We Have to Talk About This New York State Senate Candidate's Antisemitism
The Republican is about to snatch defeat from the Jaws of Victory by peddling century old myths about "The Jews."
Earlier in the week, I reached out to a number of local Jewish organizations concerning comments made by State Senate Candidate Dorey Houle on her website. You can see those comments here:
In her “Dear Friends” letter, Mrs. Houle states, “In those final moments before midnight, victory was within our grasp. With all but one town reporting, I held a 2.5-point lead against my well-funded incumbent opponent. However, fate had other plans, and that last town’s results shifted the outcome, leaving me with a narrow loss, only a little over 1,000 votes away from triumph.”
Only a small part of that statement is true. The rest is an antisemitic dog whistle.
This Part Of Dorey Houle’s Statement Is True
In 2022, State Senator Skoufis raised $781, 691.18. $20,000 of which came from two members of the local hate group, Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein.
Another $50,000 from associates of Mr. Stern and Mr. Ekstein, identified here.
When asked about this $70,000 donation (all reported to happen on the same day, May 25th, 2022), State Senator James Skoufis probably threw a chair in his office and then wrote me a nasty letter.
His largest donor was Friends Of Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a pac that donated $11,800 on October 15th, 2022.
This could explain why Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins — after I wrote asking if Skoufis has the ability to investigate the Attorney General using the Senate’s Investigations and Government Operations Committee — did not write back.
Mr. Skoufis claims the committee cannot, and has not, ever investigated the Attorney General’s office. Famous Civil Rights Attorney, and area resident, Michael Sussman, claims the committee can investigate the AG’s office. I was hoping Mrs. Stewart-Cousins might be able to settle the matter.
She didn’t.
Of Mr. Skoufis’s top fifteen donors for his 2022 State Senate race against Dorey Houle, eight of them are connected to Mr. Stern, Mr. Ekstein, and Satmar Grand Rebbe, Aaron Teitelbaum.
In 2024, Mr. Skoufis has already raised $181,135.52. And as you might have guessed, there’s some funny business going on here too.
First is Certified Lumber LLC, who donated $5,000 on January 12th, 2024.
Certified Lumber operates out of Boro Park and is owned by Abraham Rosenberg. This donation is the second largest received by Mr. Skoufis, so far, this year.
The reason this donation stands out is that this is the only financial contribution ever made by this company, and the company was incorporated in New York State in 1974.
So, yeah. After 50 years you’re going to make one, random, donation of $5,000 to some dickhead state senator?
That’s definitely something a reporter would flag as interesting. Especially because this LLC is older than I am.
The address provided on the 2024 Certified Lumber LLC donation to Senator Skoufis is 148 Classon Ave Brooklyn NY, 11205-2637. 148 Classon Avenue is owned by BP SPE LLC.
BP SPE LLC is also owned by Abraham Rosenberg.
Mr. Rosenberg does business in Orange County under the name of Abe’s Custom Construction LLC.
He owns the properties of 131 and 137 Schunnemunk Road, as well as a bunch of additional land, also on Schunnemunk. And Mr. Rosenberg is also one of the original petitioners that filed to form the Town of Palm Tree, which led to all of this:
Funding From A Far-Right Newspaper
Another $20,000 was received by Senator Skoufis this year from SKHT LLC, Grant G. Lee, Sen Wang, and Jian Hu. Both the corporation and these men had recent business before the City of Middletown Planning Board in August of 2023. They may also be connected to the following crazy people …
Mr. Skoufis also received at least $10,000 from people verifiably connected to the far-right media outlet, The Epoch Times.
For those of you who don’t know, or might have received an issue in the mail and confused it for an actual newspaper, it’s not. The Epoch Times is a crazy town publication often associated with the Faulun Gong religious movement. This “newspaper” has helped spread pro-Trump misinformation, anti-Climate Change misinformation, and COVID-19 misinformation. The kind of misinformation that can, and has, cost people their lives.
