Dov Hikind

Lew Fidler is somewhat skeptical about Assemblyman Dov Hikind’s notion that Jewish voters would flock to John McCain if Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination, a claim Hikind made in the New York Post today.  read more »

Assemblyman Dov Hikind said he’d like to see one of his fellow Democrats, state Senator Kevin Parker, replaced this November, according to two people who attended a meeting earlier this week where Hikind spoke.

Hikind was one of the guest speakers Wednesday night addressing Agudath Israel of America, a Jewish group based in downtown Manhattan that regularly hosts meetings with elected officials. According to an attendee there, Hikind referred to Parker as “a farce and a joke” and “he said he is going to unseat him this year.”

A second attendee, while less specific, confirmed Hikind’s unflattering remarks about his legislative colleague.

“I won’t pretend that the meeting didn’t take place or that he didn’t mention Parker’s name,“ said the attendee, who asked not to be named. “I wouldn’t say he spoke positively about him.”

According to this second source, Hikind said he was hopeful Parker would be defeated.

When reached on his cell phone earlier this afternoon, Hikind immediately hung up.  read more »

Remember that publicly funded mailing sent by Assemblyman Dov Hikind's office which includes the name and photo of possible Council contestant Joe Lazar?

Well, Lazar is a bit closer to being an official candidate than I realized.

He has two committees set up with the state Board of Elections.

UPDATE: I asked State Board of Elections spokesman Lee Daghlian what the official position was on this, and he told me that a non-candidate can establish committees without losing non-candidate status.

"You're not there yet until you file nominating petitions," he said. "So you're not there yet officially. Even then, you have to clear any challenges
to your petitions."

Which means that, depending on the petition challenges, a person's status as an official candidate may not be meet this standard until days before their
election.
 

A helpful reader sent in this recent mailing from Assemblyman Dov Hikind of Brooklyn which features rather prominently a man by the name of Joe Lazar.

That's the same Joe Lazar who is running for City Council in Hikind's section of Brooklyn, and, hypothetically, could benefit from this kind of taxpayer-funded exposure.

“As of now he wants to run, but he hasn’t made up his mind finally,” Hikind told me just now. “I don’t think anybody has announced to be honest with you.”

It’s an important distinction because, according to Hikind, announced candidates can’t appear in publicly funded mailings like this.
 read more »

“The fact that somebody is thinking about running is a whole different ball game,” Hikind said.

More after the jump.

Who is Noach Dear?

If you read his mailer, which carries statements from Dov Hikind and Marty Markowitz, he is the most qualified civil court candidate on the ballot in Brooklyn tomorrow.

By at least one measure, though, that's not the case. His opponent, Karen Yellen, was screened by the city Bar Association and got an “approved,” rating from the organization. According to Gotham Gazette:

Dear... was not approved. The bar cited his “failure to affirmatively demonstrate that he possesses the requisite qualifications for the court for which he is a candidate.” In its editorial on the race, the New York Times reached a similar conclusion. It said that Dear’s “volatile personality and indifference to conflicts-of-interest makes him utterly unsuited for the bench.”

I called Hikind and Markowitz to have them explain the comments to me. Still waiting to hear back from Markowitz. Hikind gave me the following answer: "I think we all know quite well that many judges who were rated highly qualified by many groups in the past have found themselves indicted, are sitting in jail, who are on the bench, as you and I speak, and I think all of us would agree, leave a lot to be desired,"

He added, "The fact is, he is permitted to run. If the law was you need to practice law for X number of years before you could run, then in his case, he would not be able to run. Clearly that is not what the rules are. So he is permitted to run."

I asked him why Yellen, a judge, wasn't as qualified as Dear, who has never tried a case.

"I can’t even start answering that question and it’s right after Rosh Hashanah and I’m still keeping my vow of only saying positive things about people," he said. "So, I can’t say anything about Karen."

UPDATE: Markowitz's spokeswoman emailed over the following comment: "This candidate spent 18 years on City Council representing Brooklyn, and living in Brooklyn means he has a familiarity with our borough that his opponent does not. He is a currently a commissioner and has earned the endorsement of Senator Diane Savino, Kings County Democratic Party Chair and Assemblyman Vito Lopez, Councilman Kendall Stewart and others whom I respect. I have been assured by the candidate that as a judge he will place equal treatment, respect for diversity, and reverence for human rights above all else."  read more »

Assemblyman Dov Hikind just emailed me a statement in response to an earlier statement from gay rights activist Alan Van Capelle slamming him for opposing same-sex marriage.

Capelle, responding to a column in the Daily News by Errol Louis, said, “I guess Errol Louis doesn't mind standing with Dov Hikind, and I don't think that's where most people want to stand.”

Hikind’s response: “If we authorize gay marriage in the state of New York, those who want to live and love incestuously will be five steps closer to achieving their goals as well.”

Hikind's full response is after the jump.  read more »

Here's an ad you might not expect to see from a mere Assembly member. It's from Dov Hikind in this week's Jewish Press, calling on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to step down.

"More than ever, Israel needs strong leadership. Olmert does not have what it takes: integrity, decisiveness, determination, vision, the strength and skill to lead Israel. He has failed and Israel cannot afford to fall with him," the ad says.

According to the message at the bottom of the ad, it was paid for by a Brooklyn-based non-profit group called Yad Moshe, which lists Hikind as its sole contact and may or may not be related to a similarly named organization that got moneyfrom Hikind's political action committee.

-- Azi Paybarah CORRECTION: Hikind's communications director Charni Sochet emailed to say that the money I cited went from the Assemblyman's campaign committee to the non-profit, not the other way around as I originally noted.

As visiting political contingents go, it will be a small one.

But with a (relative) minimum of fuss, Dov Hikind and David Weprin will be taking off for a three-day tour of the north of Israel on Saturday night with a group that also includes one college student and a handful of business people.

"Because it happened so fast, we never advertised it," Hikind explained.

He says that he'll be hand-delivering about $27,000 he raised to buy equipment for the crews that collect body parts after bombings.

Hikind also said that "a couple of other" officials made inquiries about tagging along on the trip, but ultimately decided against going. He didn't say who.

-- Josh Benson

So apparently Brooklyn District Attorney Joe Hynes is not, in fact, going to be accepting a integrity award from Dov Hikind, whatever the invitation may have said.

Says Hynes spokesman Jerry Schmetterer:

"First of all Dov Hikind hasn’t reached out. And the DA would not accept anything like that from Dov Hikind."

Why not?

"They have a stormy past."

Assemblyman Dov Hikind at the anti-Sharon rally, according to the Jerusalem Post:

"The people of Gush Katif—these are the heroes of the Jewish people, these are the best that we have," blared Dov Hikind, a New York State Assemblyman and Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn who has said that he has put his staff to work to gin up opposition to Sharon's withdrawal plan. "Have we done everything possible to show Hashem that we care?"  read more »

Um, would those be employees of the government of New York State?