LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The election is over — move on

Posted

To the editor:

(re: “It’s déjà vu — all over again,” Aug. 19)

In the past, when elections were over, the losers congratulated the winners and worked together for the good of the community and the country.

That changed with Trump.

Now some of the losers want to place blame where it doesn’t belong.

The recent letter from Elizabeth Cooke Levy and the Riverdale Huddle shows disrespect and contempt for the thousands who cast their ballots for their preferred council candidate, Eric Dinowitz. The conspiracy that Ms. Levy paints is unfounded and full of misinformation.

To say that the Bronx Democratic Party timed its nomination of Councilman Andrew Cohen to a judgeship in order to vacate his position before the end of his term is false. The timing is set by state law. The Democratic Party has nothing to do with it.

Further, Ms. Levy claims that the timing — also set up by law — was tight. However, every candidate had the same amount of time to mount a campaign. No one had an advantage.

Eric Dinowitz won the special election by a wide margin, and hit the ground running to serve his constituents.

For Ms. Levy to complain that he won the primary because he provided service is ludicrous. He was doing his job.

Even before he ran for office, Eric was an activist and committed to our community because he cared. He even organized phone banking across the country for Joe Biden’s presidential candidacy — a critically successful effort.

Voters in the council district elected Eric Adams for mayor and Eric Dinowitz for city council. Ms. Levy mentions that other local districts supported women candidates. We are not sure what the implication is, but we believe candidates should be elected based on experience, capabilities, and positions on issues — not based on race, or gender, or ethnicity.

As far as the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club is concerned, we have long supported progressive candidates, including former presidential candidates Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as congressional candidates like Jonathan Bingham, Ted Weiss and Eliot Engel, and local candidates like June Eisland and Jeffrey Dinowitz, among others.

We are proud of our record of supporting candidates with progressive priorities and values. We lament the divisiveness and anger that now permeate election results.

Let’s move forward to provide our neighbors with good representation in local, state and federal offices, and focus on Democrats winning this November, and in 2022.

Helen Morik
Ira Bigeleisen

EDITOR’S NOTE: Kathryn Garcia won Eric Dinowitz’s council district with 54 percent of the vote after ranked-choice ballots were counted, according to Sam Hudis and Competitive Advantage Research compiling certified election results.

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Helen Morik, Ira Bigeleisen,

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