Why Local Elections Are Important

By COLlive reporter

R’ Chanina Sperlin is a seasoned Jewish activist and an influential voice in New York politics for over 20 years. In his current capacity as intergovernmental liaison for the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, he attends to community interests in City Hall, Albany, NY and Washington, DC.

Following this week’s special election for the 43rd District seat of the New York Assembly, we had a few questions for him.
Q. Are you disappointed in the result of the 43rd Assembly District election, with the loss of Menachem Raitport, the Jewish candidate you endorsed?

Sperlin: Any time the candidate you support is not the winner, you are going to be a little disappointed. Dianna Richardson ran a strong campaign and turned out over 4,000 votes. I think that it would have been difficult for Mendy to beat that number. For him to have a real chance, he needed a more even split between his opponents. I am happy that Mendy reached out to the winner to congratulate her last night. Now that she has been elected, I think Dianna will represent us well in Albany.

Q. Were you satisfied with the Jewish community taking an interest in the election?

Sperlin: I really want to thank everyone who went out to vote. Mothers with little children, people on their way to work, everyone is busy, but they went out because they knew it was important for the community.

Q. Are local elections important?

Sperlin: All elections are important. The elected officials need to know that our community deserves attention. If we call to help an individual with safety, security or quality of life issue, or if it’s a traffic issue that affects the whole neighborhood, we want to get our calls answered and the problem solved. When they know they will have to answer to the community on election day, they pay attention.

Q. And that includes our state representatives?

Sperlin: Yes. The State government in Albany is where the laws are made that rule every aspect of our lives, taxes, traffic, education, health and housing. Even many things that are run at the City level, like police and traffic, require State approval and State money. Our mosdos are providing many services that are funded by the State. It is important that the needs of the frum community are taken into consideration. And of course we all look to Albany to help relieve the burden of tuition costs on our families.

Q. Why do you think that Mendy Raitport did not get enough votes to win?

Sperlin: There were several factors. First, I believe that once the absentee and affidavit votes are counted in a couple of weeks from now, his number will be closer to 1,800 or more – almost second place.

Second, a lot of people did not realize that you need to register a few weeks before the election in order to vote. We have close to 8,000 eligible voters in the Chasidic community, but only 4,500 are registered.

The Community Council will be working on a registration drive to increase that number before the primaries in September. Also, people need to update their registration if they change address. If you have a New Driver License you can register online at http://dmv.ny.gov/mydmv/mydmv.

Q: Did you consider supporting the other candidates?

Sperlin: I can also disclose that we met with candidates seeking our support before the election, and when we told them that this time we wanted to back a candidate from the community, they understood and respected our decision.

In this election representatives from many of the Crown Heights shuls signed a unanimous letter in support of our candidate. This Achdus is so important and will help our community in the long run.

Q. Were there any other factors that affected the vote?

Sperlin: Unfortunately there were other voices, in the community and outside, that claimed to speak for the Jewish community. The confusion as to who the community is supporting caused some people to stay home and others to vote for different candidates. Of course it’s a free country, but the Rebbe always encouraged everyone to look to the community representatives when considering whom to support.

Our Political Action Committee (“PAC”) is headed by the elected Chairman of our community, Zaki Tamir. The members thought long and hard before agreeing to support a candidate from our community to be sure that he had a real chance. And the results show that he really did have a chance this time – if we would have had a more unified and enthusiastic turnout.

In other races we supported other candidates. The debate is important and we can and should include more people in the process, but once the decision is made, every member of the community needs to go with it IF we are to have the most effect.

Q: What impact does the local Jewish vote have?

Sperlin: In the past few elections at the City level, there were a couple of times that our vote made the difference of the margin of victory, where our candidate would not have won without us. When different voices, that do not necessarily represent the community interest, are pulling in different directions, our power is lessened and it is harder to get our representatives to fight for our community interest.