AgriProcessors leader Sholom M. Rubashkin has quite an interesting family.
His brother-in-law, Rabbi Milton Balkany, has been in the news for misappropriating almost one million dollars of Federal money meant for disabled students and for his habit of "bundling" campaign donations that has earned him the nickname "The Brooklyn Bundler."
Now it appears that the Rubashkin-Balkany clan has thrown their weight behind Florida politician Katherine Harris, who is of course famously close to Florida’s governor Jeb Bush and the governor’s brother, President George W. Bush.
What’s curious is the timing of the donations.
It seems they were made just at the time the USDA was supposed to announce the findings of its investigation into AgriProcessors.
That investigation is now more than one month overdue, and the USDA has repeatedly refused requests to comment on its status.
Coincidence?
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/01/27/State/Harris_gifts_tied_to_.shtml
Harris gifts tied to controversial fundraiser
She got 10 $2,000 checks from donors connected to a man known as "the Brooklyn Bundler."
By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
Published January 27, 2005
U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, Florida’s most famous member of
Congress and a potential candidate for Senate, received early Christmas
presents late last year from some controversial benefactors.While raising money in New York on Dec. 12, she received 10 $2,000
checks from people related to or connected to a New York rabbi and
campaign fundraiser dubbed "the Brooklyn Bundler" who was indicted on
charges of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal money
intended for disabled children.The donors came mostly from Brooklyn, N.Y., but also from
executives of an Iowa slaughterhouse that was at the time facing
allegations of inhumane treatment of animals.PoliticalMoneyLine, a nonpartisan campaign finance information
service, on Wednesday noted the bundled contributions to Harris and how
they follow the fundraising practice used for years by Rabbi Milton
Balkany. His ability to deliver campaign checks to politicians years
ago earned him the nickname the Brooklyn Bundler.Balkany also has emerged as a controversial political player. Last
year federal prosecutors opted to defer prosecution of Balkany for
allegedly misappropriating $700,000 in federal grant money, after he
agreed to pay back the money and accepted travel restrictions. The
politically connected rabbi and private school leader also was
implicated, but not charged, in a case involving bribery of federal
prison officials to improve the living conditions of certain prisoners,
according to the New York Daily News.A spokesman for Harris, Garrison Courtney, said the Sarasota
Republican was unfamiliar with any controversies involving the Dec. 12
donors and that she would consider "the proper course of action once
she determines all the necessary facts."He said Harris had no prior relationship with Balkany and was unsure whether she had met with him in New York.
Balkany did not contribute to Harris’ campaign, but his son
Menachim and other relatives provided checks on Dec. 12. They include
executives related by marriage to Balkany who lead the country’s
biggest kosher slaughterhouse, Agriprocessors in Iowa.That company had been under criticism since an animal rights group,
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, last month released a
secretly recorded videotape that showed a steer staggering with its
throat slit and its trachea and esophagus dangling out. Soon after that
tape’s release, the U.S. Department of Agriculture told its inspectors
they could shut down a slaughterhouse if they witness a scene like that.Most of the Brooklyn and Iowa donors to Harris did not return phone
calls, though Boruch Greenberg of Brooklyn said he viewed Harris as a
strong supporter of Israel and an emerging Republican leader. He
declined to say who encouraged him to contribute $4,000."She has further political ambitions I believe, so I think it will
pay off," Greenberg said of Harris, who sits on the House Committee on
International Relations.The former secretary of state during Florida’s 2000 presidential
recount is a top Republican fundraiser who spent $3.4-million winning
re-election to her Republican-dominated congressional district.She is widely seen as a likely challenger to Democratic U.S. Sen.
Bill Nelson in 2006 and is wasting little time building her campaign
accounts. A fundraising letter sent last week invited people to
contribute and receive a card designating them members of her "2005
campaign team.""Your strong continued support will help me get ready for my next
political challenges," the letter says, without indicating her plans.
"Not much is guaranteed in politics but you can bet that I will
continue to be a target of the liberals!"Times researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report. Adam C. Smith can be reached at 727893-8241 or adam@sptimes.com
FailedMessiah.com 
Balkany shaking down Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
1)
Dole Emerging at Center Of Dispute Over Yeshiva
Forward; 1/19/1996; Lucette Lagnado
NEW YORK — The front-runner for the Republican nomination for president, Senator Dole of Kansas, has become entangled in a bitter dispute involving millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars in foreign aid that he helped channel to an obscure yeshiva in Jerusalem.
