The issue of anti-Semitism in this prosperous suburban township was sharpened today by the defeat of two Jewish candidates in a school board election last night in which their Jewishness had been made a major factor.
The defeat of Jack Mandell, an incumbent, and Robert Kraus, a candidate, had been urged by the school-board’s vice-president, Newton Miller, who had warned the township’s voters that Jews tended to be liberals, particularly in spending for education. One of the issues was a record $8,500,000 budget for the school system. The budget was defeated, 6,963 to 2,655.
Miller’s statement evoked an uproar. He apologized to the township’s 2,500 Jews but declined to modify or retract his statement in which be had also warned that if Mandell and Kraus were elected, their votes and that of another Jewish member, Fred Lafer, could threaten “what is left of Christ in our Christmas celebrations in our schools.”
Miller was censured by eight of his fellow board members last week in a motion asking him to resign, a request he refused. At that board meeting, Mandell called Miller an anti-Semite and a bigot.
A record 9,178 voters went to the polls. The two Jewish candidates were last in a field of five. High man was David Caliri who favored the record school budget. After the votes were in, Mandell said the vote was “definitely along religious lines” and that “intolerance and bigotry were factors in the election.” He also asserted that Miller “gave the anti-Semitic feeling in the township a chance to rear its ugly head.”
DEFEATED CANDIDATE ‘SHOCKED AND DISAPPOINTED’
Mr. Mandell told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that he was “shocked and disappointed” at the results of the vote. He said he had not believed that the community had such feelings but he felt that Miller’s statement had brought out Wayne Township’s latent anti-Semitism. He said that the Jewish issue had not been raised when he ran for the board, or when two Jews were elected to the township council.
He also said he felt that while there was deep concern among the township residents over the school system’s costs, “anti-Semitism overshadowed the budget issues.”
His view was supported by some township leaders and opposed by others. Mrs. Lorraine Yoder, a board member who voted for the ouster resolution against Miller, declared that “Wayne was on trial. It convicted itself today.” George Schroeder, school board president, said Mandell and Kraus were defeated “completely because they are Jewish.” But others saw the election results as a reaction against a budget which would have forced a rise in property taxes.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
