Everybody Loves Simcha
As the swing vote deciding control of the state Senate, Brooklyn’s Simcha Felder is now feeling the love from all sides — and very tangible love it can be.
On the Democratic side, leaders have muscled Sen. Marisol Alcantara into making nice on the yeshiva issue, where critics have long charged that many of the schools fail to teach basic English, math and science skills as state law requires.
Back in April, when Sen. Felder was complicating the final state budget talks by demanding changes to make it easier for yeshivas to show they meet the requirements, Alcantara rallied with the critics, thundering, “This is the one single issue that kept us hostage until 2 o’clock in the morning on Good Friday. One single person holding the entire budget of the state of New York hostage.”
But now she’s changed her tune — even touring the Chasan Sofer yeshiva in Felder’s Borough Park district, then gushing about how the school’s doing a “fantastic” job educating its students.
Hey, she has her own pet issues she needs help with, such as cracking down on Airbnb to please the hotel unions that are a core part of her own political base.
Just to be clear, Felder and Alcantara are hardly the yeshiva’s only friends in high places: The de Blasio Department of Education is now in its third year of “investigating” whether city yeshivas meet their obligations.
Meanwhile, the public last week got a taste of how Senate Republicans show their appreciation to Felder with the release of details on this year’s discretionary educational grants.
Of the $16 million in outlays, a full $1.2 million went to Felder’s causes, far more than any other senator scored. Some Democrats got as little as $5,000; only four Republicans landed more than $500,000 for their districts.
Agudath Israel, the nonprofit that sponsored Alcantara’s yeshiva tour, scored a total of $850,000.
Felder will likely lose his unique status after Election Day this November, if either Democrats or Republicans pick up a Senate seat. But you can’t say he hasn’t taken his opportunities while he had ’em.