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| McMahon Campaign Hits Grimm For Taking 'Jewish Money' |
| 2010-07-31 |
| Mike Grimm, a G.O.P challenger to Democrat Mike McMahon's Congressional seat, took in over $200,000 in his last filing. But in an effort to show that Grimm lacks support among voters in the district, which covers Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, the McMahon campaign compiled a list of Jewish donors to Grimm and provided it to The Politicker. The file, labeled "Grimm Jewish Money Q2," for the second quarter fundraising period, shows a list of over 80 names, a half-dozen of which in fact do hail from Staten Island, and a handful of others that list Brooklyn as home. "Where is Grimm's money coming from," said Jennifer Nelson, McMahon's campaign spokeman. "There is a lot of Jewish money, a lot of money from people in Florida and Manhattan, retirees." As a point of comparison, the campaign also provided in-district and out-of-district fundraising totals from McMahon and Grimm's G.O.P primary opponent, Michael Allegretti. However, they did not provide an out-of-district campaign filing from Grimm, but only a file of Jewish donors to him. Nelson said that the list was compiled by the campaign's finance director, Debra Solomon and that she did not know exactly how the finance team knew who was Jewish and who was not. "She herself is Jewish so she knows a lot of people in that community," Nelson said. Nelson stressed that the point of compiling the list was not to show that Grimm had a lot of Jewish support, but that he had little support in the district. "I don't think ethnicity matters. When people look at who is funding his campaign it's not people who have a direct vested interest [in the district.]" The campaign also wanted to point out that Grimm benefited greatly from his endorsement by Rudy Giuliani, and made a separate column to denote donors who have to the former mayor's presidential or Senate campaigns. Only five appear to have done so. Grimm recently went to a religious service led by Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, a Kabbalahist who is known as a rabbi to the rich and famous. Several of his followers, including Haim Revah, whose company owns the Lipstick Building and Ilan Bracha of Prudential Douglas Elliman, donated to Grimm. McMahon meanwhile has been trying to make his own in-roads into the Jewish community. A source said that he is scheduled to meet next week with several major Jewish donors. But that's all right. My Jews are good Democratic Jews... Reached by phone, Grimm, who is part-Italian, part-German, said he was proud of his Jewish support and said he was disturbed to hear that the McMahon campaign compiled a separate list of his Jewish donors. "The fact that a U.S. Congressman would separate out any group by religion or even by ethnicity is nothing short of outrageous," he said. "This goes beyond politics." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #14 you will not find a better supporter of Jews, Israel, their right to exist, their hereditary homelands, etc., than this Roman Catholic Agreed, Frank. And if you're right about the Anti-Defamation League, they'll be bypassed by the currents of history. But I think it's important to allow for intersecting sets of interests and passions, as long as in general we're fighting on the same side. The ADL has been tracking jihadis an awful lot longer than we have here at Rantburg, publicizing and fighting to contain them at the national and international level. Personally, I'd rather they worked on President Obama's Israel problem, persuading big pro-Israel Democratic donors to withhold, than on a local election issue that's being handled by local and national political organizations. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-07-31 23:41 |
| #13 this is a dangerous game that ends badly every time it is played. Please don't forget that our current president sat and listened to Rev Wright for 20 years and he never got up and left. The eery silence is enough to make one go deaf. |
| Posted by: Martin 2010-07-31 22:29 |
| #12 you will not find a better supporter of Jews, Israel, their right to exist, their hereditary homelands, etc., than this Roman Catholic and I say the ADL is a bought-and-sold Democratic HQ. Take a look at their targets... see the Jesse Jackson (extended version) or Al Sharpton pages? I thought not. Where's the outrage over Hillary's comments as put forth by Dick Morris (D- present)? Spare me |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-07-31 22:10 |
| #11 #10 Actually, as A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, ADL neither supports nor opposes candidates for political office. puhleeeeez |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-07-31 22:04 |
| #10 Actually, as A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, ADL neither supports nor opposes candidates for political office. They nonetheless seem to have released a statement on the subject, despite the other projects. I haven't noticed that anyone cared to report it, which is probably why none of us were aware of it. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-07-31 21:55 |
| #9 Major ADL fail. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2010-07-31 21:47 |
| #8 Can't fight two battles? Or is one too close to their political masters? One is a no-brainer....the other is...a no-brainer too. Don't make excuses for their refusal to get all outragey on all MSM outlets, TW, you're better than that Frank |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-07-31 20:15 |
| #7 Thank you for your kind words, Martin. I'm grateful every day that my grandparents made that decision. Frank G., it seems the ADL has chosen to put their resources into opposing the Ground Zero mosque instead. link |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-07-31 20:05 |
| #6 thanks for the family hx, trailing wife. Great story about GP with the dogs and shotgun. Glad you became a part of the melting pot. We are all stronger for it. |
| Posted by: Martin 2010-07-31 19:16 |
| #5 Again, the ADL isn't needed. The Republican Jewish Coalition is on the case. Which is as it should be. Oh, and Rep. McMahon fired the idiot who made the list. Godwin's law, Martin? My grandparents registered for visas to America in 1936 or so; my adult, unmarried aunt was able to exercise hers immediately, but my mother and her parents were wait-listed. When the SS came for my grandfather -- stopped in their initial effort because my grandfather's hunting dogs stood growling between them and Grandfather sitting in his office with his shotgun -- they escaped to Holland to wait until their number came up... which it finally did in 1946. One reason I feel so strongly about illegal vs. legal immigrants, as it happens. This, to me, is the kind of thing that should be named, shamed, and lose the election. Mr. Grimm should campaign as the anti-antisemite, and he should win by a landslide. Bigotry is crushed when the peepul demonstrably reject bigots, that it's tarred as a loser's philosophy. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-07-31 18:03 |
| #4 the ADL knows where the plantation is. I was being sarcastic, but I'd expect to hear Jesse or Sharpton outraged before the ADL. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-07-31 16:44 |
| #3 Wow, trailing wife. You don't think this is serious? I wonder if your grandmother also pooh-poohed how serious it was when she first heard nonsense about the jewish money. |
| Posted by: Martin 2010-07-31 16:42 |
| #2 Where's the ADL? Just shows that their principles are partisan first Frank G., as far as I can tell the ADL doesn't get involved until it's a great deal more serious than this. If the Jews of that district, and more particularly the Democratic Jewish donors, choose to vote for Rep. McMahon, nobody can say they didn't know what kind of little rat they were going to get. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-07-31 16:37 |
| #1 If a Republican or his team had said that the howls would be deafening, demanding ouster and public humiliation. Where's the ADL? Just shows that their principles are partisan first |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-07-31 13:51 |