GREENWICH TIME PHOTO: Lee Whitnum attends the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee's annual campaign kickoff and picnic
John Tinoco The Campaign And Media Director For Citizens For Lee Whitnum Challenges The Greenwich Time's News Report
Hearst Newspaper Editor David McCumber Cowers In Fear Unable To Respond John Tinoco Demands A Retraction
To the editor:
In response to Ms. Whitnum's federal filing regarding separation of church and state, on Sept. 14, your publication quoted Rabbi Mitchell M. Hurvitz of Temple Sholom saying that Ms. Whitnum has a "long history of anti-Semitic diatribes." But you failed to document these statements.
For the record Ms. Whitnum has never made any anti-Semitic statements. This is one of a long list of published half-truths designed to make our candidate look bad.
Two weeks ago we documented some of these injustices to you in an email, to no avail. If a fact cannot be verified - it shouldn't be published.
Ms. Whitnum is a political writer and deals in fact.
It is her abhorrence of racism that motives her to fight for the Christian and Muslim underclass in the occupied territories, for justice and for American safety. If the rabbi has an issue with anything Ms. Whitnum has stated, she will be glad to provide him with the source of the fact.
A "long history" is false. No history is more accurate.
We demand an apology from Rabbi Mitchell M. Hurvitz and a retraction from you.
John Tinoco
WHAT"S GOING ON?
HEARST NEWS CENSORSHIP:
GREENWICH TIME EDITOR DAVID McCUMBER AND HEARST CORPORATION LAWYERS PULLS ALMA RUTGERS COLUMN OFF THE WEB AND REPLACES IT WITH THIS POST:
WAS THERE A PROBLEM WITH ALMA RUTGER'S REPORTING AT THE GREENWICH TIME?
WHAT'S NEXT?
WHAT ELSE WILL HEARST NEWSPAPER EDITOR DAVID McCUMBER GOING TO BE SECRETLY TAKE OFF THE GREENWICH TIME WEB SIDE?
BUT, HEARST NEWSPAPER EDITOR DAVID "I GET NERVIOUS IN THE SERVICE" McCUMBER IS ALWAYS SECRETLY PULLING DOWN GREENWICH TIME ARTICLES ....
Shame Shame Shame On Hearst Newspaper Editor David McCumber
Teri Buhl, hasn't just been fired from her job at Greenwich Time, a Hearst newspaper in Connecticut; her entire archive of blog entries there has disappeared, leaving only a message saying "This blog has been archived or suspended". It's as though Hearst wanted not only to fire her, but to make it seem as though they'd never hired her — although there is still an archive of stories she wrote for the newspaper itself.
What caused this vindictive and aggressive behavior towards a reporter who is, after all, now going to be looking for freelance work based on the quality of her clips? To erase all of those clips is harsh punishment indeed, which would only be conceivably justifiable if there were very serious questions indeed over the accuracy of lots of her work.
But in fact, according to Buhl, when she was fired on Thursday by David McCumber, the editor in chief, the reasons he gave for firing her were mainly about the rough quality of her writing, and the fact that it needed a lot of editing.
But the truth is that Hearst Newspaper Editor David McCumber praised Buhl's reporting on at a Greenwich Retired Men's Association meeting that was recorded for the local cable TV channel.
Hearst Newspaper Editor David McCumber needs to stop running scared and grow a pair of journalistic balls.
Hearst Newspaper Editor needs to tell Greenwich Time readers what's going to happen to Bulh's blog archive, and further explain why it was taken down.
Here is the truth that Hearst Newspaper Editor David McCumber is hiding from the Greenwich Time readers....
Buhl wrote about Charlie Gasparino a couple of times on the blog she was hired to write at the beginning of this year — the blog entries are now down, of course, but for the time being the Google cache can be seen here and here.
Ms. Buhl correctly called him "Gas-bag", a common nickname which he doesn't like.
Angered, Gasparino called up the recently recently demoted and Ex-Greenwich Time Editor Jim Zebora, who is Ms. Bul's supervisor, and accused her of "stalking" him.