The dispute is the subject of a suit in a Jewish rabbinical court in which one of the big fund-raisers for Mr. Dole’s presidential campaign is seeking to get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars he claims his consultants are owed for helping secure taxpayer aid for the yeshiva, known as Ohr Torah. The suit, moreover, is against one of the most controversial rabbis on the Israeli West Bank, Shlomo Riskin, and the consultants include none other than a former Republican senator from Idaho, Steve Symms, and his partner, Al Lehn, who is himself a former aide to Mr. Dole.
Approached by Kansan
This tangle of religion and politics raises a number of important questions, including whether the grant to the yeshiva met standards normally applied by the Agency for International Development. AID has been exceptionally tight-lipped about the controversy but an official finally disclosed that her agency had been approached by Mr. Dole about the grant and was aware of his interest. Mr. Dole’s office confirmed that the head of AID, Bryan Atwood, was summoned to meet the senator in his office in Washington. Also at the meeting, which the office said took place sometime in 1993 or early 1994, were Tom Dine, the former head of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, who now oversees aid programs to the former Soviet Union; Mr. Dole’s chief foreign policy adviser, his former staffer-turned-lobbyist, Mr. Lehn; and Rabbi Milton Balkany, who has been raising campaign contributions for Mr. Dole and is known as for his ability to marshal large bundles of small donations for GOP candidates.
Rabbi Balkany is suing Rabbi Riskin in a beit din, or rabbinical court, in Jerusalem, asserting that Rabbi Riskin, who is from Efrat, and his yeshiva owe his consultants hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees for helping secure the $2.8 million grant to fund a computer training program in Russia. Rabbi Riskin, while conceding that he sought out Rabbi Balkany’s help in obtaining the grant — and even journeyed to Borough Park to meet with him — denies owing money either to Rabbi Balkany or to any “consultants.” Rabbi Riskin maintains that his yeshiva obtained the federal money on the merits, and denies knowledge of any “consultants” who may have been working behind the scenes. Rabbi Riskin, who says he will fight rather than pay, confirms that he twice failed to appear before the court.
Riskin Fires Back
“I was asked for assistance [by Rabbi Riskin],” Rabbi Balkany told the Forward, recalling how the rabbi, who journeyed from Efrat to meet with him about the AID grant, turned to him and said, “`How can we get work?’ “Rabbi Balkany says he agreed to help Rabbi Riskin, and immediately recruited the firm of Mr. Symms, the one-time senator. Mr. Symm’s Alexandria-based firm, which registered as lobbyists for the yeshiva, has not been fully paid for its services, says Rabbi Balkany, and it is on its behalf that he is hauling Rabbi Riskin to court. “My problem is there is a consultant who wasn’t paid and he has to get paid,” Rabbi Balkany says.
“We don’t owe Rabbi Balkany any money,” Rabbi Riskin fired back in a statement issued from his home in Efrat. “I am not aware of any outside consultant that worked on our behalf at his behest. I never asked anyone to intervene with Senator Dole on our behalf and was never told that he did.” But, as even Senator Dole’s aides confirm, their boss did indeed intervene — attempting to persuade AID brass to give Rabbi Riskin’s yeshiva the grant money it was seeking, despite some apparent reluctance on the part of agency bureaucrats. “Senator Dole did facilitate a meeting with senior AID officials, Bryan Atwood and Tom Dine, here in our office,” said his spokeswoman, Joyce Campbell. “Basically, it was an exchange of information regarding the grant issue.”
High-Priced Consultants
The senator, however, sent a letter to AID even before the meeting at his office took place, the Forward has learned. One source close to Mr. Dole said the letter inquired about Ohr Torah’s application and said it might be a worthy recipient of federal dollars. “It was a mild letter suggesting they take a look at funding this project,” this source said, adding that the letter had alluded to the fact that AID was routinely wasting money on high-priced consultants. Afterward, there was “staff follow up” to make sure the matter was taken care of, Ms. Campbell confirmed.
Ohr Torah and its English-language entity, Helping Hands, was at last awarded $2.8 million, $2 million for 1994 and an additional $800,000 for 1995. The funding was not for religious purposes per se but to set up computer training programs for Russians, including Russian Jews who might eventually emigrate to Israel.
