Just who is Benjamin Jackson?

To the Editor:

Who is Benjamin F. Jackson, and why would he be trying to unseat Democratic Party District Leader Ramdat Singh? Ramdat is a founding member of the largest and most active Democratic political club in our community — the Unity Democrats.

He is also a trailblazer, becoming the first queer person of color elected as District Leader in the 81st Assembly District. Ramdat has united Democrats from across the northwest Bronx, and has brought a new energy to our local party, from community events, to door-knocking for many other Democratic candidates in the area.

Mr. Jackson’s mentor, Jeffrey Dinowtiz, on the other hand, has made a career out of dividing us. A quick look at Jeff Dinowitz’s Twitter account shows numerous tweets attacking other Democrats. This is particularly jarring since Dinowitz almost never attacks Republicans. Our community has not forgotten that this is the same Jeff Dinowitz, after all, who supported the “Independent Democratic Caucus” (IDC) — a rogue collection of state senators who allied with Republicans to control our state for so many years, who real Democrats finally beat at the polls in 2018.

Since that time, the Republican party has gotten even more extreme, but this doesn’t seem to phase Jeff.

For instance, since Republican Congressman Mike Johnson was elected speaker of the House in October, Dinowitz hasn’t issued one statement on his Twitter account critical of Johnson, who is now second in line to the Presidency. That’s right — not one. This despite Johnson’s radical stances on abortion rights, and his efforts to overturn the free and fair election of Joe Biden in 2020 over Donald Trump.

Even more striking are the hundreds and hundreds of tweets Dinowitz has issued in the last year, absolutely none have criticized Donald Trump. Zero. This despite the continuing threat he poses to our democracy, and the multitude of criminal and civil charges against him. Jeff Dinowitz may be the only Democrat in the country whose Twitter account is a safe zone for Donald Trump.

I don’t know why Dinowitz spends so much effort attacking Democrats and virtually none attacking radical Republicans like Trump and Johnson. So far, the two letters Benjamin Jackson has written for The Riverdale Press have been attacks on fellow Democrats, a strategy right out of the Jeff Dinowtiz playbook.

As he continues to campaign to lead our party — the Democratic Party — voters in our community have a right to know if Mr. Jackson will give radical Republicans a pass the way his mentor Jeff Dinowitz does, or if he’ll fight for Democrats and Democratic Party values. If not, how could he possibly lead us?

Lisa Amowitz