Separate state and city investigations were underway today into charges that an anti-Semitic leaflet was distributed by the losing candidate in a Democratic primary contest in Queens, a suburb of New York City, last week.
Donald A. Hopper, named a special assistant attorney general to investigate the charges, was conducting one probe on appointment by New York State Attorney General Louis J. Lefkowitz. The Attorney General, in announcing the appointment, said that Hyman J. Greenberg, the regular Democratic nominee for State Assembly man in the contest, had made the complaint. Mr. Greenberg, who is Jewish, swamped Kenneth N. Browne, and James E. McGinness. Mr. McGinness, who ran a poor third, circulated the leaflet in front of four Roman Catholic churches in the Assembly district during his campaigning.
The leaflet listed a number of clearly Jewish names as supporters of the court fight against use of the Regents’ Prayer in New York State public schools which ended with the U.S. Supreme Court decision last June banning use of the prayer. The leaflet also asked the voters if they wanted a “Pitkin Avenue” in Queens, a reference to a famous commercial area in Brooklyn where Jewish merchants keep their stores closed on the Jewish Sabbath and do a brisk trade on Sunday.
A similar investigation was started by the New York City Commission on Human Rights.
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