Despite this flurry of activity on behalf of a relatively obscure institution, Mr. Dole’s office insists that the senator, who at the onset of this process was still minority leader, did not place inordinate pressure on the agency. “AID has never indicated to us any undue pressure was placed upon them regarding the issuing of the grant,” Ms. Campbell said.
“The idea there was undue pressure is ludicrous,” another Dole source said. A Senate staffer familiar with the controversy recalled that some within the bureaucracy might have raised some objections. “Did we know there were people in the bureaucracy that didn’t think it was a great idea? Sure,” this staffer said, but noted with contempt that the bureaucracy tends to be suspicious of any unsolicited grant — “bureaucrats think that they know what’s best.” This source also stressed that “nobody denied there was a need” for this grant. “Dine affirmed there was a need [but] that the dollar amount was too high.”
Mr. Dine did not return repeated telephone calls. Late Wednesday morning, as the Forward was going to press, an AID official familiar with the history of the Ohr Torah/Helping Hands grant agreed to be interviewed. This official described how for a number of years, her agency had fielded intensive lobbying efforts by Rabbi Balkany. Originally, this official explained, the grant request was for $28 million, and was for a consortium of Jewish groups who wished to do work in the former Soviet Union. The agency balked, she said, despite the pressure. “WE knew all along that Balkany was Dole’s buddy,” this official said, noting, however, that “$28 million was simply laughable.”
AID officials finally resolved the matter by agreeing to consider an application for a far smaller aspect of the original request. What of Mr. Dole’s interest, this official was asked. “I also remember talking to Tom Dine about this subject, and I remember him saying he had heard signals that Dole’s office was interested,” she stated.
She noted that while the agency was certainly “conscious” of Rabbi Balkany’s close relationship with Senator Dole, she suggested agency officials are used to fielding pressure from Capitol Hill. This official did note, however, that when the $2.8 million grant finally went through to Ohr Torah, rather than the consortium, Senator Dole’s office seemed pleased even though Rabbi Balkany was distressed by the reduced sum of money.
Rabbi Riskin insists that he was unaware of any behind-the-scenes power politics to get his yeshiva the money and that he obtained the grant strictly on merit. AID has since given his school excellent ratings, Rabbi Riskin said. “Ohr Torah is proud of its programs,” his statement says. “Every cent that we have raised from any source went directly to our program. Anyone is free to visit the program in Russia or examine our books.”
Outstanding Debt
Rabbi Balkany, however, does not mince words about the help Mr. Dole provided; he says he is proud of his ties to the senator and of the role Mr. Dole played in obtaining money for a Jewish organization at a time, he said, when no Jewish groups were operating in the former Soviet Union. “He was trying to be of help to the Jewish community,” Rabbi Balkany says of the GOP front-runner, “to his great credit, because the Catholics and Protestants were getting money, and the Jews were the only group left out. The only group doing work in the [former] Soviet Union constantly turned down were the Jewish groups.” Rabbi Balkany, who is the principal of Bais Yaacov, a well-regarded girl’s yeshiva, says that “every time there was a Jewish issue, he [Mr. Dole] is ready to be of help to the Jewish community.”
A source close to Rabbi Riskin said that he was shocked to learn that Rabbi Balkany was requesting payment; this source said the amount was “more” than $100,000 though less than $400,000; other sources indicate the amount is close to $200,000. Rabbi Balkany will not disclose the amount, though he stresses that not “a penny” is for him personally; it is for the consultant. Neither Mr. Symms or Mr. Lehn could be reached for comment.
The Borough Park power broker feels that while Mr. Dole may have been doing the community a favor, Rabbi Riskin still has an outstanding debt he has to settle and insists that the Efrat rabbi is being disingenuous if he says that, after requesting and obtaining help, he didn’t know he would have to pay for the services of a registered lobbyist. “I don’t come in with closed eyes,” Rabbi Balkany said acidly.
Balkany threatens with ex-communication
2)
Republican Rabbi Tries New Political Tactic: Jeffrey Goldberg Reports on. Plan to Haul Moynihan Aide Before a Beit Din
Forward; 1/14/1994
NEW YORK — Milton Balkany, an Orthodox rabbi and a prominent Republican fund-raiser, may have discovered a most unorthodox way to lobby recalcitrant senators — sue their top aides in rabbinical court.
