‘Mending Ties’

“Mending Ties Between Blacks, Jews” [Jamal Watson, New York, July 27, 2005] misstates the Anti-Defamation League’s fundamental concern about the Millions More Movement. We are not opposed to, nor have we spoken out against the concept of the march. Indeed, we believe that the coming together of African-American men and women is an important and laudable goal.

Our concern is with the way the march is giving legitimacy and credibility to Minister Louis Farrakhan.

It is deeply troubling to us that despite Minister Farrakhan’s record of racism and anti-Semitism, very few in the African-American community have been willing to stand up and condemn his leadership. Instead, he is given added legitimacy that he does not deserve.

Minister Farrakhan’s leadership of this march taints the proceedings. This is not least evident in his decision to invite the virulently anti-Semitic leader of the New Black Panther Party, Malik Zulu Shabazz, to serve as “co-convenor” of the proceedings. Until Minister Farrakhan and his anti-Semitic cohorts are removed from their positions of leadership, we will continue to urge responsible black leaders to reconsider their support for the march.

ABRAHAM H. FOXMAN
National director Anti-Defamation League
Manhattan

‘It’s Elementary’

Re: “In Terror War, It’s Elementary” Daniel Johnson, Page 1, July 28, 2005. As a member of the Baker Street Irregulars I must say that Daniel Johnson made a marvelous parallel between the London of Sherlock Holmes and that of today in the light of the recent bombings there. He used all the best quotes from Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories. The Sherlock Holmes tales are as enjoyable today as they were 118 years ago.

I would add one more Holmes quote to complete Mr. Johnson’s picture. In describing Professor Moriarty, the Victorian arch-villain, the great detective says to Watson: “He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order. He sits motionless, like a spider in the center of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations and he knows well every quiver of each of them. He does little himself. He only plans.” Now just whom does that sound like today? Hmm …

ALEXIAN GREGORY
Verona, N.J.

‘Ballot Access’

Re: “The Dirty Politics of Ballot Access,” John P. Avlon, Opinion, July 29, 2005. Mr.Avlon is correct as far as he goes, but there are other ways in which the current system benefits Democrats at the expense of Republicans and increases their already top-heavy majority.

Take, for instance, the rule that in some races the party is allowed to choose between a flat number and a percentage, whichever is lower, for their signature requirement – say, 900 signatures or 5% of the registered voters of that party in that district. In districts that are more heavily Democrat, the 900 figure is chosen, requiring the candidate to get only 1 to 2% of registered party voters, while the Republicans must struggle to get 5%, which is the lower figure for them.

The fact that there might be as many as nine Democrats running does not soften this inequity but is itself a result of the self-perpetuating de facto one-party system we live in, where there is vast Democrat primary competition for what is sure to be a win in November. In districts where there is an incumbent, the disparity is even greater, since there is usually no primary competition.

Another case in point: The fact that Democrats, because of their huge numbers, can stand on the sidewalk to collect signatures, while Republicans must hit the phones and make appointments, is another huge inequity. Recently a County Committee member and I stood outside the 102nd Street Starbucks for 2 1/2 hours and got a total of two valid GOP signatures for our trouble. People’s changing phone habits, from land lines to cell phones, which are not yet listed, makes the task even harder than it used to be for Republicans, not to mention that they often have dispensed with their own land line, making it expensive to do hundreds of phone calls.

These inequities and others – coupled with the popular “wisdom” that anyone with any sense registers Democrat because the real election is in September – serve to create and maintain a de facto one-party system similar to those we are trying to replace halfway around the world.

The New York State election law in general -the most restrictive in the nation, I’ve been told – creates the signature-challenge industry, with all its corruption, fraud, and obstruction of ballot access, as Mr. Avlon points out. The Republican Party itself – in a recent mailing to 100,000 Manhattan voters, attempting to acquaint them with the signature process and persuade them to cooperate – called the signature-gathering system “arcane.” It is.

TONI RACHIELE
Republican District Leader
69th AD West
Manhattan

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