LETTER: Antisemitic stain on Mr. Kavanagh’s campaign

Published in Hudson Valley One on October 25, 2023

Hudson Valley One is probably already aware of the antisemitic circular being distributed in Hurley in support of Michael Kavanagh’s campaign for Ulster County district attorney. Here’s how I learned about it: https://www.facebook.com/WillowMixedMedia.

The flyer is repugnant. Mr. Kavanagh really ought to resign from the race. This is the only sort of repudiation that would have teeth. A mere faux-apology would be meaningless.

As far as I can tell from the back-and-forth comments, Mr. Kavanagh’s supporters say that “independent” (aka Republican) Kavanagh doesn’t have a hateful bone in his body, and that the real problem is the “injection” of out-of-state money into a local campaign. But the return address on the flyer is from the Kavanagh campaign. This antisemitism is home-grown. So much for not having a hateful bone in one’s body. Mr. Kavanagh owns this letter. If he gains office, his term will be stained by what he has given his approval to.

The structural problem is Citizens United, which pulled the cork from the campaign donations jug. Out-of-state campaign contributions are common all over the country all the time. I suppose the people who are defending the Kavanagh flyer and criticizing Mr. Soros’s support are also criticizing people and organizations affiliated with the Federalist Society’s national efforts, both visible and cloaked, to defeat the true promise of our nation in terms of liberty, justice, women’s reproductive healthcare. It’s easy to cry wolf when it’s your candidate who’s not receiving the largesse.

The antisemitic problem is most visible in the demon face they put on Soros, at the apex of a triangle with Clegg and Nneji at the base.

I think Tobe Carey (whom I have never even heard of, let alone met) nails it: “The Anti-Defamation League has a long article on the use of Soros related themes and how they reek of antisemitism. Here’s an excerpt from Carey’s post, quoting the ADL, that calls out Kavanagh’s innuendos perfectly: ‘Even if no antisemitic insinuation is intended, casting a Jewish individual as a puppet master who manipulates national events for malign purposes has the effect of mainstreaming antisemitic tropes and giving support, however unwitting, to bona fide antisemites and extremists who disseminate these ideas knowingly and with malice.’” Given the facts, how do you distinguish intended from unintended? The deed is done through the distribution of material such as this.

I hope HV1 brings this development into the daylight and that this letter supports the effort. What is the purpose of a local newspaper if not to focus attention on a scandal of this magnitude?

William Weinstein

New Paltz