Rabbi Balkany, who is widely believed to use his influence in Republican circles to seek aid for Orthodox institutions here and in Israel, said he has been upset in recent days with the activities of David Luchins, Sen. Moynihan’s senior assistant and point man on Jewish affairs. Last month, the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada issued a hazmana, or summons, to Mr. Luchins, ordering him to appear before the group’s rabbinic court, or beit din, to face unspecified charges by Rabbi Balkany. The rabbi says that Mr. Luchins, who is Orthodox, is committing a “grave injustice” to the Orthodox community, but he refused to disclose why he believes this to be so. For his part, Mr. Luchins says Rabbi Balkany blames him — incorrectly — for blocking the rabbi’s requests for Mr. Moynihan’s help in securing aid for his projects.
Jew vs. Jew
The case of Balkany v. Luchins may be a first — there is apparently little precedent in the annals of rabbinic jurisprudence for one Jew to sue another over his political activities on behalf of an elected official. Rabbi Balkany says that the issue isn’t so much about specific legislation as it is about Mr. Luchins’ general attitude toward Orthodox causes. As Mr. Moynihan’s gatekeeper on a wide range of issues affecting the Jewish community, Mr. Luchins has long been an influential player in Orthodox affairs. He serves as a vice president of the Orthodox Union and has a broad range of contacts in Jewish groups, Orthodox and otherwise. But he is also a liberal — or a “leftist,” as he prefers — in an Orthodox community that is ever-more conservative, and his tart tongue has often landed him in the center of controversy, including the one surrounding Jonathan Pollard, the former intelligence analyst convicted of spying for Israel. Unlike many Orthodox leaders, Mr. Luchins has taken a hard-line on Pollard’s activities on behalf of Israel.
`He Does Great Harm’
“We have grave concern with a lot of things [Mr. Luchins] is doing in the Jewish community under the auspices of being a senior staff member of Sen. Moynihan’s,” Rabbi Balkany told the Forward this week. He did not say to whom the “we” referred. “Whenever an issue comes to his attention, he gets involved and does great harm.”
New Breed
Rabbi Balkany says he hopes the beit din will order Mr. Luchins, in essence, to behave himself in a way more acceptable to Rabbi Balkany and other rabbis. Like Mr. Luchins, Rabbi Balkany is a powerhouse in the Orthodox community, and a controversial one, too. He is part of a new breed of independent Orthodox activists who raise large amounts of funds for friendly legislators and then lobby those legislators, in his case, Republicans, for grants to schools and other programs. It was Rabbi Balkany who was behind an ill-fated attempt last year to extract $25 million from the Defense Department budget for Jewish programs in the former Soviet Union. Mr. Luchins said he was not involved in scuttling that request.
Rabbi Balkany adamantly refused to discuss his exact grievances, except to mention comments by Mr. Luchins that were critical of Pollard. But the rabbi did say that his complaint against Mr. Luchins was not motivated by bitterness over specific deals with which Mr. Luchins may have been involved.
“He’s hurting individuals and hurting communities,” Rabbi Balkany said. “He thinks he has a direct link to Sinai. I haven’t accepted his word as God’s word yet.”
Mr. Luchins, his tart tongue in evidence, noted that “Jewish tradition says that every Jewish soul was at Sinai, and I assume Rabbi Balkany’s was there also. We may not have met because he might have been in the back, collecting money.”
`Need for Scapegoat’
Mr. Luchins said that Rabbi Balkany, who has raised money in the Orthodox community for several senators, including Alphonse D’Amato of New York and the Senate minority leader, Bob Dole of Kansas, may simply feel stymied by the change in administration.
“I think he’s frustrated because he had access to the previous White House and he doesn’t have that with this one, so he’s taking it out on us,” Mr. Luchins said. “I’m not aware of any decision I’ve made in the senator’s office or any advice I have given that has impinged on Rabbi Balkany’s political or financial situation. He apparently feels a need to find a scapegoat for his own loss of influence in the new administration.”
`Intimidation Attempt’
Orthodox leaders contacted for comment were wary of speaking for the record; the beit din’s administrator, Hersh Ginsberg, declined to comment, saying only that “this doesn’t belong in the newspaper.”
“Maybe eventually you’ll have to put it in if a person gets a seruv if he doesn’t go to the [beit din],” Rabbi Ginsberg said. A seruv is an order issued by a rabbinic court designed to isolate a person from the Jewish community. Under such an order, a person would not be counted as part of a prayer minyan, for instance.
