Toffler shows her true colors

Although fireworks were anticipated at last night's council meeting, the majority of participants engaged in civil, if at times heated, discussion. Both the public and the council made insightful comments regarding the proposal at issue - the creation of a Public Safety Department - and, ultimately, the measure passed by a 4-3 vote. A more detailed description of the evening's events will likely follow in another post.

For now, I am still grappling with the sole hateful and biased comment of the night, made by Councilwoman Barbara Toffler. In a(n) (un)surprising outburst, Toffler interrupted Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen to inform him that the 4 council-members who voted in favor of the measure were "elected by only 6 districts," while she was "elected by 15". The implication, of course (even if it isn't true), is that those council-members were elected by only the districts with a large number of Observant Jews, and that, somehow, those votes mean less than the votes of citizens in other districts.

For someone who prides herself on her parents' role in integration, she is certainly intent on creating divisiveness in our community. Last night's meeting had nothing to do with religious affiliation or skin color, what part of town you live in or whether you voted for a particular council-member - rather, it concerned the organization of the administrative function of our police and fire departments.

We are all familiar with the racial and religious tensions that, at times, plague us. But it is irresponsible, disrespectful and plain prejudiced of Toffler to undermine certain of her colleagues by demeaning the votes cast for them.

In his majority decision which coined the statement "One man, one vote" (Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964)), Chief Justice Earl Warren said "Legislators represent people, not trees or acres. Legislators are elected by voters, not farms or cities or economic interests." -- I would humbly add that they are not elected by districts on a particular side of town either.

All 7 council-members were elected by the community at large. If these were elected representatives representing particular districts, perhaps where the voters lived would matter. But they are at large representatives and as such each vote should be equal no matter where it comes from. Of course, the alternative is that some votes count more than others - the same argument that led to segregation to begin with.

I agree that some members of council received a small number of votes from many districts. Some received many votes from a small number of districts. Some received many votes from many districts. And so on. The reason we have 7 seats on council and democratic elections is so that our citizenship is represented by those governing us.

Toffler apparently disdains those council-members who received votes from a majority of Observant Jews (which speaks volumes to her previously voiced deep seated sentiments about a certain segment of Teaneck). Although it may surprise Ms. Toffler to learn that Adam Gussen received over 100 votes from each of 10 different districts or that Elie Katz received more than 100 votes from each of 14 different districts.

We have made significant strides since the days of segregation when people would be denied representation and voting rights because of the location in which they lived. Don't let Barbara Toffler tear us apart. For anyone to claim that 'one man, one vote' isn't the proper method in a democracy is a strike against diversity and progress - for that attack to come from an elected official is despicable.