By Patrick Wall, Brooklyn Daily Eagle
It’s butcher against minister in a Crown Heights state Assembly race that will test the Tea Party’s ties to the district’s Hasidic Jewish community.
On Tuesday, voters in the 43rd District will choose between Menachem Raitport, a Brooklyn Tea Party-backed butcher from the Hasidic community, and Democratic Assemblyman Karim Camara, a Baptist minister who was recently endorsed by local Jewish leaders.
“People are tired of what’s going on. They want a change,” said Raitport, 43, who is representing the Republican and Conservative parties on the ballot.
Raitport’s campaign was dealt a serious blow when the Crown Heights Political Action Committee (PAC), an influential group of business and civic leaders in the Jewish community, endorsed Camara.
“Mendy [a nickname for Menachem] is an A-one guy,” said Moshe Malamud, a founding member of the PAC. But, he added, “Karim has been our partner, our friend, our advocate since Day One.”
Rabbi Shea Hecht, co-chairman of the PAC, put it more bluntly. “Can Mendy Raitport do anything for us more than Mr. Camara? The answer is no.”
Raitport has lived in Crown Heights for 25 years, and has owned and operated his butcher shop, Crown Kosher, for the last 16 of them. A registered EMT, Raitport has been known to donate kosher meat to needy families and to let others buy on credit.
“For sure I’m voting for Mendy,” said Jack Safire, who lives down the street from Raitport’s shop. “He helps a lot of people.”
Though Raitport helps families during tough times, he’s against what he calls government “handouts.” “Government has made it so that people should rely on them,” Raitport said. “If they’re lazy, I’m sorry, I don’t have to pay for someone to sit on his laurels and collect a check.”
Though many in Crown Heights’s Hasidic community share Raitport’s regard for hard work, as well as his moral opposition to homosexuality and abortion, it’s also true that many local families depend on government services.
“A lot of people are struggling,” said Rabbi Eli Cohen, the executive director of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council. “Therefore they’re not totally against having a government safety net.”
Cohen said that demands for government assistance have spiked in the area over the last few years.
“We’re at the bottom end of the economic scale,” said Rabbi Josef Spielman, who runs a food pantry from his home. He said he serves about 350 people on an average day. Large Orthodox families with parents who lack secular college degrees and children who attend religious schools are often the most needy, Spielman said.
Many of Crown Heights’ Jewish leaders see in Camara a seasoned politician who is attuned to their community’s needs ? tax credits for parents with children in religious schools, housing support for large families ? and has the connections and resources to address them.
“He understands how Albany works,” said Hecht. And, he added, “Philosophically, he’s 100 percent with us.”
“I’ve been one of those people who have forged strong relationships with the Jewish community,” said Camara, who sits on the Hebrew Language Academy Charter School’s board of directors.
While Raitport can claim some popularity in his neighborhood, he’s a political novice largely without connections beyond the Jewish community, opponents say.
“He’s a very sweet fellow,” Cohen said. “In a vacuum, a lot of people would like to support his candidacy.”
Hello? getting government assistance has NOTHING to do with the position…
And besides, I know plenty people who would rather starve and pay out their hearts for their medical bills if they knew that the community was a safer place, a place where you could walk outside at 10pm and not worry about being mugged.
It’s time we stop thinking about how much food stamps we can get. No amount of food stamps will help your family when the father was shot for his wallet CV!!!
On November 2nd don’t forget to take out the trash. Vote Republican.
ok all you yidden have to stop fighting!!
will this really affect our lives?
will this bring moshaich??
who cares joe , shmo , whatever their names are , Hashem has it ALL under his pinky!!
but i do agree with all thats said above , especially number 32
gutteh nacht
Guess what…you are stuck in a different day. African Americans and Caribbean are beginning to leave you guys behind and ARE voting Republican.
Yes, we are both right, I agree, it’s just that our brethren seems to think we’ve been gerrymandered into the camara district. we weren’t. we just happen to live in a small compact area within a larger african american/caribbean population. You need a smaller district like the size of the city council so you can elect a felder or greefield or big enough for a hikind. we’re not there, chaver.
Can anyone expalain how the orthodox Sheldon Silver supports the immoral laws that are being voted
The hand feeding you isn’t government, it’s the taxpayers, i.e., the people! So give a kiss to the hand feeding you and vote tea party which is the people!
if u want to continue to live with crime food high taxes then vote democratic . the democrats make u poor then they throw u a few food stamps and u vote for them doesnt make sense. vote republican all the way from gov to state senator etc.we need change in this bankrupt state .EVERYONE VOTE REPUBLICAN .
