Orange really is the new bloc

In the wake of Ellen Jaffee’s blowout victory against Thomas Gulla in the Democratic Party primary, Preserve Rockland activists are boasting that their movement’s clout has neutralized the influence of bloc-voting religious communities in Ramapo.

One of Preserve Rockland’s most prominent leaders Peter Bradley boasted on Rockland Voice’s website this week that, “Last Tuesday you guys heavily and decidedly laid down the gauntlet against the prospect of bloc-controlled politicians being your elected representatives. Your Democratic Primary vote totals are eye-popping in the Ellen Jaffee/Tom Gulla Primary for NYS Assembly. In short, you voted for Ms. Jaffee at a 96.9 percent clip (2,897 votes) vs. a paltry 3.1 poercent clip (92 votes) for Mr. Gulla.”

Bradley compared the election results in Ramapo Election Districts numbered 25, 26, 55, 58 and 84 to Orangetown’s. These five Election Districts were the only ones that Gulla won last week.

Election District/(Name)/ Votes for Gulla/Votes for Jaffee

25/Monsey/971/17
26/Spring Valley/140/55
55/New Square/741/2
58/New Square/481/0
84/Monsey/194/25

Total in these bloc districts: Gulla-2,527, Jaffee-99

Bradley noted, “In the past, this was the guaranteed formula for election success; pacify this special-interest bloc-group and then you were guaranteed to win the election. The common folk were considered too stupid to know that this scheme was even going on…That mold was smashed during Ed Day’s county executive win…the people rose up and ‘enough.'”

The group that first organized to oppose the influence of the Ramapo voting blocs in Monsey, New Square and Kaser was Preserve Ramapo, founded in 2003. Preserve Ramapo’s platform eventually spawned similar groups, including Preserve Rockland and Preserve Clarkstown in 2013 and more recently Preserve Orangetown.

Bradley explained, “The cornerstone platform of the ‘Preserve‘ movement is simple- we want and demand fair and equal representation for all residents of Rockland. Sadly, we have seen many gross and unjust practices that have solely benefited the para-political Hasidic community while simultaneously doing severe harm and damage to the mass public. The most grotesque example has been the unfettered and unapologetic looting of the mostly Black and Latino East Ramapo School District. The ‘Preserve‘ movement aims to be a counterweight to these unfair and often illegal practices.”

Material edited from Rockland Voice

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