Political Insider: McCain And Obama Get Their Bites From The Apple
Posted By Adam Dickter
Political Insider: McCain And Obama Get Their Bites From The Apple
Jewish outreach operations for both Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama will be busy in New York on Monday, with events planned in Manhattan. But McCain's people got off to a rocky start when they planned their meeting (not a fundraiser, as reported elsewhere) at the Harmonie Club, which has been accused of restricting diversity in its membership. Obama canceled an event there last year because of this, and Mike Bloomberg resigned from the club prior to announcing his mayoral run. An appointee to the MTA recently also resigned from the club under pressure from members of the legislature.
When reporters started calling McCain's camp, the event was promptly switched to the St. Regis Hotel.
Houston businessman Fred Zeidman says he and his Jewish outreach co-chair Rep. Eric Cantor (the only Jewish Republican in the House of Representatives) had "no idea" the club was controversial.
"This was planned by New Yorkers," he said in an interview Friday. "I would think if there was any sensitivity, they might have been sensitive to it. I've eaten at the Harmonie Club, but I had no idea [it was controversial]. I assure you none of us had any inkling about this."
Zeidman said the event was planned by George Klein, a founder of the Republican Jewish Coalition. Klein did not return a message for comment but his secretary pointed out that he wasn't the host of the event.
Odds are Obama's camp won't raise this as an issue since they did the exact same thing last year.
Earlier in the week ABC News' Jake Tapper reported that McCain ousted Dearborn, Mich. Arab-American businessman Ali Jawad from his finance committee after conservative blogger Debbie Schlussel laid out a case that he has ties to Hezbollah.
The Obama fundraiser will be hosted by Florida Rep. Bob Wexler, who knows his way around these parts as a Queens native. Wexler gained some national prominence last year when his office was the setting of last year's limited-run reality series "The Hill" on the Sundance Channel. The featured speaker is trailblazer Liz Holtzman, former congresswoman, Brooklyn district attorney and city comptroller.