Wednesday, September 19, 2018
ADL blasts supervisor's comments as anti-Semitic and hateful, Preserve Chester calls for resignation
The Anti-Defamation League and Preserve Chester have condemned comments made by Town of Chester Supervisor Alex Jamieson to The Times-Herald Record last week, in which he said the intention of a town initiative to buy the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center and other properties around town was to "keep the Hasidic out so that they can’t control the Town Board."
Jamieson responded to The Chronicle's request for comment in an email today: "I’m assisting residents in North Carolina affected by hurricane. Will be back Thursday."
Jamieson is due back in court in Albany on Sept. 25 to face charges that he stole unemployment compensation while employed as a town official. He faces one count of third-degree grand larceny and 22 counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, all felonies.
The story in Friday's Record was about the town's decision last Wednesday night to borrow $3.5 million to buy the performing arts center from the nonprofit Mid-Hudson Civic Center for its continued use as a cultural center, and to buy other properties for outdoor recreational activities, like swimming and running. The proposal received a positive reaction from those attending the meeting, and was reported last Thursday at (https://bit.ly/2piPaIF) chroniclenewspaper.com.
Preserve Chester has called for Jamieson's resignation. The Anti-Defamation League is urging the New York State Attorney General to "investigate further," not only the comments made to the Record but also the town's proposal to adopt a ward system to elect town board members, which will be on the ballot this November.
Gerald Benjamin, a professor and director of the Benjamin Center at SUNY New Paltz, spoke to Chester residents at the senior center on June 21 about the proposed ward system. "Hasidic citizens define their community religiously, not geographically, register to vote at high rates, are socially conservative, do not adhere consistently to one or the other major political party, and tend to vote in a block, directed by religious community leadership," he said.
The following month, Benjamin apologized for a comment he made in The New York Times about Democratic candidate Antonio Delgado, who is running as a Democrat in the 19th Congressional District. "Who makes a rap album the kind of guy who lives here in rural New York and reflects our lifestyles and values?" he was quoted as saying. He later said his commentary "is reasonably read as racist."
Jamieson responded to The Chronicle's request for comment in an email today: "I’m assisting residents in North Carolina affected by hurricane. Will be back Thursday."
Jamieson is due back in court in Albany on Sept. 25 to face charges that he stole unemployment compensation while employed as a town official. He faces one count of third-degree grand larceny and 22 counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, all felonies.
The story in Friday's Record was about the town's decision last Wednesday night to borrow $3.5 million to buy the performing arts center from the nonprofit Mid-Hudson Civic Center for its continued use as a cultural center, and to buy other properties for outdoor recreational activities, like swimming and running. The proposal received a positive reaction from those attending the meeting, and was reported last Thursday at (https://bit.ly/2piPaIF) chroniclenewspaper.com.
Preserve Chester has called for Jamieson's resignation. The Anti-Defamation League is urging the New York State Attorney General to "investigate further," not only the comments made to the Record but also the town's proposal to adopt a ward system to elect town board members, which will be on the ballot this November.
Gerald Benjamin, a professor and director of the Benjamin Center at SUNY New Paltz, spoke to Chester residents at the senior center on June 21 about the proposed ward system. "Hasidic citizens define their community religiously, not geographically, register to vote at high rates, are socially conservative, do not adhere consistently to one or the other major political party, and tend to vote in a block, directed by religious community leadership," he said.
The following month, Benjamin apologized for a comment he made in The New York Times about Democratic candidate Antonio Delgado, who is running as a Democrat in the 19th Congressional District. "Who makes a rap album the kind of guy who lives here in rural New York and reflects our lifestyles and values?" he was quoted as saying. He later said his commentary "is reasonably read as racist."
Comments:
Post a Comment