Mr. Luchins has not yet responded to the summons, saying he must consult with his own rabbi, Aaron Soloveichik, the widely respected scholar, as well as the Senate Ethics Committee. Mr. Luchins said he offered to meet Rabbi Balkany in the presence of Rabbi Soloveichik. A spokesman for the senator, who is highly popular in the Orthodox community, could not be reached for comment.
Mr. Luchins said Mr. Moynihan’s office would see Rabbi Balkany’s summons as an “intimidation” attempt.
“This seems to be an effort to get me to use my position with the senator to further Rabbi Balkany’s own political, financial and communal agenda,” he said. Referring to the Orthodox senator from Connecticut, Mr. Luchins said, “What next? If Senator Lieberman doesn’t cooperate with Rabbi Balkany, does he try to excommunicate him? Where do you draw the line?”
3)
Moynihan Tells Aide to Boycott Rabbinic Court: Luchins, Haled to Bet Din,. Could Be Excommunicated
Forward; 1/28/1994; Matthew Dorf
NEW YORK — In a dramatic development in a bizarre tale of ecclesiastical justice and hardball politics, an Orthodox Jewish aide to Senator Moynihan may soon face excommunication for refusing — on his office’s instruction — to answer a summons issued by a rabbinical court on behalf of a powerful Republican rabbi.
The rabbi is Milton Balkany, a controversial Orthodox political fund-raiser from Brooklyn. He is accusing the senate aide, David Luchins, of causing great financial harm to a group of Israeli yeshivas, but the rabbi has so far refused to specify publicly how Mr. Luchins has damaged these institutions. Mr. Luchins said that both his superiors in Mr. Moynihan’s office, as well as his own rabbi, Aaron Soloveichik, have told him to boycott the rabbinical court of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, which has served him with three notices ordering him to hear Rabbi Balkany’s charges.
Unique Case
The case, first reported in the Forward two weeks ago, may be unique in the annals of rabbinic law — Mr. Luchins is apparently under threat of excommunication from Judaism for work done on behalf of a non-Jewish elected official. Rabbi Balkany says he is simply trying to show Mr. Luchins the error of his as yet publicly unspecified ways; for his part, Mr. Luchins accuses Rabbi Balkany of political arm twisting, saying he is trying to gain financial aid for Orthodox institutions by intimidating American-government employees. Rabbi Balkany denies the accusation. So far, the rabbinic court has only disclosed that the dispute revolves around accusations that Mr. Luchins has “caused yeshivas in the land of Israel to lose money.” Rabbi Balkany, in an interview with the Forward, said he would not discuss particulars and would not name the yeshivas, but he said he will bring to court representatives of these institutions who will explain how Mr. Luchins hurt them. Mr. Luchins, in a letter to the administrator of the rabbinical court, Rabbi Hersh Ginsberg, said he is willing to meet with Rabbi Balkany, but not in court.
Facing Excommunication
“Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik has informed me that this issue is not an appropriate question for adjudication in a rabbinic court,” states the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Forward. “As a United States Senate employee, I have taken an oath to protect the Constitution and laws of the United States. Both my rabbinic mentor and superior in Senator Moynihan’s office believe that I would be acting incorrectly if I answered your summons as issued.” Mr. Luchins said he was aware that he could face excommunication by the court for flaunting its order to appear.
According to published reports and campaign finance records, Rabbi Balkany has raised large sums for prominent Republicans, including Senator D’Amato of New York, Senator Dole of Kansas and Mayor Giuliani. It is widely known in political circles that he uses his influence with elected officials to try to advance the causes of selected Orthodox institutions. One of his most recent projects, in fact, may be related to the current imbroglio.
Last summer, Rabbi Balkany was involved in an ultimately aborted project to sign dozens of senators onto a letter that would have urged Prime Minister Rabin to provide $25 million in funding for a group of 11 religious institutions in Israel. The letter, which was criticized in some quarters as a misguided attempt to meddle in Israeli politics, was reportedly never sent. Sources say that Rabbi Balkany and others blame Mr. Luchins for helping to scuttle the letter, though Mr. Luchins denies involvement.
“If the question is whether there is a concern that there were some financial ramifications, the answer is yes,” Rabbi Balkany said in an interview. “But it is absolutely not true that it is just a money issue. He has done far more than that, and I will explain it to the bet din [rabbinical court].”