A common misconception is that gerrymandering is illegal.
Actually the United States Supreme Court has never ruled that a legislative redistricting map should be overturned on the basis of political gerrymandering.
On the basis of racial gerrymandering, race or religion cannot be a predominant factor in the drawing of boundaries of a voting district unless the district plan can pass muster under strict scrutiny.
The person challenging the reapportionment has the burden of proving the race-based motive.
The key words here are proof and motive.
Unfortunately, both are improvable in the Crown Heights districts.
Somebody over there wrote earlier “because of political gerrymandering, the Jewish community has little or no chance of electing one of our own. ” So let me ask, if there are 150,000 people in an Assembly district, and crown heights, which is nearly entirely in the Camara district, as maybe 20,000 Jews, how do you draw a district that reaches 150,000 without violating the US Constitutional problem drawing funny shaped racial districts? I think federal law requires regularly shaped districts for blacks and hispanics when you can prove in court that the white community outvotes the minorities and they can… Read more »
I agree with 3
What exactly have the tea party crazies done for anyone? Nothing. All they have done is rip apart this country further. They aren’t going to bring anything good. Raitport is mishuga to associate his name with them. It makes him one of the crazies and CH voting for him will just say to the world that CH is a bunch of crazies. Not to mention, that CH has high numbers on government assistanced. Don’t shoot the hand that feeds you.
all you lefties out there were crying we need Sheah Heacht in the vaad he has all the political connections….
but now when he gives you the strait political facts his opinion is not worth a dime!
comes to show that you don’t really hold of Heacht but rather are against the Vaad and will support anyone that goes against it
no matter what connections he has he will always have our back unlike camara!
Just ahead of Election Day, one of the most influential American churchmen in the Vatican, Cardinal-designate Raymond L. Burke, has warned Catholic voters in the United States that they may never vote for politicians who support abortion rights or same-sex marriage, position usually associated with Democratic candidates.
What victory have we seen those far from Camara?
Maybe you and some other individuals have seen some victory but the community at large has not?
If I’m mistaken, please show me the numbers “show me the money”?
So far from the truth! Did you ever watch (on C-Span) how the voting goes, you don’t have to be a carrier politician to do that. You get a bill you read, you either vote yes or no. You need funding, you make a request -push it through- and you’ll get the money. The only reason the Picture PAC does not want one of our own is for selfish reasons. For one, we will ALL have contact with our leader. Second, there will be an accounting of where the money is going. or better yet, Raitport wont need the middle… Read more »
lets show em all that we here in C’H have our own say and not do whats the cons want. i dont know raitport but i do know a yid is going to show them all we have a say and take our voice serious. the PAC here are a bunch of idiots. U HAVE A CHANCE TO SHOW THE BLACKS WHO WE R AND U BLOW IT
Some of the comments here are ridiculous! We should not blindly vote for Mendy just because he is a Yid. I have met Camara on 2 occasions and he is a religious and genuine person that shares many our very own values. He is for Scholl Vouchers and understands that we are being taxed for an education system that our kids don’t benefit from. If anyone took 5 minutes to understand that issues and the candidates who we are voting for you will see that Camara actually does vote every time for the issues the very same way we would… Read more »
There’s nothing worse than being a GOP member in Orthodoc Speaker Sheldon Silver’s Democratic majority Assembly. Mendel would be just a photo op oddity; no power, his vote never adding up to a victory. Camara is the man.
but that not the way it works, you can’t come in with ZERO political experience and expect the PAC to alienate a good friend for a LONG SHOT chance of you getting elected. even if you would win, whats to say you would have the know how to get us the funds that Camra has been getting us.
you have to work your wy up in this game.
Camara received over 8,000 votes in 2005.
Unfortunately because of political gerrymandering, the Jewish community has little or no chance of electing one of our own.
The endorsement of a Jewish business man would have been political suicide for PAC. Recommendation by PAC to vote for Camara instead of Raitport will be ignored by 99% of the Jewish community. They will however retain the good graces of a politician that has influence in Albany. PAC’s decision to support Camara is toothless, intelligent, pragmatic and a win/win for the Jewish community no matter who is victorious this week.
Endorsing a candidate just b/c he is gonna be the winner is shameful. You support the candidate who you believe shares your values and will represent your interests in the assembly. Camara is a nice guy, but he does not share our values. We in New York have a sickness that we keep on sending the same people to Albany year after year, and the politicians accumulate more and more power and that is why New York has the most corrupt government in the country. We should send people who are sincere and are not interested in accumulating power but… Read more »
Let’s follow our political beliefs, and not a mindless, non-nominated ‘PAC’.
