Staff photos by Armando Rios
Panelists at the press conference: parent Mary Beldon, school board president Steve Weiss, Carrie Waggoner of the ADL, Rabbi Joshua Bennett of Temple Israel, Victor Begg of the
Muslim Unity Center, the Rev. Lauren Krish-Carr of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Bloomfield Township and David Blewett, executive director of the Dove Institute of Southfield.
Seeing Stars
Flap over "wizard" ignites school board campaign,
Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish News
C
ampaign literature featuring an
image of a money-burning wiz-
ard clad in a robe adorned with
various symbols including a hexagram
— a six-pointed star commonly called a
"Jewish star" but also used to denote the
occult — divided people along political
lines before the May 8 Bloomfield Hills
school board election.
The division was not between
Republican and Democrat, but between
supporters of board-backed candidates
and challengers Don and Jenny Greenwell.
The husband and wife candidates opposed
a $121 million bond issue to build a new
high school to replace the district's two
current high schools — a project their
board-backed opponents supported. For
the election results, go to the Jewish News
Web site, JNonline.us .
The controversial image, with the words
"school board" printed on the wizard's
chest, was part of an oversized postcard
16
May 10 • 2007
mailed by the Greenwells
to likely voters. The
mailing instantly gar-
nered strong negative
response. The Greenwells
immediately apologized
and pledged to discard
additional copies they
Don Greenwell
had planned to distrib-
ute.
A May 2 press confer-
ence was held by crit-
ics of the mailing and
those who supported the
Greenwells' opponents.
School board president
Steve Weiss, who is
Jenny
Jewish and not up for re-
Greenwell
election, told the more
than 120 people gathered that the use of
the images were "not mere coincidence'
He called the mailing a "reprehensible
campaign tactic" that was directed at him
as a Jew. He received long, loud applause
when he said, "We are thankful that our
friends have not been silent on this issue'
The press conference was helmed by
West Bloomfield Temple Israel Rabbi
Joshua Bennett, whose children attend
Bloomfield Hills schools. The previous
day, he sent an e-mail promoting the press
conference because the mailing "sends
the covert message that it is the Jews and
Muslims who are the wizards in our com-
munity who are to be blamed and who are
burning our money!" While steering clear
of the ballot issues, he wrote, "we cannot
tolerate the teaching of hatred to our stu-
dents, families, and community."
Joining Rabbi Bennett were Weiss;
Carrie Waggoner, assistant director of
the Anti-Defamation League Michigan
Region (ADL); Victor Begg, representing
the Muslim Unity Center; the Rev. Lauren
Krish-Carr, pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran
Church in Bloomfield Township; David
Blewett, executive director of the Dove
Institute of Southfield; and a district parent
who supports the bond issue, Mary Beldon.
Waggoner read a statement by Michigan
ADL Executive Director Betsy Kellman
labeling the mailing "smear tactics."
"There is no place in this election, or
any election, for anti-Semitic, prejudicial
or negative stereotypes:' it said.
"A picture speaks a thousand words:'
added Begg, a former school board mem-
ber. He said board members needed to be
"tolerant of others' beliefs" as well as "sen-
sitive, caring and responsible."
Bond-supporter Beldon said the issue
was an affront not just to the Jewish corn-
munity."This is a community issue she
said. Calling religious symbols "very pow-
erful and meaningful," she called the mail-
ing "demeaning, divisive and malicious."
Rabbi Bennett and Begg both serve on
the executive committee of the Interfaith
Partners of the Michigan Roundtable for
Diversity and Inclusion, whose statement
called the mailing "bigotry in the name of
politics."
In interviews with the Jewish News both
before and following the press conference,
the Greenwells denied any anti-Semitic or
bigoted intent. Jenny Greenwell said they
had received a black-and-white proof of
the ad on a short time frame and had not