In another twist, both Rabbi Balkany and Mr. Luchins claim Rabbi Soloveichik, an esteemed sage, as an ally. While Mr. Luchins says Rabbi Soloveichik told him that Rabbi Balkany’s case is invalid, Rabbi Balkany said Rabbi Soloveichik was sympathetic to his cause.
`I am Not on His Side’
“Rabbi Soloveichik said he was very concerned about it and said that he would speak to [Luchins] about it,” Rabbi Balkany said.
In a brief telephone interview Tuesday, Rabbi Soloveichik adamantly refused to discuss the case.
“I am not on his side,” he said, referring to Rabbi Balkany. “I am not on the side of anybody. I don’t have to involve myself in litigation between two private individuals.”
4)
Moynihan’s Man in Limbo: Mystery Ad Putting Luchins on Notice
Forward; 2/25/1994; Jeffrey Goldberg
NEW YORK — David Luchins, the scrappy aide to Senator Moynihan being sued in rabbinical court by an Orthodox Republican fund-raiser, will soon face excommunication from Judaism, the court stated publicly last week.
Or did it?
In the latest twist in a case that is riveting the world of observant Jews, the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada denies that it was behind an advertisement in last week’s Algemeiner Journal, an Orthodox Brooklyn newspaper, that featured a letter written on Union stationery to Mr. Luchins. The letter threatened the Senate aide, who is observant, with excommunication if he failed to appear to face charges brought against him by Rabbi Milton Balkany, the principal of a Brooklyn Jewish school who moonlights as a fund-raiser for such Republican bigwigs as Mayor Giuliani and Senators Dole and D’Amato.
Apparent First
In an apparent rabbinical-court first, Mr. Luchins is being brought up on charges in connection with his work for an American senator, and his employer, Mr. Moynihan, has forbidden him to respond to the court’s summons. Rabbi Balkany declined to discuss the specific charges he is bringing against Mr. Luchins, though he said that he is suing him on behalf of several Orthodox Jewish institutions whose interests have been “hurt” by Mr. Luchins.
“We want him to act more responsibly in executing his duties,” Rabbi Balkany said. Mr. Luchins accuses the rabbi of using an ecclesiastical court to strong-arm Mr. Moynihan into providing government aid to select Jewish institutions.
The advertisement contained a letter to Mr. Luchins written in Hebrew alongside what was labeled a “free translation” of the letter into English. “Free” it certainly was, and harsh — significantly more harsh than the Hebrew letter, especially when it described the fate awaiting Mr. Luchins if he dare thumb his nose at the court.
`Last Warning’
“Our Bais Din [rabbinical court] is prepared to issue a writ of Excommunication against you,” the English letter states. “Before we take such precipitous action to preclude your praying in a synagogue, being included in a Minyan and other consequences established in Jewish Religious Law, we present you with a last warning to appear before this Bais Din without further delay.”
The only problem is, the bet din in question said it never placed the ad.
“I have no idea who put it in the newspaper,” said Rabbi Hersh Ginsberg, the head of the court. “We do not put anything into the newspapers….Mr. Luchins said he didn’t put it in and Balkany said he didn’t put it in, so what am I supposed to do?”
Rabbi Ginsberg declined to say whether the documents reproduced in the ad are legitimate. Mr. Luchins said, however, that he was assured by Rabbi Ginsberg that the English translation was “unauthorized and spurious.” The editor of the Algemeiner Journal, Gershon Jacobson, declined to say who placed the advertisement.
Meeting Possible
Rabbi Balkany said he knows who placed it, but he’s not naming names. “It’s the rabbis who have grievances against David Luchins,” he said. He declined to name the rabbis, or the grievances.
Mr. Luchins, reached in New Orleans, where he was representing the Orthodox Union at the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council convention, said that the affair will “further diminish the prestige of rabbinical courts.” Mr. Luchins said he is ready to meet with Rabbi Balkany under the aegis of any three Yeshiva University rabbis to discuss the case, and Rabbi Balkany said this week that he, too, is willing to attend such a meeting.
“I am ready to go ahead,” he said.
