NEW YORK — In Tuesday’s New York City mayoral race, Jews are not the biggest news, but they are making some headlines.
A decade after the Crown Heights “pogrom,” no overarching issue has galvanized the city’s 1 million-strong Jewish community in advance of the Sept. 11 primary: Anti-Semitism is a non-issue. None of the four Democratic candidates is pandering to the Jewish vote. And while two of the Democratic candidates are Jewish, all are public servants that are pro-Israel and supportive of Jewish concerns.
Leading the Democratic pack to replace Mayor Rudy Giuliani are Mark Green, New York’s public advocate; Alan Hevesi, the city comptroller; Peter Vallone, the City Council speaker; and Fernando Ferrer, the Bronx borough president.
Each attracts his share of Jewish voters, as well as sizeable support from the city’s myriad ethnic, religious and racial groups.
If none of the four garners 40 percent of the vote, a runoff between the top two will be held Sept. 25.
Jewish-tipped comments or issues have surfaced during the campaign, but the general calm is enabling New York Jews to think in terms of voting as New Yorkers who happen to be Jewish.
“It’s a welcome relief not to be pandered to, and to deal with the same substantive issues that the ordinary New Yorker is interested in — crime, transportation, education and housing,” said William Rapfogel, executive director of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty.
On the Republican side, the clear front-runner in the Sept. 11 primary is a third Jew: billionaire Michael Bloomberg, founder of the Bloomberg financial services empire. Bloomberg will face Herman Badillo, the chairman of the board of trustees of the City University of New York and a perennial candidate for public office.
Yet New Yorkers overwhelmingly vote Democratic, so the winner of the Democratic primary generally sweeps into office.
An exception was 1993, when the moons aligned for Republican Giuliani. Under then-Mayor David Dinkins, crime was perceived as rampant, and residents felt an iron fist was needed.
Jews, especially, were on edge.
In August 1991, a Chassidic Jew in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights section accidentally drove his car into 7-year-old Gavin Cato, killing the black child. Hours later, a mob of blacks chased and stabbed to death Yankel Rosenbaum, an Australian Jewish scholar.
Three more days of anti-Jewish rioting followed, which Jewish leaders described as a pogrom because the city police seemed reluctant to intervene.
When Giuliani offered himself as a tough-on-crime candidate, the Jewish community flocked to him. Giuliani unleashed his police force, driving down the crime rate, and causing concerns about civil rights violations.
Nevertheless, Giuliani’s policies — coupled with the booming economy — boosted the overall quality of life and tourism, winning him a second term in 1997.
The mayoral contenders criticize Giuliani’s policies, but in deference to his popularity among “Giuliani Democrats,” are careful not to be too strident.
Needless to say, the Jewish community does have its concerns.
For example, there’s the shifting demographics of New York.
The Jewish community in recent years has absorbed some 250,000 Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Meanwhile, Latinos, African-Americans, Haitians and Asians now comprise a majority of the city’s population. Just 38 percent of the city is white.
With memories of the Crown Heights riots still fresh, some fear a deterioration of race relations under a Democratic administration. These concerns were fueled by comments made in April by Bruce Teitelbaum, a Jew who is a top adviser to Giuliani.
In an interview with New York Jewish Week, Teitelbaum suggested that if elected mayor, Ferrer would surround himself with “Dinkins administration retreads,” which “should be of great concern to the Jewish community.”
Some Jewish leaders accused Teitelbaum of race-baiting and fearmongering, using the term “retreads” as a code word for the same folks perceived to have stood idly by as Jews were attacked in Crown Heights.
The implication, analysts said, was that a minority candidate like Ferrer, who is Puerto Rican, would allow crime to flourish.
All four of the Democratic candidates criticized Teitelbaum’s remarks. But some Jews also sided with Teitelbaum.
Ironically, Ferrer has endorsements ranging from Al Sharpton — the controversial black leader — to a pro-Giuliani Chassidic group that sprang up in the wake of the Crown Heights riot.
Meanwhile, even thogh the next mayor may well be a Jew, there indeed is concern of diminished Jewish influence.
Term limits on the New York City Council may mean the loss of as many as a dozen Jews from the 51-member council — in addition to non-Jewish politicians familiar with the Jewish community.
“The real anxiety we have is not that Jews will have less clout, but more damaging is losing black, Latino and Italian friends who are not necessarily Jewish but understand our needs,” Rapfogel said.