Off the wall

Is this letter, printed in the August 16, 2006 edition of the Suburbanite, authentic?

You decide.

TO THE EDITOR:

Suburbanite writer Howard Prosnitz has done a tremendous service to the Teaneck community by following the activities of the recently elected council.

Those of our council who want to wrest control of the independently elected school board is an attempt to gut its budget. While promising to lower taxes, the view of many in my Orthodox community is "...we don't use the school system (we send our children to private yeshivas)...so why should we pay for it!"

The takeover of a duly elected chamber would violate its sovereignty and autonomy, and is probably illegal anyway. What would the council do next? Eliminate rent control to further enhance their personal wealth at renters' expense?

Furthermore, the recent refusal by council members to avoid illegal campaign tactics is a de facto admission to their questionable actions to get elected- and even worse, their arrogance to say...and we'll do it again!"

The worst kept secret in the Orthodox community is that the team of Feit/Rudolph/Gussen were encouraged to run for office by Mayor Katz and then by furtive vote elect him mayor late on a Saturday night. As Bob Dylan sang, "You don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."

With a county and state wide investigation going on, I call for all four of my fellow Orthodox Jews to admit to their illicit activities, step down, move on (or perhaps even move out of Teaneck) and avoid a scandal that will destroy our reputation in the community.

XXXXX XXXXXXXX
Teaneck