Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, apologized in an exclusive statement to the Forward for offensive remarks she made against the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn.
In a February interview with the Gothamist, a local New York website, Lerner characterized the Orthodox community as an ‘extremist bloc.’ Her comments were widely condemned by city politicians, including Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“In public debate, voters are best served when an argument is about how to solve problems, not labeling the people involved on either side,” Lerner said in a statement on Tuesday. “I apologize for causing anyone offense.”
Lerner, who is Jewish, has been an outspoken critic of the yeshiva education system. Her comments were featured in a Feb 19 article about mayoral candidate Andrew Yang’s position in defense of yeshiva education. Lerner suggested that the new ranked-choice voting system will reduce the influence of this large voting bloc. “If you’re pandering to an extremist bloc, you’re perhaps not being strategic,” she said. On Monday, de Blasio publicly condemned her remarks, calling it a “horrible” characterization of the Orthodox community. “I find her comments absolutely wrong, and I find them unacceptable,” he said.
Read more at Forward.
{Matzav.com}
She didn’t actually apologize to the Jewish community. Or at all for that matter.
She just tried to save face
We do not vote unless provoked. Hashem lets us fight less.
Another self-hating Jew probably coming from a chareidi home.
She’s toast. So is Uncle Bill for past remarks and actions. I realize that such persons have been indoctrinated by “modernist” cults (social & political) and often are irredeemable, so they must be opposed. Qula d’Qula iyss leh.
Is this the same Susan Lerner who did Obama’s bidding to illegally try to destroy the Tea Party?
Nice picture, but it is in Toronto, not New York. That’s my son!