Charlie then called Zebora's boss, Greenwich Time Editor McCumber, and made the same complaint. Once again, he didn't get very far. And then Charlie went further still, calling Steven Swartz, the president of Hearst newspapers, again with the same complaint.
Meanwhile, another media bigwig was getting annoyed by Buhl. Buhl had written a story about Randall Lane for Dealbreaker in July 2009, saying that he would find it difficult to sell the assets of his bankrupt company,
Doubledown Media, and that he'd given his cousin access to Doubledown's subscriber list after promising his subscribers that he would never do such a thing.
Teri wrote about Lane on her Greenwich Time blog in February (Google cache here), and immediately Lane, too, started calling her superiors, complaining that she was "stalking" him.....
BUT IT IS NOT JUST COWARDLY HEARST NEWSPAPER EDITOR DAVID "I NEED A DRINK" McCUMDER THAT IS ALWAYS RUNNING SCARED AT THE GREENWICH TIME.
HEARST NEWSPAPER VICE PRESIDENT LINCOLN MILLSTEIN CAN OFTEN BE FOUND COWERING IN FEAR UNDER A GREENWICH TIME NEWS DESK.....
Shame, Shame, Shame On Lincoln Millstein
IT IS AMAZING HOW LEE WHITNUM OR CHARLIE GASPARINO CAN SAY BOO, AND THE HEARST CORPORATION STARTS RUNNING SCARED AT THE GREENWICH TIME
YOU HAD BETTER READ THE GREENWICH TIME'S REPORTING ABOUT SENATE CANDIDATE LEE WHITNUM'S LAWSUIT, BEFORE HEARST CORPORATION WEASELS, LIKE CHAIRMAN GEORGE RANDOLPH HEARST JR., CEO STEVEN SWARTZ AND VICE PRESIDENT LINCOLN MILLSTEIN, START HITTING THE LOCAL RAG'S DELETE BUTTON ....
GREENWICH TIME EDITORIAL: Lawsuit is baseless, offensive
Published 05:25 p.m., Thursday, September 15, 2011
The town of Greenwich has enough to deal with these days. It really can't afford to waste taxpayer money and the Law Department's energies defending ridiculous lawsuits. But that is what it will be forced to do if a Senate candidate presses on with a lawsuit filed last week in Bridgeport federal court.
Greenwich Democrat Lee Whitnum has declared her intentions to run for the U.S. Senate. Ms. Whitnum has run for office before. Her campaigns have been built on flat-out opposition to the United States' relationship with Israel. None have come close to succeeding.
Not surprisingly, Israel is the subject of her lawsuit against the town.
On May 13, the Israeli flag -- which includes the Star of David -- was displayed in front of Town Hall to commemorate Israeli Independence Day. The UJA Federation of Greenwich that day paid to use Town Hall for a celebration, which included an abridged bar mitzvah ceremony for a visiting exchange student from Israel.
"We can't have a double standard," Whitnum said in a statement supporting her lawsuit. "If you can't have a Christian cross on a municipal building, you can't display the Star of David there either. I mean seriously what was (First Selectman Peter Tesei) thinking -- a bar mitzvah? On town property!"
We can't speak for the first selectman. But we suspect he was thinking there's a big difference between permanently installing a cross on a building and raising a flag for a day. A big difference between allowing a religious group to pay to use Town Hall for an afternoon because it could not find other venues, and turning Town Hall into a church or synagogue.
We are passionate believers in the separation of church and state. We also believe passion should coexist with reason.
Lee Whitnum's passion is opposing Israel. She has made that clear in words and actions over the years. Our political process is forced to indulge that passion as long as she can get herself onto a ballot. But we hope the court tosses this lawsuit and soon, so the town doesn't have to indulge it with its time and money.
Town Democrat files lawsuit over bar mitzvah at Town Hall
Neil Vigdor, Staff Writer
Updated 10:32 p.m., Wednesday, September 14, 2011
A perennial candidate for public office and outspoken critic of Israel's alliance with the U.S. is suing the town of Greenwich on the grounds that it breached the constitutional barrier between church and state when it allowed a bar mitzvah to take place at Town Hall.
Democrat Lee Whitnum, a 2012 and 2010 Senate hopeful from Greenwich, filed a Sept. 8 lawsuit in Bridgeport federal court charging the town with violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which says that Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.