See what happened in Lakewood when the self-appointed people in charge nominated someone that suited them personally and not the community – they were humiliated when their choice got less then 10% of the vote.
Similar thing happened with Dov Hikind – who lost political clout the same way.
Go republican – it’s time for change.
it seems to all boil down to $$… as is almost everything else now a days. Handouts, entitlements are overdone and bring to corruption.
Who says Mendy can’t do it? Did Camara start out an expert? He learned on the job, I am sure, and so can Mendy. You don’t need a PHD to be in politics. The sorry state of politics today – you need someone with integrity and compassion. Shame on the career politicians and their followers. Mendy gets my vote,
To endors a goy over a Lubavitcher is no shycus befrat that they never did anything and never will
Don’t make the big mistake, all accross america the revolution is on, look at florida, I spoke with AG candidate pam bondi friday for 15 min she is so in touch! Sorry abi but we will vote marco rubio into office.
The higher taxes are, the less people can give, you don’t chap? Fine but look at the UK
Brooklyn Eagle, it’s not “Jewish Butcher vs. Black Minister”! It’s “Rabbi against Minister”!
Get out there and vote, Crown Heightsers! Also, vote for Paladino!!! Even those who want more of the “same old same old from Albany” won’t be lucky enough to get that by voting for Cuomo, because Albany is BROKE!!! Whoever is our next governor is going to preside over huge cuts in State government programs; better that it be an experienced businessman doing this, than a sleazy slimy career politician who is the cause of the whole mortgage industry crisis — all of those foreclosures that have been happening nationally, from his profligate programs while he was at HUD in… Read more »
If Camara has been helpful to the Yidden of Crown Heights, that’s great. HOWEVER, there are BIG cuts coming in Albany. Having an honest YID there will be the BEST way to make sure OUR KEHILLA is protected! Nothing against Camara, but he was a new member of the State Congress himself once, with little experience in the system, coming in NOT as a savvy, well-connected guy, but as someone who felt he could make a difference. People who want to deny an intelligent, personable, business-experienced Yid the same opportunity to grow into the office and represent our kehilla are… Read more »
Anyone whose reason for voting for Camara is simply because “I’m listening to the PAC,” is throwing away their vote! Since when do Yidden let other Yidden do their thinking for them?
Mr spielman says:”Large Orthodox families with parents who lack secular college degrees and children who attend religious schools are often the most needy.”
Without putting down the huge chessed that you do, college degrees will not guarantee you a job, look at the unemployment rate, many without a job in the US are college graduates, and many kids in public schools are far from wealthy….
i’m listening to the PAC
I think it is a busha that our community cannot support one of our own. He doesn’t have experience; so what he has experience dealing with people doesn’t that count? How can we expect the people around us to respect us if we cannot support one of our own. I personally think it is a disgrace. Even if he looses we will have gained a measure of respect from the politicos. And who are these self appointed political action commitee guys anyhow. May I suggest a public gathering so they can explain why their candidates are best for the community.… Read more »
I highly doubt it.
Assuming that’s the case it makes sense for the PAC to endorse Camara.
What housing did he help out with?
What’s he’s opinion on abortion?
Does he listen when spoken to? -not in my experience
Others” loves us today and hate us tomorrow.
More importantly, most democrats will support immoral laws that go against the Torah. Are we selling ourselves for a bag of rice??
If they would tell Camara we would love to endorse you but we wouldn’t feel comfortable this time b/c of a fellow Jew as an oponent, we therefore choose to stay neutral this time, I would understand that. But this is beyond despicable. Backstabbers. And then the local institutions want to milk his father for $, why should he give to ch?
dont give up!!! let them all wake up, cohen included and get a real job and see how hard it is to support our families, obamacare raised my health insurance by 25% this year!! thats besides oheli torah crying that thay have no money forced me to pay over 7000.00 for one kid!!! and all the freeloaders just want a easy way out!!! we stand by u!!
Don’t let the system fool you, those Jews who don’t want him in have their own agenda. A yid must vote a Yid.
What has Camera done for you?
He has done a lot to fill individuals pockets thats for-sure.
With Mendy the money given to the community will go to the community!
Mendy is a great Yid but he cant just expect for the community take such a huge political gamble by supporting him especially considering he has no experience or connections and his opponent has been very good to us.
Bs”d
Their system is not our way. Why get “dirty”when you don’t need to?
Benven( tsfat)