The Southampton Press said June 9 that Westhampton Beach’s settlement with the East End Eruv Assn. “ends” the lawsuits but lawyers said it can be invalidated because of flaws.
SH Press made the settlement its top story, saying “eruv litigation over” in a subhead. SH Press has editorialized in favor of WHB accepting the eruv Jewish boundary, saying it is “invisible” and should be of no concern to residents.
Jewish People for the Betterment of WHB countered that, despite court decisions coming to the same conclusion, eruvim in WHB and elsewhere are highly visible on Synagogue websites. EEEA supposedly has permission to put religious symbols permanently on 46 utility poles on WHB property.
The May 30 New York Times showed the map of the WHB eruv in color. The image was not only in about one million printed copies of NYT but is permanently archived on the NYT website. It has appeared on odwyerpr.com several times.
O’Dwyer Co. lawyers say the WHB agreement has the false statement that it is “not a recognition or endorsement of any religious boundary” when that is what the agreement claims.
Another flaw, they say, is that no WHB elected official signed it. The only person signing it is Brian Sokoloff, who is outside legal counsel to WHB. Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst signed for SH’s agreement with EEEA.
Mayor Maria Moore has been emailed a question of why she did not sign in but she has not responded.
No Claims About Being Constitutional
Critics also note that the WHB deal, unlike SH’s, makes no claim that “the erection of the eruv is not an unconstitutional establishment of religion under the First Amendment.
That is because an eruv is a violation of the First Amendment, say critics.
The First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.”
The website “Teaching Tolerance,” quoting the Amendment, says religious symbols can be used as “instructional aids, not as permanent display or decoration.”
George Washington: No Clergy in Government
The just-published 288-page book, The Curious Case of Kiryas Joel, The Rise of a Village Theocracy and the Battle to Defend the Separation of Church and State, has this quote by George Washington at the start of a chapter:
“The United States of America should have a foundation free from the influence of the clergy.”
Another chapter is headed by this quote by Justice Tom C. Clark in Everson v. Board of Education:
“The First Amendment’s purpose was to create a complete and permanent separation of the spheres of religious activity and civil authority by comprehensively forbidding every form of public aid or support for religion.”
Public Comment Evaded
Critics also say that the Moore administration has evaded public comment and discussion on the eruv issue, never calling a “town hall” or press conference.
Attempts by this reporter to speak at the monthly meetings of the WHB board have been shut down by WHB lawyers at the five-minute mark. The board has refused to put us on the agenda although the O’Dwyer website has done extensive research on eruvim, currently showing more than 1,500 such entries since 2008.
This writer posted the letter below on the SH Press and 27east.com story dated June 9.
This is reporter Jack O’Dwyer who finds some flaws in Erin McKinley’s article.
For one, I am not a “local blogger” but the owner and editor of the 48-year-old O’Dwyer Co. whose website is picked up throughout the U.S. and in as many as 170 foreign countries in a month. Unique visitors average 50,000 to 60,000 monthly.
Our monthly magazine published 692 pages last year and our May 2016 issue had 96 pages. We publish the only printed directory in all of public relations, the 328-page O’Dwyer’s Directory of PR Firms. Both the New York Times and Washington Post have referred to the company as the “bible of PR.”
So treating us dismissively is not accurate. We have covered the eruv dispute in detail since 2008 partly because we have owned a home in WHB since 1987 and are a registered voter. Our website, searchable to 2001, lists more than 1,600 stories and documents under “eruv.”
We have hundreds of pages of legal and other documents on eruvim but no SH Press editor will go over these with us. Normally, reporters are all eyes and ears on anything to do with a story they are covering.
Erin’s story says Mayor Maria Moore would sign the agreement but it was only signed by outside attorney Brian Sokoloff.
The WHB agreement carries the false statement that it is “not a recognition or endorsement of any religious boundary” when that is exactly what it does.
The WHB agreement, unlike the SH agreement, does not say that the eruv “is not an unconstitutional establishment of religion under the First Amendment because that would be false. McCreary County vs. ACLU of Kentucky in 2005 barred permanent religious symbols on public property, in an opinion written by Justice David Souter.
It is a brazen trampling on the U.S. Constitution and its commitment to separation of church and state. I do not believe it is a valid agreement.
As for the oft-cited threat of “millions” of fines and fees that “might” be dumped on WHB, I say “Baloney” with a capital B. Nothing from the other side is to be believed.
Sincerely,
Jack O’Dwyer
Maggie Moran, who is well-connected in New Jersey and New York Democratic politics, has established Moxie Strategies in Asbury Park, NJ.
Husch Blackwell Strategies has added FleishmanHillard alum Michael Slatin as a principal in its public affairs group.
Rory Cooper, a veteran Republican operative and policy specialist, has joined Teneo’s Washington office as senior managing director in its strategy & communications practice.
Brian Fallon, who served as national press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run, is signing on next month as Vice President’s Kamala Harris’ campaign communications director.
TikTok is nothing more than a Chinese propaganda tool that poses “a grave threat to America’s national security and, in particular, impressionable children and young adults,” say two Congressmen who want the platform registered as a foreign agent.
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