First Selectman Peter Tesei is also named as a defendant as the town's chief elected official in the lawsuit, which raised objections to the displaying of the Star of David on the Israeli flag in front of Town Hall.
The bar mitzvah coincided with the May 13 celebration of Israeli Independence Day by the UJA Federation of Greenwich.
"We can't have a double standard," Whitnum said in a statement from her campaign. "If you can't have a Christian cross on a municipal building, you can't display the Star of David there either. I mean seriously what was he thinking -- a bar mitzvah? On town property!
Whitnum's statement called on Tesei to resign. She did not respond Wednesday to request from Greenwich Time for an interview.
Tesei issued a statement Wednesday emphasizing that the event was not sponsored by the town, which he said hosts many flag-raising ceremonies.
"At the request of Greenwich residents, the town of Greenwich annually recognizes various nationalities and ethnic groups and celebrates their heritage," Tesei said. "For example, the Irish flag is raised on St. Patrick's Day, the Italian flag on Columbus Day, the Filipino flag in recognition of their Independence Day, the French flag on Bastille Day along with the Swedish flag, Norwegian flag and others as requests come forth from our residents."
Tesei also noted that the UJA Federation paid a fee of $351.83 for the building custodian to be present and maintain the facility during the period of the event.
"Nothing done on this date was different from other ethnic or national celebrations at Town Hall and this lawsuit is baseless," Tesei said.
Messages seeking comment were also left for Town Attorney John Wayne Fox.
Members of the town's Jewish community defended the event, which they originally hoped to hold at Carmel Academy on Lake Avenue, but moved to Town Hall after they could not nail down a date with the Hebrew school.
"The Israel celebration has been taking place at Town Hall for decades," said Pamela Ehrenkranz, executive director of the UJA Federation of Greenwich. "I believe that other groups celebrate other national independence days. The celebration of Israeli Independence Day is not a religious event. It was by no means connected to a religious holiday or observance."
The statement from Whitnum, who was defeated in a landslide by now-U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., in the 2008 Democratic congressional primary, begged to differ.
"The Israel flag has a Star of David which is a religious symbol -- as Israel describes itself as the Jewish state," she wrote in the statement. "Many people do not view Israel's Independence Day as a celebration"
Ehrenkranz acknowledged that there was a bar mitzvah component to event, which she said was held for the benefit of a visiting exchange student from Israel who hadn't yet experienced the rite of passage from boyhood to manhood because his father died when he was 13.
"It did not resemble a traditional bar mitzvah," Ehrenkranz said. "In a synagogue there are certain blessings that are made and certain prayers that are said and we did not do that."
Rob Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington, DC, based organization, said it's all about consistency.
"Generally speaking, federal courts have ruled that governments must have an equal access policy towards religious groups," Boston said. "So if a municipal property is used by one religious group, the same right of access must be extended towards other religious groups, as well as similarly situated secular groups. These types of cases generally arise dealing with use of public schools after-hours and on weekends or in meeting rooms of public libraries. The general rule is either everybody gets access or nobody gets access."
Americans United for Separation of Church and State helped lead the fight against the placement of a monument of the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of Alabama's state judicial building by the chief justice there.
"Generally speaking, when cases are brought challenging the display of religious symbols, those are permanently displayed," Boston said. "There's a display like that which is permanent, and a temporary display which is put up by a private group with it's own money for a limited period of time."
Whitnum's statement raised further questions about whether it's appropriate for the town to celebrate Israeli Independence Day.
"I do not believe the town of Greenwich should be celebrating the trail-of-tears of the Christians and Muslims that were forced from the land to make way for emigrating Jews from the United States and Europe," Whitnum said. "There are many people in Greenwich who memorialize May 15 as the Nakba Day, an event millions view as a day of mourning."
Her comments earned her a sharp rebuke from the town's rabbinical ranks.
"It's unfortunate that this individual has a long history of anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist diatribes," said Rabbi Mitchell Hurvitz of Temple Sholom. "The worst thing is to give her hatred any worthwhile attention."
