Oy, the recall! Calif. Jews went for Davis
los angeles (jta) | Jews backed Gov. Gray Davis in last week’s California recall vote, according to exit polls.
Sixty-nine percent voted against the recall effort, while 31 percent supported it, according to data collected by the Los Angeles Times.
Sixty-nine percent of Jewish voters voted for the incumbent Davis in the last scheduled California gubernatorial election in 2002.
The recall vote passed overall in California by 55 percent to 45 percent. Thirty-one percent of Jewish voters backed Arnold Schwarzenegger, who won the race for governor, which also appeared on last week’s ballot.
Limbaugh: Democrats ‘pander’ to Jews
new york (jta) | Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh blasted Democratic politicians for claiming Jewish ancestry.
The New York Jewish Week reported that the right-wing media figure said recently that claims of Jewish ties are “getting out of hand” among Democrats who “pander” to Jews. “Is every Democrat of prominence going to find Jewish roots in their past?” he said, referring to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Sens. John Kerry and Hillary Clinton and Gen. Wesley Clark.
Sex scandal rabbi avoids prison time
new york (jta) | A New Jersey rabbi was sentenced to five years of probation and counseling in a cyber-proposition case. Israel Kestenbaum of Highland Park, N.J., received the sentence last week after he had pleaded guilty to trying to arrange a sexual tryst over the Internet with a police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl named “Katie.”
The judge explained that he did not sentence Kestenbaum to jail because the rabbi’s wife has cancer. Meanwhile, the National Association of Jewish Chaplains expelled Kestenbaum for violating ethics rules.