I DETROIT
West Bloomfield's Draur
Criticizes Jewish GOP Leaders
KIMBERLY LIFTON
Staff Writer
W
est Bloomfield
Supervisor Sandra
Draur has accused
two Jewish Republican
leaders of playing politics to
charge anti-Semitism within
the state's GOP.
In a letter to 1,100 Oak-
land County Republicans,
Ms. Draur said county
Republican chairman Jim
Alexander and attorney
Frank Mamat wrongly
accused outgoing State
Committeewoman Ronna
Romney of anti-Semitism to
promote someone else's
campaign.
Ms. Draur said the men
made the charges in an at-
tempt to get Jewish attorney
Andrea Fischer elected GOP
State Committeewoman
during the state Republican
convention in May.
"I think this behavior is
unbecoming in the Repub-
lican Party," Ms. Draur said
in an interview. "I feel very
strongly that anti-Semitic
comments do not belong
anywhere. But I don't think
it ever occurred."
She asked Mr. Alexander
to step down for the "good of
the party" if he is
"I feel very strongly
that anti-Semitic
comments do not
belong anywhere."
Sandra Draur
"unwilling or unable to
maintain the intra-party
neutrality which is key to
the chairman's moral au-
thority."
The four-page letter, mail-
ed last week, stated in part
that- Mr. Mamat, chairman
of the Republican Party's
400 Club fund-raising arm,
"claimed to have been pre-
sent and to have heard
Ronna make anti-Semitic
comments at a party which
Mamat attended two years
ago."
In the letter, Ms. Draur
said Mr. Alexander "accused
Ronna's campaign of being
anti-Semitic." She also said
that Mr. Alexander "uttered
profanities on the conven-
tion floor."
"If we cannot rely on our
leadership to be fair, honest
and dignified, then our en-
tire effort on behalf of the
Republican ticket will be
damaged," Ms. Draur wrote.
Mr.- Alexander has no
plans to step down from the
GOP helm. He declined to
comment on the matter, say-
ing only he was focusing
efforts on the upcoming Aug.
4 primary election.
Mr. Mamat said he was
surprised that Ms. Draur
wrote the letter and said he
spoke only briefly with her
during the May 29-30 con-
FIFTY YEARS AGO
Genocide In Jewish Press
This column will be a
weekly feature during The
Jewish News' anniversary
year, looking at The Jew-
ish News of today's date
50 years ago.
PHIL JACOBS
Managing Editor
B
y now, the harrow-
ing news of the Fi-
nal Solution had
reached the American
Jewish press. The Jewish
News' top story for July 3,
1942, told of a Nazi
massacre of over 700,000
Polish Jews. The story
went on to report that gas
was being used as the
method of execution.
A sub-headline read,
"Daily quota of victims
demanded of Jews." The
paragraph that followed
indicated how Jewish
community councils in
Poland are forced to select
daily a number of Jews for
executions. Some Jews,
according to the story,
were not even taken to
death camps. Instead,
they were shot on the
doorsteps of their homes.
On the same page of The
Jewish News, an article
1,1-si1Ax/
1111X/
n •r∎ rtf,
told of the bravery of Jew-
ish soldiers fighting along
the Russian front. One
such commander was
Israel Gribin, a Jew from
Kalinindorf in the
Crimea, who led a com-
mand that repelled Nazi
forces and inflicted heavy
losses.
Locally, Abraham Srere
was reelected president of
the Jewish Welfare Fed-
eration of Detroit for a
fourth term. Other offi-
cers elected included Fred
M. Butzel, chairman of
the executive committee;
Clarence H. Enggass,
chairman of the board;
Israel Himelhoch, Henry
Meyers and Julian H.
Krolik, vice presidents;
Isidore Sobeloff, secre-
t ary ; and Maurice
Aronsson, treasurer.
Detroiter Nate S.