Rabbi Andrew Sklarz of Greenwich Reform Synagogue lamented the response from Whitnum.
"I was saddened to learn of this because in the three years in which I've been part of the Greenwich community I have found such a spirit of inclusion and acceptance," Sklarz said. "This was a day of unity. It was marking a significant event in a young man's life in which the entire community should all feel proud."
The head of the Anti-Defamation League in Connecticut meanwhile called Whitnum's motives into question.
"It's not a genuine concern about being denied religious freedom as much as a perspective on the manifestation of the state of Israel," said Gary Jones, regional director of the Connecticut office of the Anti-Defamation League.
Staff writer Neil Vigdor can be reached at neil.vigdor@scni.com or at 203-625-4436.
THE HEARST NEWSPAPER SISSY BOYS WHO RUN AND REPORT AT THE GREENWICH TIME ALL NEED TO GROW A PAIR OF JOURNALISTIC BALLS
===============================
Please send your comments, news tips and press releases to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com
John Tinoco The Campaign And Media Director For Citizens For Lee Whitnum Challenges The Greenwich Time's News Report
Hearst Newspaper Editor David McCumber Cowers In Fear Unable To Respond John Tinoco Demands A Retraction
To the editor:
In response to Ms. Whitnum's federal filing regarding separation of church and state, on Sept. 14, your publication quoted Rabbi Mitchell M. Hurvitz of Temple Sholom saying that Ms. Whitnum has a "long history of anti-Semitic diatribes." But you failed to document these statements.
For the record Ms. Whitnum has never made any anti-Semitic statements. This is one of a long list of published half-truths designed to make our candidate look bad.
Two weeks ago we documented some of these injustices to you in an email, to no avail. If a fact cannot be verified - it shouldn't be published.
Ms. Whitnum is a political writer and deals in fact.
It is her abhorrence of racism that motives her to fight for the Christian and Muslim underclass in the occupied territories, for justice and for American safety. If the rabbi has an issue with anything Ms. Whitnum has stated, she will be glad to provide him with the source of the fact.
A "long history" is false. No history is more accurate.
We demand an apology from Rabbi Mitchell M. Hurvitz and a retraction from you.
John Tinoco
WHAT"S GOING ON?
HEARST NEWS CENSORSHIP:
GREENWICH TIME EDITOR DAVID McCUMBER AND HEARST CORPORATION LAWYERS PULLS ALMA RUTGERS COLUMN OFF THE WEB AND REPLACES IT WITH THIS POST:
 |
COLUMN 9/18 – BRIEF ADDENDUMIn today’s column (Sunday 9/18) I referred to Lee Whitnum’s press release in which she claims the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union turned her away 3 times when she approached them about suing the Town of Greenwich and the First Selectman for allowing an Israel Independence Day celebration and a Bar Mitzvah to take place on town property. I had made an inquiry to the CCLU to verify this when I began working on my column. By the time I received a response from the executive director, Andrew Schneider, it was too late to incorporate into my column. Here is the CCLU response: We have no record of contact from her or of any request from anyone about the issues she raises. The American Civil Liberties Union has a long history of defending religious freedom, including the right of equal access to public buildings for all organizations, whether religious or not. |
WHAT'S NEXT?
WHAT ELSE WILL HEARST NEWSPAPER EDITOR DAVID McCUMBER GOING TO BE SECRETLY TAKE OFF THE GREENWICH TIME WEB SIDE?
BUT, HEARST NEWSPAPER EDITOR DAVID "I GET NERVIOUS IN THE SERVICE" McCUMBER IS ALWAYS SECRETLY PULLING DOWN GREENWICH TIME ARTICLES ....
03/21/10 Hearst Newspaper Cover Up: Thin skinned Faux news reporter gets Greenwich Time Investigative Reporter Teri Buhl fired?
Shame Shame Shame On Hearst Newspaper Editor David McCumberTeri Buhl, hasn't just been fired from her job at Greenwich Time, a Hearst newspaper in Connecticut; her entire archive of blog entries there has disappeared, leaving only a message saying "This blog has been archived or suspended". It's as though Hearst wanted not only to fire her, but to make it seem as though they'd never hired her — although there is still an archive of stories she wrote for the newspaper itself.
