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Jewish readers rush to defense of township official.
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A
Jewish candidate for West
Bloomfield Township su-
pervisor concedes he may
have "overstated some
things" in a political ad accusing
the incumbent of discriminating
against Jews. But the candidate
said he will not apologize, despite
growing evidence his attack may
have backfired.
The ad, written by challenger
Larry Wasserman and printed in
The Jewish News last week, car-
ried this headline: "Why Is There
Only One Jewish Employee Out
Of 245 At West Bloomfield Town
Hall?"
Jeddy Hood, the incumbent, is
not referred to by name. But the
ad notes in bold print that the su-
pervisor is responsible for hiring
township employees and states,
'We need a Supervisor who will
not tolerate discrimination in any
form."
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Jeddy Hood says she is no anti Semite.
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Mr. Wasserman goes on to ask
Jewish News readers to vote for
him because he "will work for us."
"It just blew me off my pins,"
said Ms. Hood, who is not Jew-
ish. "I think I've been victimized,
and I'm hurt."
Ms. Hood and Mr. Wasserman
are to face off in an Aug. 6 Re-
publican primary for the $69,000-
a-year post, the most powerful
position in township government.
The winner has no Democratic
opponent.
Ms. Hood took heated excep-
tion to the numbers used in the
ad and to the implication her op-
ponent appeared to draw from
them. She listed four township
employees whom she knew to be
Jewish and speculated that there
were probably more.
She also noted that she has
hired only about 20 township em-
ployees since her election in 1992
— including one Jewish building
inspector. And she says she
should not be blamed for any hir-
ing bias that may have taken
place before she took office.
In any event, she said, she has
no way of knowing a job appli-
cant's religion because she is for-
bidden by law to ask.
"That law was put in place to
protect people from discrimina-
tion," Ms. Hood said. "If I'm in a
room with 10 people seeking jobs,
I wouldn't know if one was Jew-
ish or not."
Mr. Wasserman responded
Tuesday that any inaccuracies in
the ad were due to political inex-
perience. He said he got his 1-in-
245 figure from reviewing
employee lists and talking with
township department heads,
whom he declined to identify.
"In my first attempt at writing
an ad I may have overstated
some things," he conceded. "I may
not have used the
right adjective, but
it's a learning
process and I think
I've gotten her at-
tention."
Mr. Wasserman
admitted he has no
evidence that any
Jew has been
turned down for a
job or promotion in
West Bloomfield
Township. Nor does
he know of any Jew
who has ever com-
plained of discrimi-
nation.
Still, he remains
proud of the ad,
which he said has
drawn attention to
his campaign and to
what he contends is Ms. Hood's
reluctance to debate him.
"I've had no choice but to use
an alternative medium," he said.
Mr. Wasserman said the idea
for the ad was spawned by an in-
cident last summer in which pop
singer David Clayton Thomas
made a remark offensive to Jews
during a concert at a West
Bloomfield park.
Mr. Wasserman said he was
outraged that it took Ms. Hood
two weeks to extract an apology
from the singer. In fact, Mr.
Thomas issued a written apolo-
gy within three days.
Since the ad appeared last
week, Ms. Hood said she has
been flooded with supportive calls
from Jewish residents.
More than a half-dozen Jew-
ish readers sent letters to The
Jewish News defending Ms.
Hood's integrity and chiding Mr.
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