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To all outside appearances, Assembly Member Dov Hikind had been something of a mench for his former chief of staff, David Greenfield.

When Greenfield had gone to Albany to lobby elected officials, he had lunched in Hikind’s office. A couple years ago, Hikind’s political club, the United New York Democrats, held an event honoring Greenfield for his community service.

And only a few months ago, when the bris of Greenfield’s second son fell on a Jewish holiday, the conservative Orthodox Hikind walked miles to Greenfield’s synagogue for the ceremony.

Yet when Council Member Simcha Felder announced his resignation in early January to take a job in Comptroller John Liu’s office, Hikind, a longtime powerbroker in Boro Park’s Orthodox Jewish community, made clear he was adamantly opposed to Greenfield winning the special election to replace Felder.

“That’s the goal of everybody, to be united [against Greenfield],” Hikind said at the time.

Hikind maneuvered behind the scenes to ensure only a single candidate from Boro Park would run against Greenfield, since Greenfield is seen as the strongest candidate in the district’s other neighborhoods, Bensonhurt and Midwood.

In the end, Hikind succeeded, with Judge Noach Dear taking a pass on the race, leaving Hikind’s longtime friend Joe Lazar running as the sole Boro Park candidate.

In an interview, Hikind refused to discuss why he and others in Boro Park’s political establishment are so entrenched in their opposition to Greenfield.

Greenfield, meanwhile, chalks up their issues to generational and stylistic differences, and bashed Hikind’s efforts to consolidate the opposition against him.

“This is the exact type of backroom, smoke-filled-room politics that I’m running against,” Greenfield said.

Those close to Hikind and Greenfield believe the tension is more political than personal. Each camp cites the same basic facts, each running it through their own interpretations of what is good and what is bad.

In 2004, two years after the end of his brief tenure working for Hikind, Greenfield was tapped to run the newly formed Sephardic Community Federation, and helped turn the south Brooklyn Jewish community

into a political force. These connections also helped Greenfield develop a base of support separate from Hikind that helped him raise $177,000. Lazar, meanwhile, has relied on Hikind to line up fundraising and endorsements.

One political insider in the Jewish community who has spoken with Greenfield about the relationship believes the main source of the tension is that Hikind was not asked to play kingmaker by Greenfield.

“David didn’t go and ask for Dov’s blessing,” said the insider, noting that Hikind himself was once considering running for the Council seat.

http://www.cityhallnews.com/newyork/article-1116-in-boro-park-a-battle-between-old-and-new-style-politics.html