What caused this vindictive and aggressive behavior towards a reporter who is, after all, now going to be looking for freelance work based on the quality of her clips? To erase all of those clips is harsh punishment indeed, which would only be conceivably justifiable if there were very serious questions indeed over the accuracy of lots of her work.
But in fact, according to Buhl, when she was fired on Thursday by David McCumber, the editor in chief, the reasons he gave for firing her were mainly about the rough quality of her writing, and the fact that it needed a lot of editing.
But the truth is that Hearst Newspaper Editor David McCumber praised Buhl's reporting on at a Greenwich Retired Men's Association meeting that was recorded for the local cable TV channel.
Hearst Newspaper Editor David McCumber needs to stop running scared and grow a pair of journalistic balls.
Hearst Newspaper Editor needs to tell Greenwich Time readers what's going to happen to Bulh's blog archive, and further explain why it was taken down.
Here is the truth that Hearst Newspaper Editor David McCumber is hiding from the Greenwich Time readers....
Buhl wrote about Charlie Gasparino a couple of times on the blog she was hired to write at the beginning of this year — the blog entries are now down, of course, but for the time being the Google cache can be seen here and here.
Ms. Buhl correctly called him "Gas-bag", a common nickname which he doesn't like.
Angered, Gasparino called up the recently recently demoted and Ex-Greenwich Time Editor Jim Zebora, who is Ms. Bul's supervisor, and accused her of "stalking" him.
Charlie then called Zebora's boss, Greenwich Time Editor McCumber, and made the same complaint. Once again, he didn't get very far. And then Charlie went further still, calling Steven Swartz, the president of Hearst newspapers, again with the same complaint.
Meanwhile, another media bigwig was getting annoyed by Buhl. Buhl had written a story about Randall Lane for Dealbreaker in July 2009, saying that he would find it difficult to sell the assets of his bankrupt company,
Doubledown Media, and that he'd given his cousin access to Doubledown's subscriber list after promising his subscribers that he would never do such a thing.
Teri wrote about Lane on her Greenwich Time blog in February (Google cache here), and immediately Lane, too, started calling her superiors, complaining that she was "stalking" him.....
HEARST NEWSPAPER VICE PRESIDENT LINCOLN MILLSTEIN CAN OFTEN BE FOUND COWERING IN FEAR UNDER A GREENWICH TIME NEWS DESK.....
03/21/10 Hearst Newspaper Vice President Lincoln Millstein Has Blood On His Hands
Shame, Shame, Shame On Lincoln MillsteinHearst Newspaper Vice President Lincoln Millstein, asked Greenwich Time investigative reporter Teri Buhl, "What did you do to Gasparino? After Charlie Gasparino called Hearst Newspaper President Steven Swartz.
Millstien warned Buhl not to write negative reports about Gasparino before she was fired and her blog archive was taken down from the Greenwich Time website.
It is clear that the secretive Hearst corporation is afraid of Charlie Gasparino.
Right now brave young men and women, who have sworn to defend the constitution, are shedding their blood in two overseas wars, while cowards like Lincoln Millstein and Charlie Gasparino say forget about freedom of the press.
It is disgusting that Lincoln Millstien doesn't have the journalist balls to put Teri Buhl's blog archive back up.
Lincoln Millstien looks like the village idiot of Greenwich Connecticut as he pulls down whole sections of his website, because he is afraid of one asshole.
Everyone is laughing at the paper tiger known as Lincoln Millstien who is kowtowing to a dirt bag like Charlie Gasparino.
Lincoln Millstein has lost what little creditability he had in Greenwich as the local rags readers give the Hearst Vice President two thumbs down.
Lincoln Millstein has given the Hearst Corporation another black eye.
It’s well known that Charlie Gasparino likes getting into mini-feuds with reporters who write about him, it just a shame that Lincoln Millstein was too stupid to know what was really going on.
Greenwich is a global business center and the Hearst corporation had one hard nosed reporter willing to write critically about its funds, brokers and businesses, the cowardly Licoln Millstien screwed everything up.
