We need a local truth meter

To the editor:
(re: “Campaign mailer is disgraceful,” June 20)

A Jeffrey Dinowitz Team campaign flyer arrived in local households before Tuesday’s primary saying that their opponents supported “defund” the police, used antisemitic tropes, and refused to denounce the Democratic Socialists of America.

Don’t believe them! Dinowitz and his team are publishing false statements to defame the character and reputation of their opponents. They smear reputations of anyone who is not on their team.

For shame.

For decades I was a member of the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club and I respected, supported and appreciated the work of Jeffrey Dinowitz. However, I have witnessed how he and other club leaders now block the advancement of any individual they do not control, and they slander honorable individuals who compete with them for local positions.

The club should change its name. Its current brand of democracy would be abhorrent to Ben Franklin.
In a healthy democracy, new leaders and multiple constituent groups can and should compete for power.

Voters should learn about emerging leaders who have proven that they are competent, respected, well-informed, transparent about their positions and are willing to volunteer their time for this work.

Our current district leaders Abigail Martin and Ramdat Sing are respected, and they won their last elections fair-and-square without Dinowitz’s support.

Thankfully, we live in a community with multiple organizations and activists that Bronx County political leaders do not wholly control, and we have an award-winning local newspaper (The Riverdale Press).

Most readers know that The Washington Post documented and published that during Trump’s presidential term, he made 30,573 false or misleading claims. Based on the Dinowitz teams’ recent flyer and similar attacks made by them on state Sen. Gustavo Rivera in an earlier primary, we need a local truth-meter.

I appeal to local voters: please learn about and support new local leaders. They are being unjustly attacked by politicians who have closed their club’s doors and minds to open-civic discourse and participation.

Elizabeth Cooke Levy