How Hillary became New York Senator
By JT Thompson (01/03/07)
When Hillary Clinton decided to run for the New York Senate, she knew needed to reach a vast array of voters, in order to win the Senate. What better way for her to get votes, than to use her husband's power of pardoning or commute prison sentences.
At the time, Clinton's campaign was desperately trying to boost stagnant support for her among the state's key Jewish voters. Her opponent, former Long Island Republican Rep. Rick Lazio, seemed to be gaining momentum.
She knew that New York's Orthodox and chasidic communities would be a hard sell, as they were expressing their personal dislike for her and her positions, particularly regarding Israel. She needed to show she could win some support in Orthodox circles.
In August of 2000, Hillary Clinton campaigned in a small town north of New York City, called
New Square, a Chasidic Jewish village of 7,000 residents in Rockland County New York. (Which formerly voted overwhelmingly for arch-conservative Sen. Alfonse D'Amato).
New Square was coping with a series of scandals in which top village officials were going to jail or fleeing the country for swindling tens of millions of dollars in federal education, housing and small-business subsidies in a decade-long scam.
One widely publicized case included laundering money through a phony yeshiva set up in Brooklyn.
Rabbi Twersky desperately wanted to win clemency for the four noted New Square residents who on Jan. 25, 1999 were convicted of 21 charges including conspiracy, embezzlement, and wire and mail fraud. Kalmen Stern, 42, was sentenced to 78 months; David Goldstein, 54, of Brooklyn, 70 months; Jacob Elbaum 40, 57 months; and Benjamin Berger, 30 months. They were ordered to pay back millions of dollars. [Of course, they stole TENS of millions]
She met with Rabbi David Twersky, and afterwards, New Square officials began campaigning for Clinton, even outside the village, though Clinton's positions on such core issues as school vouchers, abortion and Israel were in opposition to New Square.
Community members drove around in cars with loudspeakers urging -- in Yiddish -- Rockland County Orthodox residents to vote for her. A Yiddish weekly endorsed her based on lobbying from New Square.
"It's not a secret their support was based on the hope that she would look, kindly towards the people that are incarcerated," said Rabbi Ronnie Greenwald, a prominent Orthodox leader who lives in nearby Monsey. "They really went out and helped her. It was an honest attempt to get votes and get support for Hillary Clinton."
On Election Day, Clinton carried New Square, 1,400 to 12. It was a glaring exception to much of the Orthodox world and New Square's chasidic neighbors, who voted overwhelmingly for Lazio.
Several weeks after her senate victory, she met with Rabbi David Twersky again, attending a meeting in the White House with President Clinton.
During a scheduled 15-minute meeting on Dec. 22 that stretched into 45 minutes, according to New Square officials, Rabbi Twersky raised the issue of seeking mercy for the New Square four and help for fugitive Chaim Berger in Israel.
Rabbi Twersky has never publicly commented about the sins of his community members, and repeatedly turned down interviews to explain the scandal.
That visit launched a series of events that culminated in a controversial last-minute clemency action on behalf of New Square by outgoing President Clinton.
The decision by President Clinton to commute the sentences of four prominent New Square men who stole tens of millions from the federal government in a phony yeshiva scheme enraged law enforcement officials. (Source: http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2001/012601e.htm)
Convicted terrorist Susan Rosenberg (http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1806)
was pardoned by Bill Clinton in January 2001, just days after Clinton left office. She was serving out the 16th year of a 58-year sentence for the possession of more than 700 pounds of explosives and a stockpile of illicit weapons.
Moreover, the onetime member of a leftist terrorist outfit called "The Family" was also a suspect in a 1981 robbery-gone-awry that left three people dead in Nyack, New York. She was involved with several terrorist groups in 1970s and early 1980s, including the Black Liberation Army, the Weather Underground.
http://www.americandaily.com/article/17059
By JT Thompson (01/03/07)
When Hillary Clinton decided to run for the New York Senate, she knew needed to reach a vast array of voters, in order to win the Senate. What better way for her to get votes, than to use her husband's power of pardoning or commute prison sentences.
At the time, Clinton's campaign was desperately trying to boost stagnant support for her among the state's key Jewish voters. Her opponent, former Long Island Republican Rep. Rick Lazio, seemed to be gaining momentum.
She knew that New York's Orthodox and chasidic communities would be a hard sell, as they were expressing their personal dislike for her and her positions, particularly regarding Israel. She needed to show she could win some support in Orthodox circles.
In August of 2000, Hillary Clinton campaigned in a small town north of New York City, called
New Square, a Chasidic Jewish village of 7,000 residents in Rockland County New York. (Which formerly voted overwhelmingly for arch-conservative Sen. Alfonse D'Amato).
New Square was coping with a series of scandals in which top village officials were going to jail or fleeing the country for swindling tens of millions of dollars in federal education, housing and small-business subsidies in a decade-long scam.
One widely publicized case included laundering money through a phony yeshiva set up in Brooklyn.
Rabbi Twersky desperately wanted to win clemency for the four noted New Square residents who on Jan. 25, 1999 were convicted of 21 charges including conspiracy, embezzlement, and wire and mail fraud. Kalmen Stern, 42, was sentenced to 78 months; David Goldstein, 54, of Brooklyn, 70 months; Jacob Elbaum 40, 57 months; and Benjamin Berger, 30 months. They were ordered to pay back millions of dollars. [Of course, they stole TENS of millions]
She met with Rabbi David Twersky, and afterwards, New Square officials began campaigning for Clinton, even outside the village, though Clinton's positions on such core issues as school vouchers, abortion and Israel were in opposition to New Square.
Community members drove around in cars with loudspeakers urging -- in Yiddish -- Rockland County Orthodox residents to vote for her. A Yiddish weekly endorsed her based on lobbying from New Square.
"It's not a secret their support was based on the hope that she would look, kindly towards the people that are incarcerated," said Rabbi Ronnie Greenwald, a prominent Orthodox leader who lives in nearby Monsey. "They really went out and helped her. It was an honest attempt to get votes and get support for Hillary Clinton."
On Election Day, Clinton carried New Square, 1,400 to 12. It was a glaring exception to much of the Orthodox world and New Square's chasidic neighbors, who voted overwhelmingly for Lazio.
Several weeks after her senate victory, she met with Rabbi David Twersky again, attending a meeting in the White House with President Clinton.
During a scheduled 15-minute meeting on Dec. 22 that stretched into 45 minutes, according to New Square officials, Rabbi Twersky raised the issue of seeking mercy for the New Square four and help for fugitive Chaim Berger in Israel.
Rabbi Twersky has never publicly commented about the sins of his community members, and repeatedly turned down interviews to explain the scandal.
That visit launched a series of events that culminated in a controversial last-minute clemency action on behalf of New Square by outgoing President Clinton.
The decision by President Clinton to commute the sentences of four prominent New Square men who stole tens of millions from the federal government in a phony yeshiva scheme enraged law enforcement officials. (Source: http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2001/012601e.htm)
Convicted terrorist Susan Rosenberg (http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1806)
was pardoned by Bill Clinton in January 2001, just days after Clinton left office. She was serving out the 16th year of a 58-year sentence for the possession of more than 700 pounds of explosives and a stockpile of illicit weapons.
Moreover, the onetime member of a leftist terrorist outfit called "The Family" was also a suspect in a 1981 robbery-gone-awry that left three people dead in Nyack, New York. She was involved with several terrorist groups in 1970s and early 1980s, including the Black Liberation Army, the Weather Underground.
http://www.americandaily.com/article/17059