As you can see in this recent court decision, Rabbi Balkany does not honor his debts or respect the decision of a beis din.
see:
http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/fcas/fcas_docs/2004aug/2300428162003100sciv.pdf
How Balkany works:
Getting a U.S. Grant–How the System Really Works
Los Angeles Times
August 14, 1989
by SARA FRITZ; Times Staff WriterMetro Desk
It is a classic case of how Washington works–of how insiders can use their connections to circumvent the bureaucratic procedures that can pose obstacles to those without special access.
At the same time, it demonstrates that political clout is a two-edged sword that can cut surely through bureaucratic red tape but can also turn on the wielder, with painful results.
The tale began in 1987 when Yeshiva Rav Isacshon, a well-regarded private Orthodox Jewish primary school in the Beverly-Fairfax area of Los Angeles, decided to seek federal aid to start a day-care center.
Instead of approaching the faceless Washington bureaucracy directly, the Los Angeles group’s first call was to a politically well-connected Brooklyn, N.Y., rabbi named Milton Balkany, who boasted that he met regularly at the White House with then-Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan. Balkany went to Regan on the yeshiva’s behalf, and Regan put him in touch with the undersecretary of health and human services.
In a matter of weeks, Oakwood Child Development Center Inc., the corporation that the yeshiva had created to seek federal aid, had won a $1.8-million Department of Health and Human Services grant to buy a building at 555 N. La Brea Ave. and start a day-care center.
Wants Money Returned
Unfortunately for the Los Angeles group, however, what looked at first to be a successful maneuver has turned into a tangled controversy and the government is now demanding its money back. The yeshiva, in turn, has called out even more political clout, including Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) and several of his congressional colleagues.
At Balkany’s urging, Wilson has sponsored a bill, opposed by the Department of Health and Human Services, that would permit the Los Angeles group to use the money in a manner that does not have the government’s approval.
Wilson, a candidate for governor, received $2,000 in
contributions–the maximum allowable under law–from Balkany and his wife, Sara, during his primary Senate reelection campaign last year. But he says the contributions did not influence his decision to offer the bill.
Yeshiva Rav Isacshon’s initial decision to seek federal funds for a day-care center grew out of its effort to expand its own operations, which are located across the street from the La Brea Avenue building. According to local officials, Yeshiva Rav Isacshon has recently been searching for ways to expand.
Rabbi’s Explanation
Rabbi Yakov Krause, education director at Yeshiva Rav Isacshon, said in an interview that the school created the Oakwood organization primarily to seek government funding for the day-care center. He said the group contacted Balkany because it needed advice on how to obtain federal funds.
Balkany, an old school friend of Krause, is a conservative Republican who during the last election contributed thousands of dollars to Vice President George Bush’s presidential campaign and to 14 GOP Senate candidates. By his own account, Balkany is so well known in Washington that he has been chosen to offer the invocation at an annual dinner honoring the President for the last several years, and he once even declined an invitation to become the rabbi chaplain of the Senate.
It was Balkany’s close relationship with Regan that prompted Oakwood to contact him, he said. “The reason that they called me to get involved was because I had, at that time, with the chief of staff in the White House, a meeting every two or three weeks,” he said.
When Balkany first talked with Regan in early 1987 about Oakwood’s desire for a federal grant, according to the rabbi, Regan summoned a White House car to drive him across town to meet personally with Donald Newman, then undersecretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Balkany recalled that department officials instructed Oakwood to hire Robert Brandwein, a Boston consultant, to put together the funding request, and Brandwein received $6,500 for preparing the application.
On Feb. 11, 1987, Oakwood formally applied for a $2.3-million community services block grant. Although the request far exceeded the $500,000 limit that the department had set for such grants, the department awarded Oakwood $1.8 million on an “urgent” basis two weeks later without having an independent review of it or comparing it with other grant applications.
On the day that the Department of Health and Human Services handed over Oakwood’s grant check, Balkany recalls, top-level department officials–some of them wearing yarmulkes in his honor–hosted a champagne reception in Newman’s office. The rabbi was asked to say a prayer.
The community services block grant program makes about $300 million available each year for projects designed to create jobs for low-income people. While the money normally goes to state and local governments, Health and Human Services officials are permitted to grant some money directly to local groups such as Oakwood. Knowledgeable sources said a portion of these discretionary funds usually go to reward political supporters of the Administration.
To receive the grant, Oakwood had to sign a pledge stating: “No portion of any property or facility acquired or renovated in whole or in part with funds awarded or otherwise acquired pursuant to this application will be used for religious worship, sectarian instruction or any other religious purpose.”
