Carl McCall's Got Some Explaining To Do,.....

Last week, reader Simcha Gordon ("Pataki More In Sync," Letters) expressed his dismay over some negative things New York gubernatorial candidate Carl McCall had to say about the kosher law litigation, the Kiryas Joel special school district and tuition vouchers in an interview he gave to The New York Jewish Week and also chided us for having endorsed Mr. McCall in the Democratic primary even after his opponent, Andrew Cuomo had withdrawn. Mr. Gordon's point was that Mr. Pataki has a positive record on the three topics as far as the Orthodox community is concerned.

We sent an e-mail to the McCall campaign asking for clarification and promptly received a response that the matter was being looked into. We thereafter received a letter testimonial from a long-time ago official of a national Orthodox Jewish organization who spoke of Mr. McCall's support for Israel, several Jewish causes, the Kiryas Joel school district and the kosher law enforcement program. We also received e-mail from someone in the McCall campaign saying that the kosher law enforcement program "has done a fine job of protecting consumers. We look forward to working with Shelly Silver, a strong supporter of this legislation, to find effective ways to address any issues that may still exist and we are confident that Attorney General Spitzer will take necessary measures to protect this important program."

Yet, here are the parts of The Jewish Week interview (with questions in italics) that prompted Mr. Gordon's letter:

The state is currently fighting to uphold the kosher enforcement law. State courts [Ed.: actually it was two federal courts] have found the law is unconstitutional. Your view?

As a church-state issue I think the state should be very careful about getting involved in internal [religious] issues and should not take a position with respect to whether one religious position ought to prevail over another. We should do whatever has to happen to get the state out of that.

The state [Ed.: i.e., several courts] has also ruled repeatedly against the Kiryas Joel school district created for chasidic students. What's your view?

I was in Kiryas Joel last Monday and was endorsed by the leadership there. [McCall was endorsed for the primary by Republican Mayor Abraham Wieder.]... Under their laws children should have a Jewish education. By the same token these children are severely handicapped and in every other instance they get state support. They should get state support for their education. If the Legislature can fashion a way to do it that would be satisfactory...they should find ways to revise it that's acceptable to the court. <

br>
What about school vouchers?

I don't support them. It's not a matter of constitutional [sic], I don't think that it's good public policy to support two school systems, to take money out of the public school system and make it available to others...We should concentrate our efforts on how to improve the system.

Is there any form of relief you envision for those who pay parochial tuition?

We should look at some other ways that would provide assistance...but I don't have any particular suggestion. I'm willing to explore it.

Our concerns are several. Plainly, at least in the interview, Mr. McCall seemed to have a real problem with the kosher laws. Also, there is in now in place a recently enacted law establishing a Kiryas Joel special school district which has not been challenged and which no one has suggested needs fixing. And Mr. McCall's single-minded championing of the public schools over parochial schools is very disturbing. In any event, the problems of the parochial schools do not seem to be high on his agenda.

Equally problematical is that Mr. McCall has yet, to our knowledge, to contact The Jewish Week claiming to have been misquoted and asking for a public correction. Nor has he directly addressed with The Jewish Press any of the particulars of the interview. We should hear from Mr. McCall, but more importantly, to our mind, the readers of The Jewish Week should.

We hasten to say that we don't regard any one of these issues as a litmus test. But we do regard them and others as the stuff of a lively debate in the coming campaign for Governor of New York.

Read Comments (0)

Carl McCall's Got Some Explaining To Do , .....