Nothing Has Changed At The Greenwich Time
Decades Of Media Compliant Operations In Greenwich
Everyone remembers how former Greenwich Time Editor Joe Pisani commissioned an investigative report on who killed Martha Moxley and then refused to publish it for ten years, because members of the powerful Kennedy clan threatened the local rag.
That's why local blogger Bill Clark calls so-called news paper the "Yellowich Time"
Personally, I like to call it the Green Kitty Litter Liner.
YOU HAD BETTER READ THE GREENWICH TIME'S REPORTING ABOUT SENATE CANDIDATE LEE WHITNUM'S LAWSUIT, BEFORE HEARST CORPORATION WEASELS, LIKE CHAIRMAN GEORGE RANDOLPH HEARST JR., CEO STEVEN SWARTZ AND VICE PRESIDENT LINCOLN MILLSTEIN, START HITTING THE LOCAL RAG'S DELETE BUTTON ....
GREENWICH TIME EDITORIAL: Lawsuit is baseless, offensive
Published 05:25 p.m., Thursday, September 15, 2011
The town of Greenwich has enough to deal with these days. It really can't afford to waste taxpayer money and the Law Department's energies defending ridiculous lawsuits. But that is what it will be forced to do if a Senate candidate presses on with a lawsuit filed last week in Bridgeport federal court.
Greenwich Democrat Lee Whitnum has declared her intentions to run for the U.S. Senate. Ms. Whitnum has run for office before. Her campaigns have been built on flat-out opposition to the United States' relationship with Israel. None have come close to succeeding.
Not surprisingly, Israel is the subject of her lawsuit against the town.
On May 13, the Israeli flag -- which includes the Star of David -- was displayed in front of Town Hall to commemorate Israeli Independence Day. The UJA Federation of Greenwich that day paid to use Town Hall for a celebration, which included an abridged bar mitzvah ceremony for a visiting exchange student from Israel.
"We can't have a double standard," Whitnum said in a statement supporting her lawsuit. "If you can't have a Christian cross on a municipal building, you can't display the Star of David there either. I mean seriously what was (First Selectman Peter Tesei) thinking -- a bar mitzvah? On town property!"
We can't speak for the first selectman. But we suspect he was thinking there's a big difference between permanently installing a cross on a building and raising a flag for a day. A big difference between allowing a religious group to pay to use Town Hall for an afternoon because it could not find other venues, and turning Town Hall into a church or synagogue.
We are passionate believers in the separation of church and state. We also believe passion should coexist with reason.
Lee Whitnum's passion is opposing Israel. She has made that clear in words and actions over the years. Our political process is forced to indulge that passion as long as she can get herself onto a ballot. But we hope the court tosses this lawsuit and soon, so the town doesn't have to indulge it with its time and money.
Town Democrat files lawsuit over bar mitzvah at Town Hall
Neil Vigdor, Staff Writer
Updated 10:32 p.m., Wednesday, September 14, 2011
A perennial candidate for public office and outspoken critic of Israel's alliance with the U.S. is suing the town of Greenwich on the grounds that it breached the constitutional barrier between church and state when it allowed a bar mitzvah to take place at Town Hall.
Democrat Lee Whitnum, a 2012 and 2010 Senate hopeful from Greenwich, filed a Sept. 8 lawsuit in Bridgeport federal court charging the town with violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which says that Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.
First Selectman Peter Tesei is also named as a defendant as the town's chief elected official in the lawsuit, which raised objections to the displaying of the Star of David on the Israeli flag in front of Town Hall.
The bar mitzvah coincided with the May 13 celebration of Israeli Independence Day by the UJA Federation of Greenwich.
"We can't have a double standard," Whitnum said in a statement from her campaign. "If you can't have a Christian cross on a municipal building, you can't display the Star of David there either. I mean seriously what was he thinking -- a bar mitzvah? On town property!
Whitnum's statement called on Tesei to resign. She did not respond Wednesday to request from Greenwich Time for an interview.
Tesei issued a statement Wednesday emphasizing that the event was not sponsored by the town, which he said hosts many flag-raising ceremonies.