Mrs. Dana Cheng — State Senator Skoufis’s third largest donor, so far, in 2024 —was a promoter of January 6th-related conspiracy theories.
Given how far of a lead Skoufis has financially on Mrs. Houle right now, he won’t miss this money if he does the right thing and gives it back.
Otherwise it can be said, factually, that State Senator James Skoufis takes large donations from hate groups and dangerous crazy people.
Guess How Much Dorey Raised?
In 2022, do you want to guess how much money Dorey Houle raised for her first State Senate Campaign?
It wasn’t $781, 691.18.
It was $61,164.93.
A difference of about $720,527.
Of her top ten donations in 2022, only one exceeded $3,000.
That was a donation of $11,800 by Friends of Mike Martucci in early July of 2022.
Martucci was a former state senator, serving a single term from January 1st, 2021 to December 31st, 2022. During his short time in office, Martucci led the New York State Republican charge to repeal school mask mandates in 2022. Multiple studies, including one published the same month Martucci pushed to repeal mask mandates in schools, found that school mask mandates helped save lives and slow the spread of COVID-19.
Mr. Martucci would then go on to purchase the local media outlet, Mid-Hudson News.
The second largest donation Mrs. Houle received in 2022 was $2,785.74 from Bernard F Curry III, the owner of Curry Automotive in Scarsdale.
The third largest donation was from her husband, Anthony, for $2,000.
So, yes. It is absolutely true to say Mr. Skoufis was “well-funded.”
For her 2024 campaign, so far, Mrs. Houle has only raised $7,658.64.
And only one 2024 donation has exceeded $250.
Of those $250 donations, one comes from Town of Monroe Ethics Board Member, Michael Egan.
This is concerning because Mr. Egan would be responsible for investigating any claims against Mrs. Houle if brought before the board, since she is also a Town Councilwoman in Monroe.
Egan has already been compromised ethically by giving donations to Mr. Cardone and United Monroe in past elections. United Monroe is the organization that got Mr. Cardone elected.
On the night of November 8th, 2022, the election was called for State Senator James Skoufis. He won with 49,728 votes to Mrs. Dorey Houle’s 48,296, a difference of 1,432 votes.
Two days later, Mrs. Houle would sue and request that the voting machines be confiscated, among other things, looking to imply publicly that the election was stolen from her by my people, the Jews. (She would withdraw her request on November 21st, after someone taught her basic math.)
This is where Dorey’s antisemitism starts to shine through.
How Do You Know She Was Blaming “The Jews”?
Let’s go back to the statement currently on her website:
“With all but one town reporting, I held a 2.5-point lead against my well-funded incumbent opponent. However, fate had other plans, and that last town’s results shifted the outcome, leaving me with a narrow loss, only a little over 1,000 votes away from triumph.” (emphasis added.)
Before the Town of Palm Tree was created, Kiryas Joel was a Village within the Town of Monroe. For a multitude of reasons, Kiryas Joel’s votes were always counted last by Orange County. I do not know if that is still true today, because the Orange County Board of Elections declined to answer this specific question.
However, Louise B Vandemark, the Democratic Commissioner of Elections for Orange County, did tell me, “I wish my memory was that good. I do not know what town Mrs. Houle is referring to” when asked about the statement on Mrs. Houle’s 2024 campaign website.
Given the history of how votes are counted in Orange County, there is a more than reasonable impression created here that Mrs. Houle is referring to the Town of Palm Tree. They were the last town. That last town has a majority population of haredi Jews. Ergo, Mrs. Houle specifically blaming “that last town”, I feel, is an antisemitic dog whistle.
She’s like a less PC Scooby Doo villain where, after getting caught by a bunch of doped up teenagers, she says, “I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for those meddling Jews.”
Of course, in 2024, you can’t just outright say that on your campaign website.
Can you?
I mean … Ok.
Maybe I’m wrong here. The Republican Party says and does some wild shit these days.
