unlike his front-running rival Bill de Blasio–was not a quixotic liberal who would have difficulty collaborating with people of all ideological stripes, including the city’s business leaders.

“We have been shocked and deeply embarrassed, as New Yorkers, at some of the candidates this race has produced, people who are engaged in class warfare, people who have no understanding of the real world,” said Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, a former assistant to Mr. D’Amato and ex-GOP Gov. George Pataki. “There are some 5,000 people out there, I’m not one of them, who pay about 30 percent of the taxes in this city. You may like them, you may not like them, but they have mobility.”

Mr. Thompson brushed off suggestions that having a Republican like Mr. D’Amato stump for him tarnished his liberal credentials.

“I believe I’m a progressive Democrat and also, you look at my record,” he told reporters. “At the same point, the senator is a strong representative from this state and worked on behalf of this state for years … I’m happy to have his support.”

In the GOP primary, Joe Lhota may well have sealed the Republican primary for mayor, especially amid Bill de Blasio’s rise. Having said that, many observers believe the GOP primary still remains competitive.

Nicole Gelinas wrote in the NY Post that Mr. Lhota is well and above Mr. Catsimatidis but it ain’t over until its over. And New York hasn’t had a real contested Republican mayoral primary since 2001, when Herman Badillo ran against Bloomberg.

Finally, in a last minute resort to satisfy the disgraced pol they once relied upon in government, the Zalonim sect of Satmar has endorsed disgraced pol and sex-addict Vito Lopez for City Council.

In a daily newsletter, distributed in all of the local synagogues across Brooklyn, the congregation of Kehal Yetav Lev calls on all its members to vote for Bill Thompson as their choice of mayor and for Vito Lopez as their choice for City Council in the 34th Council District.

“We can’t afford to lose,” Satmar leaders plea in “a heartfelt appeal to understand the situation and recognize the vital importance of acting at this critical moment.”

“It’s an historic responsibility. We cannot and we must not let our ‘askanim’ (community leaders), who’re sacrificing their lives for our benefit, fall,” the announcement reads.

 

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Jacob Kornbluh is described as an up and coming Orthodox Jewish Blogger, writing about Local, national and Israeli politics, and a freelance reporter for various publications. Kornbluh's work has been featured in Haaretz, the NY Times, local blogs, and on local Jewish Radio, Kornbluh also covers the NYC 2013 mayoral race in general and a focus on the Jewish vote in particular at: http://nymayor.blogspot.com. Follow Jacob on Twitter @jacobkornbluh and his daily blog: jacobkornbluh.com