Teaneck, NJ – Negative Mail Including Orthodox Jewish Candidates Prompts For Resolution to Eliminate Negative Campaigning

Teaneck, NJ – Three months before the council election on May 11, the council is considering adopting a resolution condemning negative and illegal campaign tactics.

The proposed resolution, which was drafted by Deputy Mayor Lizette Parker, has been turned over to the township attorney for adjustment and rewording. A vote is expected this month.

Parker said that the proposed resolution supports the type of political campaigning that most Teaneck residents would like to see. She noted that the past two council elections, in 2008 and 2006, were marred by negative campaigning.

“The council cannot control the type of campaign that candidates wage, but as a body we want to set a positive standard,” she said.

The 2006 election campaign was especially controversial. In its final weeks, anonymous postcards from a Matawan Post Office box that was later determined to be vacant were mailed throughout the West Englewood section where many Orthodox Jews live. The mailings were directed against the Teaneck New Beginnings candidates – Parker, Ronald Schwartz and Dennis Crowley – and stated that if they were elected, they would institute changes, including removal of the Eruv, that would adversely affect the Orthodox community. The last days of the 2004 campaign were also marked by anonymous robo calls denouncing the New Beginning candidates.

The mailings also targeted former municipal attorney Martin Cramer, who was not a candidate.

Cramer and Schwartz filed a criminal complaint with the Bergen County Prosecutor, whose office investigated but ultimately did not bring charges. The source of the mailings and robo calls has never been determined.

In 2007, the Advisory Board on Community Relations proposed a resolution to the council condemning the tactics of the 2006 campaign, but the resolution was never introduced for a vote.