Leaders of an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect in Brooklyn are asking their followers to donate to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s struggling presidential campaign to safeguard their local interests.
“The mayor has personally asked to support him,” reads the pitch on the fundraising website ActBlue.
The unsigned appeal came from leaders of the Williamsburg, Brooklyn Satmar community via a WhatsApp message Tuesday night, according to sources who translated the query from its original Yiddish.
The message was first reported by Politico.
The unnamed leaders, who refer to themselves in Yiddish as “askanim” or community activists, ask for donations as small as a dollar to help de Blasio meet the 130,000-contributor threshold for the third Democratic primary debate in September.
“By donating the dollar, you support your needs, the entire ultra-orthodox public and our rights and needs,” the leaders explain, adding that donations will ensure the community’s “interests” are protected.
“Remember: It is rare for a dollar to carry such value,” the leaders say.
“This is really like an attempt to be nice to the mayor who’s going to attempt to do them favors whether it’s building permits, or up-zoning, or whatever they want with schools,” explained political consultant Menashe Shapiro.
The mayor has drawn criticism for failing to crack down on Orthodox yeshivas that don’t provide the basic secular education required under state law.
“This is so transparently transactional, it highlights the provincial nature and lack of polish within the ultra-orthodox community, and the complete disregard of vetting within the de Blasio camp,” Shapiro added.
A de Blasio campaign spokeswoman declined to comment.
In 2017, federal prosecutors and FBI agents probed the mayor’s ties to a leading Satmar rabbi named Moishe Indig who had hosted a fundraiser for de Blasio in 2013. Investigators were looking at whether Indig received any special treatment from city officials as a result of his largess.
Prosecutors eventually declined to charge de Blasio.
The Satmar leaders’ fundraising goal for de Blasio’s 2020 campaign is 10,000 donors by Aug. 28
Thursday afternoon 171 people had given a total of $213.
“Also ask your wife and adult children who have credit cards to contribute,” the leaders say before closing with, “Be sure not to procrastinate.”
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