But given her role as a Town Board member in Monroe, and given Monroe even without Palm Tree has a sizable Satmar population, it’s understandable that Mrs. Houle wouldn’t come out and say as much directly.
So What Gives This Hypothesis Merit?
That brings us to now. May 2nd of 2024.
This morning, I received a message from a surrogate of Mrs. Houle with an interesting claim. They said:
Hi BJ. I understand you do a lot of investigative journalism work. Have you looked into why out of 200+ period signatures for Timothy mitts bid as the conservative NYS senate candidate, only 12 of them are from residents outside of Palm Tree? I’d be happy to share his petition if you’re not already in possession of such. (Emphasis added.)
So, of course, I asked to see the petition. You can view it here.
And sure enough, it’s absolutely true.
Almost every signature comes from a resident of Palm Tree.
Now, you might be asking yourself, what’s the implication here?
You mean aside from the age old “Jews run the world” trope and “Jews don’t count as legitimate voters/citizens”?
Well, I’ll tell you.
On Monday, April 23rd, 2024, Tim Mitts’s signatures were all found to be valid, according to the Orange County Board of Elections.
Mitts overcame a challenge from Grace E. White, the Chair of the Orange County Conservative Party. Mrs. Houle was working with Mrs. White to get the signatures tossed. Doing so would have prevented the upcoming primary on June 25th.
Now, if Mr. Mitts wins the Conservative Party primary on June 25th, then this November, Dorey Houle will only be limited to the Republican line, instead of appearing on both.
Frustratingly, as a former (and probably future) member of the Working Families Party, Mr. Skoufis is likely to appear on both the Democratic line and the Working Families line.
Given how close the 2022 State Senate election was, the presence of Mr. Mitts on the ballot could spell the end for Dorey.
This is the best possible outcome.
As much as Skoufis sucks, Dorey would be worse.
Houle Campaign Says Don’t Trust Them Jews
First, there’s the antisemitic dogwhistle blaming Palm Tree, a town that is almost exclusively Satmar, for the 2022 New York State Senate race. A statement that cannot be verified.
Then, there’s the attempt to connect Tim Mitts to Palm Tree.
Another antisemitic dogwhistle.
We can, and will, talk about Mr. Mitts soon.
If Dorey had a brain, there’d be more than enough information out there to defeat Mr. Mitts. All without having to resort to antisemitic attacks.
As of this writing, there are nearly 33,000 people who live in the Town of Palm Tree. 300 is (about) one percent of the population.
In the Town of Palm Tree, although the population is almost exclusively Satmar, there is plenty of diversity to be found.
For one thing, there are at least three major factions of Satmar that live in Palm Tree. Those that follow Aaron Teitelbaum. Those who follow Zalman Teitelbaum. And those who recognize either, choosing to continue following the teachings of their uncle, Joel Teitelbaum. Aaron’s followers make up the majority of the residents, but not all the residents.
To think all Satmar think and act the same, or all act on what the Rebbe tells them, is wrong and bigoted.
Many have one gripe or another with the Rebbe, but they can’t and won’t share that publicly due to fear of being ostracized.
It’s possible for someone to lose contact with their spouse and their children just for acting differently or saying something counter to what the Rebbe wants in public. There are many stories like this to be found in The Pious Ones: The World of Hasidim and their Battles with America by Dr. Joseph Berger.
The term I use, hanhallah, is how Satmar themselves derisively refer to Aaron Teitelbaum and Zalman Teitelbaum behind the Rebbes backs.
The implication Dorey wants to make is that Tim Mitts is in the pocket of hanhallah, just like George Kalaj is in South Blooming Grove.
The difference is that, in South Blooming Grove, there are two guys specifically driving the corruption bus. Those two guys gave money to Senator Skoufis, and Dorey being an idiot, she has failed to just beat Skoufis over the head with this.
Those two guys are assholes. They just so happen to be Satmar.
Just because you’re Satmar, doesn’t automatically make you an asshole.
See the difference?
Because Dorey sure doesn’t.
And that’s what make her statements antisemitic.