Kruger Puts Orthodox Interests Before Public

With the fiscal crisis so deep it’s only eclipsed by the leadership crisis, massive budget cuts are coming down the pipeline. No one, no group, no organization or service will be spared.

Except, that is, for the Orthodox Jewish communities.

State Senator Carl Kruger is calling an $18 million subsidy to a handful of rabbinical schools in the city and suburbs a “must have.” Of course, while it’s more than $18 million in funds that will have to come from libraries and classrooms and housing programs, it’s a “must have” for this unscrupulous greed-ball because the Orthodox are the crux of his political base.

The NY Post writes:

An $18 million tuition subsidy devised by Gov. Paterson as a political gift to the city’s Orthodox Jewish community has emerged as an 11th-hour sticking point in budget talks, The Post has learned.

The unprecedented expansion of the state’s Tuition Assistance Program – derisively dubbed “Rabbi TAP” by frustrated budget negotiators — guarantees grants of up to $5,000 a year to at least 3,660 students at a few dozen rabbinical schools in the city and suburbs.

Paterson slipped the program into his 2010-11 spending plan while he was planning to run for election and desperately courting political support from the Orthodox. The controversy comes at a time when he’s demanding massive cuts to public colleges and universities.

The Assembly is seeking to kill the program, sources said. That has sparked a clash with Senate Finance Chairman Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn), who calls the subsidy a “must have.”

“Obviously, it’s totally inappropriate to advance a significant new program, when we’re cutting SUNY, when we’re cutting CUNY, when we’re cutting community colleges,” said Assembly Higher Education Chairwoman Deborah Glick (D-Manhattan).

This is a rotten shame; a disgusting play that put the interests of a few donors before the interests of the city and state. Contact State Senator Carl Kruger by e-mail, and tell him you won’t stand to have your needs sacrificed to serve his fundraising friends.