Shapero was named pres-
ident of the Chaim
Weitzman Chemical
Research Foundation of
Rehovoth, Palestine. Ab-
raham Cooper was elected
president of the Zionist
Organization of Detroit.
Mr. Cooper succeeded
Rabbi Morris Adler, who
completed two years of
service as president.
An editorial praised
Republican presidential
candidate Wendell L.
Wilkie as a "champion of
the rights of the oppress-
ed." Mr. Wilkie wrote in
the Saturday Evening
Post, "Our way of living
together in America is a
strong but delicate fabric.
It is made up of many
threads. It has been
woven over many cen-
turies by the patience and
sacrifice of countless lib-
erty-loving men and wo-
men. It serves as a cloak
for the protection of poor
and rich, of black and
white, of Jew and gentile,
of foreign and native
born."
The Leader Carpet
Cleaning Co., United
Dairies, Inc. and East
Side Auto Parts en-
couraged customers to
purchase War Bonds.
Marriages for the week
included: Beatrice Rosen
to Edgar Contini, Lee
Schulman to Leonard
Metz, Joyce C. Yancher to
Joseph H. Hootner, Bar-
bara Komer to Dr. M.
Lawrence Keats, Jean
Rivenson to Harry Pin-
sky, May Greenberg to
Martin Gartner.
❑
OINAUR
1144/04
t f%
Sandy Draur: Bashing the allegations.
vention. "I said hello and
how are you" he said.
"I am satisfied that the
Romneys, both Scott and
Ronna, are not anti-Semitic
and never have been," Mr.
Mamat said. "The matter is
closed."
The letter included
descriptions of several in-
cidents which Ms. Draur
pegged as inappropriate. She
said Judy Riedlinger, 11th
Congressional District
Republican representative,
should not have advocated
on behalf of Ms. Fischer in
her official capacity.
Ms. Draur's letter. follows
a heated race for the com-
mitteewoman job, won by
Betsy DeVos of Grand
Rapids. It was not the first
time in recent months that
charges of anti-Semitism
have been brought into the
political limelight.
Ms. Draur supported Ms.
Romney in her reelection
bid.
During the convention, a
group of Macomb County
Republicans charged Maria
Carl, wife of Sen. Doug Carl,
with making anti-Semitic
comments. The Anti-
Defamation League said the
charges were inconclusive
but said it will continue its
investigation.
Mrs. Carl has denied the
allegations.
Reports of anti-Semitic
undertones within certain
factions of the state GOP
began after Ms. Fischer an-
nounced she would enter the
race for committeewoman.
Ms. Drauer's letter also
comes amid a highly con-
tested race for seven open'
positions on the West Bloom-
field Township board.
Sixteen candidates —
three Democrats and 13
Republicans — are vying for
four trustee positions. And
challengers are facing in-
cumbents in races for super-
visor, clerk and treasurer.
West Bloomfield resident
Geraldine Hood will
challenge Ms. Draur in the
Republican primary race for
supervisor. The winner of
the primary will face
Democrat Roberta Boyle in•
November.
"I want to move forward,
and I don't ever want it to
happen again," Ms. Draur
said of the anti-Semitism
charges. "I want the integri-
ty of the party to be.
restored."
Longtime West Bloomfield
Trustee Dennis Vatsis, a
Republican running for
reelection, called the letter
"divisive" and "insensitve
to the Jewish people." ❑
Birmingham Couple Send
Hearing Aids To Israel
AMY J. MEHLER
Staff Writer
D
ina, 3 years old and
unable to speak, felt
isolated from other
children in her Israeli
kindergarten.
A routine examination
discovered hearing loss. Her
parents, new immigrants,
could not afford the $500
necessary to purchase a.
hearing aid.
Thanks to a Birmingham
couple, Dina and hundreds
of other hearing-impaired.
• children and elderly are now
rejoining the hearing world.
In eight years, Phyllis and
Albert Newman have col-
lected and reconditioned
2,000 hearing aids. They are
distributed free at Hadassah