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What happens to the divisiveness after election day?
PHIL. JACOBS EDITOR
2400 MINUTES A WEEK SLEEPING
180 MINUTES A WEEK EXERCISING
West Bloomfield Ponders
Issue That Won't Leave
A D295
me**4
JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITER
esidents of West Bloom-
field are used to political
bickering and mudslinging
in their township races.
This time, however, it's differ-
ent.
This year, the issue is whether
hiring discrimination against
Jews has occurred. The accusa-
tion was printed in a July 5 Jew-
ish News advertisement placed
by West Bloomfield Township su-
pervisor candidate Larry,Wasser-
man. The ad carried a headline,
which read, "Why Is There Only
One Jewish Employee
Out of 245 At West
:-.
Bloomfield Town
Hall?"
Jeddy Hood, the in-
cumbent, is not referred
to by name. Yet the ad not-
ed that the supervisor is re-
sponsible for hiring township
employees and states, "We need
a Supervisor who will not toler-
ate discrimination in any form."
This has splintered factions of the
community, put individuals on
the defense and led to the for-
mation of alliances ... leaving the
question of why and what hap-
pens next. "Local politics is poli-
tics at its worst," said Albert
Holtz, a Democratic activist and
a 1992 candidate for the West
Bloomfield Board of Trustees.
"Very often, people involve them-
selves in politics for power or ul-
terior motive.
`This happens every four years
in West Bloomfield," added Mr.
Holtz, who expects the race to get
much "uglier" over the weekend.
"Ever since I've been watching
these races, everyone thinks they
can slip one in at the last minute."
The West Bloomfield Clergy
Association, an organization
which includes clergy across de-
nominational and religious lines
and representatives from the
school system and township, is-
sued a public statement con-
demning Mr. Wasserman.
"We have to take a stand
against using religion as a
weapon," said Rev. Bruce Quat-
man, the president of the West
Bloomfield Clergy Association
and reverend at the Holy Spirit
Lutheran Church. "While this is
not meant to be an endorsement,
we want to express our dismay at
what's taking place in the race."
How Jewish residents of West
Bloomfield work on this divisive-
ness remains to be seen.
"You've heard the expression,
it's a shanda,?" said Rabbi Dan-
nel Schwartz of Temple Shir
Shalom. 'This is just inappropri-
ate behavior. We, of all peoples,
shouldn't be doing this. When it
does happen, we have no credi-
bility."
Richard Barr, a West Bloom-
field resident who ran unsuc-
cessfully four years ago for
township trustee, feels the issue
is a "black mark on the Jewish
community."
"Frankly," he said, "it does
more damage to the Jewish com-
munity than the damage would
have been done if it were true."
Mr. Barr, an attorney,
believes that after the
election, issues such as
roads and traffic will
take over once again.
He said that "98 per-
cent of the West Bloom-
field Jewish community
works together."
But he also felt the organized
Jewish community should have
strongly condemned the situa-
tion. "It is important that the non-
Jewish community sees that the
Jewish community doesn't con-
done baseless accusations of anti-
Semitism."
Mr. Barr, along with many of
his friends and neighbors, is part
of an organization calling itself
Citizens for Responsible, Rea-
sonable and Respectful Candi-
dates, or the 3Rs. It is a group of
over 300, many of whom are
members of the Detroit Jewish
community and its leadership.
Ken Kramer, a 3Rs member,
worried that the divisiveness of
the election this year is a "card
that, once played, won't go to
sleep.
"There has to be representa-
tives from the religious commu-
nities willing to pull together,"
said Mr. Kramer. 'There has to
be a joining, a single vision.
"This is supposed to be an elec-
tion for responsible government.
You have to set aside other is-
sues. We have to get the com-
munity together, not to focus on
a representative from one religion
or another."
David Gad-Harf, executive di-
rector of the Jewish Communi-
ty Council, himself a West
Bloomfield resident, said that af-
ter election, the community needs
to "take a look at the accusations
and use of the term 'anti-Semi-
tism' and find ways to avoid it in
the future."
Attorney Michael Schwartz,
who is running for re-election on
the West Bloomfield Board of
Trustees, thinks that the situa-
(_\