Fidler Banking on Russian Anger

While Storobin made inroads with the Orthodox Community, he's having trouble with his own community.

 

NY Times Gregory Davidzon, third from left, hosts a Russian-language radio show on his station Davidzon Radio. (Lew Fidler is second)

 

A 2,500+ words article in NY Times is profiling Russian media mogul Gregory Davidzon's, and the opening scene is his support for Lew Fidler, and how the Russian anger with the republican drawn districts, which broke up their vote, plays to Fidler's favor. For those who follow this race, it's worth reading.

In an observation that might irk my readers, the Times credits the Russian, more than the Orthodox vtoers, for Bob Turner's victory, stating: "the Republican, Bob Turner, began the race as a decided long shot; by the September election, with the help of thousands of Russian voters and a smaller contingent of Orthodox Jews, he had trampled his Democratic opponent, David I. Weprin." BTW, OP was the first to notice that Turner did much better than polling predicted in the Brooklyn part of his district - a phenoman that was credited by others to Mr. Davidzon.

And the article contains an even greater insult to us, implying that Hasidic leaders are "Putin-level potentate(s)," and that their followers blindly vote in blocs according to their wishes. Here is what it says:

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He’s not a Putin-level potentate. The Hasidic Satmar of Williamsburg and the Lubavitchers of Crown Heights vote based on the divinations of a grand rebbe. Not the Russians.

“You can’t just tell them: Vote this way,” Mr. Davidzon said. “No, no, no. If they don’t believe you, they kill you. But if you convince and they believe, they vote in bloc.”