Rabbi Retracts Claim Against Hahn

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A Los Angeles rabbi has retracted his charge that Mayor James Hahn’s reelection campaign was “dishonost and manipulative” in claiming endorsements from Jewish community leaders. Rabbi Steven Weil says he now believes that Hahn volunteers within the Jewish community were to blame, and that Hahn’s professional staff had nothing to do with it.

In recent weeks, eight prominent Jews have come forward alleging that their signatures were forged on Hahn endorsement forms, including Weil, who angrily denounced the Hahn campaign at a March press conference. But Weil now insists that the campaign staff was not responsible.

“After having researched this and having seen the [endorsement] forms, in my mind it is beyond a shadow of a doubt that the mayor’s campaign did absolutely nothing wrong and is beyond reproach,” Weil said on Wednesday.

Weil’s change of heart is the latest dramatic turn in one of the most bizarre stories associated with this year’s city elections. Weil was among the most outspoken of the Jewish community leaders who inspected endorsement forms kept on file by the Hahn campaign and who then asserted that their signatures had been forged. Weil stood center stage during the March press conference. The bad endorsements had appeared in Hahn-for-mayor advertisements; the ad ran twice in The Jewish Journal prior to the March 8 primary.

In the primary, City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa placed first and Hahn finished second, just ahead of challenger Bob Hertzberg. Villaraigosa and Hahn will meet in the May 17 runoff. Hertzberg, who is Jewish, was the candidate favored by most of the Jewish endorsers who said their names were misused. The matter did not surface publicly until a March 18 article in The Journal.

The Journal, in this week’s print edition, updated the story by noting that the number of alleged forgeries had increased from