רבותי: קומט ארויס שטימען, יעדע שטימע קען מאכן דעם דיפערענץ
דא איז דער רעקארד פון דעם זעלבן פארמעסט, 4 יאר צוריק
עס איז גענוי די זעלבע ווי דעמאלטס, די גוים קומען אין די מאסן שטימען קעגן די אינקאנבענטס.
יעצט זענען זיי נאך מער אנגעהיצט, און יעדע אידישע שטימע קען אויסמאכן דעם דיפערענץ
KJ votes drown out Democrats
By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record
cmckenna@th-record.com
Monroe – Behold the political might of Kiryas Joel.
District
voting tallies confirm that the Hasidic community cast a deluge of
votes helping two Monroe Town Board members win re-election on Tuesday,
despite overwhelming support for their opponents in the rest of the
town.
Riding a wave of citizen unrest, Democrats Ann Krawet and
Mary Bingham more than tripled the votes of Republican incumbents Jim
Rogers and Lori Currier Woods in the 21 voting districts outside of the
Village of Kiryas Joel.
But the reverse pattern prevailed in
Kiryas Joel, Orange County Board of Elections figures show. Voting
there approached unanimity: totals of 2,922 and 2,868 for the
incumbents; 36 and 26 for the challengers.
The result was that
Rogers and Woods each won four-year terms, beating Krawet and Bingham
by comfortable margins of roughly 700 votes.
The Democrats
expressed dismay yesterday at the sharp contrast in the voting. "Where
else in the country do you see this?" Krawet asked.
"It indicates
such a dichotomy of interest that it demands the immediate attention of
the county executive" and higher elected officials, she continued. "It
demands their immediate attention to split Kiryas Joel from the rest of
the town."
But Rogers saw nothing amiss in the vote – except the
large support outside of Kiryas Joel for his opponents, which he
attributed to their lying or exaggerating about such issues as the rate
of housing development in Monroe.
"There's a lot of misinformation being put out there to scare the hell out of everyone," he said.
Referring
to Kiryas Joel, he said, "They played a big role, yeah, but they're
part of the town." Suggesting that the Democrats themselves had
alienated Kiryas Joel, he added: "If they had their support, they would
love it, right?"
Voting totals for the Monroe districts outside
of Kiryas Joel were as follows: Krawet, 3,017; Bingham, 3,007; Woods,
876; and Rogers, 842.
Kiryas Joel Mayor Abraham Wieder said
yesterday that the village endorsed the Republican ticket because "We
have a long-standing policy to support the incumbents" and because the
Democrats seemed to be "against Kiryas Joel."
"We are paying taxes," he said, "and when you pay taxes, you have the right and constitutional responsibility to vote."
http://archive.recordonline.com/archive/2003/11/06/camkjvot.htm
*-- End text inserted by macro *