Conflict With Pledge
Shortly after acquiring the building, however, Oakwood officials sought permission to use private funds to build additional floors on the structure, to be used as classroom space by the yeshiva. The government first accepted but ultimately rejected the plan as a violation of Oakwood’s pledge to conduct only non-sectarian activities in the building.
More than a year after receiving the grant, Oakwood applied for a one-year extension and was turned down–the first such recipient of a department grant ever denied an extension. Instead, department officials ordered Oakwood to sell the property at 555 N. La Brea Ave. and return all the money to the government.
Oakwood appealed that order, and a department appeals board is reviewing the appeal. Meanwhile, the La Brea Avenue building stands idle, except for one room that is being rented as office space.
As government attorneys see it, Oakwood officials were more intent upon using the building for Yeshiva Rav Isacshon students than creating day care for preschool children. “Oakwood didn’t do its project because it was so very busy trying to do another project,” declared Madeline Neese, a Department of Health and Human Services attorney.
Supporters of the Oakwood project contend that the department treated their project unfairly. They charge that the department contributed to the delay by failing to respond quickly to their requests for changes in the plan.
“The main reason why the project was not completed in the one-year period was because (the department) has never replied to any of our requests for clarification, etc., in a timely fashion,” Joseph Bobker, an Oakwood official, complained in a letter to the department in August, 1988.
Judging from testimony at the department’s appeals board hearing, much of Oakwood’s trouble with the bureaucracy appears to stem from the way its grant was obtained. Government sources said Oakwood would never have received such a large grant without the help of Balkany.
Department of Health and Human Services employees testified that Balkany even tried to ease the way for Oakwood at the department by promising to help one top official obtain a better job in the Administration. That same official testified that he received free tickets to a $1,500-a-plate political dinner for President Ronald Reagan, where Balkany offered the prayer.
New Officials Involved
But the rabbi’s political influence apparently began to wane as the officials who approved the grant were replaced by others less sympathetic to the Oakwood project. Balkany sought Wilson’s support for the project shortly after Oakwood received the grant in February, 1987.
Wilson, in an interview, said he decided to support the project many months before receiving campaign donations from Balkany and his wife in late 1987. He dismissed the $2,000 in contributions as
insignificant–nothing more than “a tiny fraction of 1%” of the total cost of his $14-million reelection campaign budget.
Wilson offered his legislation in the Senate last March 8, six months after Oakwood was ordered by the government to return the grant on grounds that it was not being spent in accordance with the original proposal the group had submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The bill would permit Oakwood–if it wins its legal battle with the department to keep its grant–to use the building as a community center for senior citizens as well as for child care. It also would allow both programs to be staffed by local university students, who would be housed at the Oakwood center. The bill is silent on whether the center could be used for sectarian purposes.
Department officials strongly oppose the bill. Spokesman David Siegel said it “would circumvent the department processes for making and administering grants” and “would afford preferential treatment to one grantee over other organizations and agencies which likewise seek support for their projects.”
Wilson has tried other ways to help Oakwood. In 1987, according to aides, he sought unsuccessfully to obtain additional money for Oakwood in an appropriations bill.
Capitol Hill Connections
Likewise, Balkany had previously called upon his political contacts on Capitol Hill to help Oakwood. A number of other recipients of Balkany’s campaign contributions, such as Sen. Gordon J. Humphrey (R-N.H.), have made appeals to the Department of Health and Human Services on behalf of Oakwood.
In addition, Rep. Vin Weber (R-Minn.), another recipient of campaign contributions from Balkany, tried last year to give Oakwood an additional $1.8 million for the child-care project without seeking the approval of the Department of Health and Human Services. Weber’s efforts to write the appropriation into law failed, apparently as a result of opposition from Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles).
Waxman, whose congressional district includes the Beverly-Fairfax area, said in an interview that he originally supported the Oakwood project but changed his mind on the basis of Oakwood’s dismal record of dealings with the department. He added that he also opposes the plan for Oakwood as outlined in Wilson’s legislation.
In a recent letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan, Waxman described Wilson’s support for Oakwood as “illogical and inappropriate” and added: “I do not believe any federal expenditures should be made on the basis of political or personal friendship.”
Nevertheless, if the department’s appeals board rules that Oakwood can keep the money, Wilson expects the Senate to approve his legislation quickly.