Jun 26, 2023 4:30 PM
Updated:
A political ad campaign suggests that the Haredi community would receive more favorable judgments in child abuse cases from a potential future family court judge. The ads are the latest move in a large effort by some members of the Rockland County Haredi community to sway Tuesday’s primary election and nominate their chosen candidate for the local judgeship.
The Yiddish-language ads urge readers to vote for Chris Exias for Rockland County family court judge in the primary, and experts say that some of them violate election law.
One ad speaks of “hair-raising stories of overblown child abuse cases which drag on with no end, causing unbelievable, unnecessary Jewish tears.” Another tells readers, “Poor Chaim’l fell down. It is no one’s fault. Why should you be accused of child abuse?” The ads appeared in Yiddish-language ad circulars including the Monsey View and Community Connections. The latter ad concludes, “Let us stand together for our rights and vote for Judge Chris Exias.”
Experts on abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community who reviewed this ad said it serves a dual purpose: to encourage people to vote for Exias, and to discourage them from reporting abuse to the government.
“Basically, what they’re saying is, ‘Don’t worry about allegations of child abuse in family court if we elect this judge,’” said Asher Lovy, director of Za’akah, an organization that fights child sex abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community. Lovy explained the meaning behind the ad’s use of language about a child falling: “There’s this very annoying myth that exists in the community and gets used to shut people up that if anyone says anything about you to Child Protective Services, they’ll take your kids away, and they’re going to be raised in a goyishe house,” he said, using the Yiddish word for non-Jewish.
Rabbi Yosef Blau, an advocate for child abuse awareness, said the writers of the ad, “represent an extremist element opposed to going to authorities to deal with abuse.”
The ads about abuse were among 10 unique pro-Exias Yiddish-language ads published last week that were identified by Shtetl. Of those, three do not disclose who paid for the ad. Two lawyers who spoke to Shtetl said this lack of disclosure violates New York State election law.
“You’re supposed to have on advertisements a little thing that says ‘paid for by…’ and whatever political committee paid for it,” said Mark Peters, a lawyer who works on election law-related issues at Peters Brovner LLP, and was previously commissioner of the New York State Department of Investigation. Peters cited a notice the state board of elections sent to political candidates in 2019, which says “All political communications must identify the political committee paying for the advertisement or communication in a clear and prominent manner.”
Another lawyer who specializes in election law, Steven Schlesinger, told Shtetl that he agrees with Peters’ assessment that the several ads lacking disclosures violate election law.
The seven ads that do contain disclosures assert they are “paid for by team ramapo.” Team Ramapo is a political committee that was founded in 2019 to reelect Rockland County politicians Michael Specht, Brendel Logan-Charles, and Michael Rossman. New York State election disclosures show no contributions to, or expenditures by, Team Ramapo between 2021 and the most recent date for which the organization filed a disclosure, February 15 of this year. Shtetl sought comment by phone and email from Specht, Logan-Charles, Rossman, and another individual listed in Team Ramapo’s filings, politician Fredric Brinn; none had responded as this article went to publication.
A member of the Rockland County legislature who is Hasidic, Aron Wieder, is named as an endorser of Exias in one of the ads that appears in the Monsey View that does contain a disclosure of being paid for by Team Ramapo. The same edition of Monsey View published pictures from a meeting Exias held with local Haredi leaders in which Wieder was present. Wieder was also interviewed last week on the Yiddish-language news hotline Kol Mevaser about his support for Exias. Shtetl reached Wieder by phone on Friday, but he declined to speak on the record.
This latest string of ad placements follows on earlier ads that Shtetl reported on last week, which suggested that Exias would assign custody of children in a divorce to the parent who is more observant of Haredi practices. Those ads did not disclose who paid for them, either.
Shtetl reached out to Exias by phone, email, and social media with detailed questions about the ads. Exias did not respond.
In Tuesday’s primary, Rockland County voters will nominate a new Democratic candidate for family court judge for the first time since 2015. There are no Republican candidates for the position, according to a representative at the Rockland County Board of Elections. Whoever takes the seat will replace Sherri Eisenpress, who recently left the role to join the state supreme court.
“We're voting for 10 years of peace of mind,” read one of the ads that endorsed Exias. Family court judges serve 10-year terms in New York State.
Exias is the Village Justice in Spring Valley, a village in Rockland County. Before he took that role, he was a clerk for New York State Supreme Court justice Robert Berliner, who resigned after an investigation showed that he engaged in prohibited political activity. His opponent, Patricia Brimais-Tenemille, is a support magistrate in the family courts of Rockland, Putnam, and Dutchess counties.
Primary day is Tuesday. Rockland County voters can click here to learn more about how to vote, or here to find their polling place.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Asher Lovy's role at Za'akah. He is the director, not the founder.
What do you think Shtetl should look at when covering elections in Rockland County? Email reporter Lauren Hakimi at lhakimi@shtetl.org.