"At the request of Greenwich residents, the town of Greenwich annually recognizes various nationalities and ethnic groups and celebrates their heritage," Tesei said. "For example, the Irish flag is raised on St. Patrick's Day, the Italian flag on Columbus Day, the Filipino flag in recognition of their Independence Day, the French flag on Bastille Day along with the Swedish flag, Norwegian flag and others as requests come forth from our residents."
Tesei also noted that the UJA Federation paid a fee of $351.83 for the building custodian to be present and maintain the facility during the period of the event.
"Nothing done on this date was different from other ethnic or national celebrations at Town Hall and this lawsuit is baseless," Tesei said.
Messages seeking comment were also left for Town Attorney John Wayne Fox.
Members of the town's Jewish community defended the event, which they originally hoped to hold at Carmel Academy on Lake Avenue, but moved to Town Hall after they could not nail down a date with the Hebrew school.
"The Israel celebration has been taking place at Town Hall for decades," said Pamela Ehrenkranz, executive director of the UJA Federation of Greenwich. "I believe that other groups celebrate other national independence days. The celebration of Israeli Independence Day is not a religious event. It was by no means connected to a religious holiday or observance."
The statement from Whitnum, who was defeated in a landslide by now-U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., in the 2008 Democratic congressional primary, begged to differ.
"The Israel flag has a Star of David which is a religious symbol -- as Israel describes itself as the Jewish state," she wrote in the statement. "Many people do not view Israel's Independence Day as a celebration"
Ehrenkranz acknowledged that there was a bar mitzvah component to event, which she said was held for the benefit of a visiting exchange student from Israel who hadn't yet experienced the rite of passage from boyhood to manhood because his father died when he was 13.
"It did not resemble a traditional bar mitzvah," Ehrenkranz said. "In a synagogue there are certain blessings that are made and certain prayers that are said and we did not do that."
Rob Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington, DC, based organization, said it's all about consistency.
"Generally speaking, federal courts have ruled that governments must have an equal access policy towards religious groups," Boston said. "So if a municipal property is used by one religious group, the same right of access must be extended towards other religious groups, as well as similarly situated secular groups. These types of cases generally arise dealing with use of public schools after-hours and on weekends or in meeting rooms of public libraries. The general rule is either everybody gets access or nobody gets access."
Americans United for Separation of Church and State helped lead the fight against the placement of a monument of the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of Alabama's state judicial building by the chief justice there.
"Generally speaking, when cases are brought challenging the display of religious symbols, those are permanently displayed," Boston said. "There's a display like that which is permanent, and a temporary display which is put up by a private group with it's own money for a limited period of time."
Whitnum's statement raised further questions about whether it's appropriate for the town to celebrate Israeli Independence Day.
"I do not believe the town of Greenwich should be celebrating the trail-of-tears of the Christians and Muslims that were forced from the land to make way for emigrating Jews from the United States and Europe," Whitnum said. "There are many people in Greenwich who memorialize May 15 as the Nakba Day, an event millions view as a day of mourning."
Her comments earned her a sharp rebuke from the town's rabbinical ranks.
"It's unfortunate that this individual has a long history of anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist diatribes," said Rabbi Mitchell Hurvitz of Temple Sholom. "The worst thing is to give her hatred any worthwhile attention."
Rabbi Andrew Sklarz of Greenwich Reform Synagogue lamented the response from Whitnum.
"I was saddened to learn of this because in the three years in which I've been part of the Greenwich community I have found such a spirit of inclusion and acceptance," Sklarz said. "This was a day of unity. It was marking a significant event in a young man's life in which the entire community should all feel proud."
The head of the Anti-Defamation League in Connecticut meanwhile called Whitnum's motives into question.
"It's not a genuine concern about being denied religious freedom as much as a perspective on the manifestation of the state of Israel," said Gary Jones, regional director of the Connecticut office of the Anti-Defamation League.
Staff writer Neil Vigdor can be reached at neil.vigdor@scni.com or at 203-625-4436.
THE HEARST NEWSPAPER SISSY BOYS WHO RUN AND REPORT AT THE GREENWICH TIME ALL NEED TO GROW A PAIR OF JOURNALISTIC BALLS
===============================
Please send your comments, news tips and press releases to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com
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