It's good to see that at least one politician who recently expressed support for the Riverdale Review in the face of a community boycott has come to his senses -- at least partially. In this letter to the Riverdale Press, Councilman Koppell comes out strongly in support of PS 24 -- a school which has been mercilesslly attacked by Andy Wolf, editor of the Review. As we noted in this previous posting, Koppell joined together with four other politicians -- BP Ruben Diaz, State Senator Adriano Espaillat, Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz and Congressman Eliot Engel -- in congratulating the Review for 17 years in business in a full-page ad -- as if 17 years is a special anniversary? Of course in that very same issue, Wolf wrote no less than 4 articles attacking PS 24. So Koppell deserves some credit for representing his constituents and standing up for an outstanding school. Of course, we can't say the same thing about the other politicos mentioned above, who decided to put their own interest ahead of their constituents.
But, Koppell has not completely come to his senses. He continues to defend the Review while failing to answer the question that has been asked of him for years -- what about the secret deal that took place 17 years ago involving him and Congressman Engel helping Wolf purchase the Review? Until he answers this question and clears up whether he has a fatal conflict of interest concerning the Review, he has no standing to comment on this issue. So Koppell, what is your answer? UPDATE: Thought you might enjoy this drawing above of OK.
It’s a very interesting letter because Council Member Koppell is finally DENOUNCING Andy Wolf’s false, misleading and mean-spirited attacks on PS 24.
ReplyDeleteSo it looks like G. Oliver Koppell is the first of the local politicians to abandon Andy Wolf, thereby throwing Wolf to the wolves!
So Riverdale's best known and most established politician admits that Andrew Wolf is wrong on education. Now Mr. Koppell should admit his secret dealing with Mr. Wolf all these years.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the local politicians should follow Koppell by jumping from the sinking ship known as the Riverdale Review.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot to mention that the Riverdale Press also has a letter from Mr. Fettman (Andy Wolf’s nutty, long-winded, self-important poster boy for inappropriately interpreting the Constitution).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, Fettman actually DENOUNCES Andy Wolf and says “The proponents of the boycott of the Riverdale Review have every justification for being deeply offended by its [the Riverdale Review's] recent editorial that compares some individuals in our community with Nazi collaborators during World War II.”
Although he still blathers on about Wolf’s First Amendment rights (ignoring the fact that the boycotters have First Amendment rights to engage in a public boycott of an offensive newspaper), Fettman’s letter is a big slap in the face for Andy Wolf.
Here’s the link:
http://www.riverdalepress.com/stories/Its-time-to-terminate-the-Review-boycott,47881?content_source=&category_id=6&search_filter=&event_mode=&event_ts_from=&list_type=&order_by=&order_sort=&content_class=&sub_type=&town_id=
With friends like Koppell & Fettman, Wolf doesn't really need enemies.
ReplyDeleteNeither Koppell nor Engel ever answered the charge leveled against them exactly 8 years ago by Richard Stein, the then Co-publisher of the Riverdale Press, that these politicians secretly helped to finance the purchase of the Review. More recently the boycotters have asked the same question. The politicians' continued silence is an admission of guilt.
ReplyDeleteThis secret deal is not a trivial matter. It means that the Review has never been a newspaper in the true sense-an independent voice-but a lackey, a mouthpiece for them. Those who seek to defend the Review under the banner of "free press" should understand that it is not free of the politicians' influence nor has it ever been.
Moreover, Wolf has shown that he can be bought by advertisers and has even threatened those who don't buy ads with not covering their events. For example, in a letter to the Riverdale Y, Wolf told them he could not print notices of their public events unless they advertised in his paper. How is that for blackmail?
Andrew Wolf is a corrupt fraud, masquerading as a respected newspaper publisher. Riverdale community leaders should be ashamed and embarrassed that they have allowed this disgrace to go on for so long. They have long been cowed by the vitriol of Andrew Wolf. It's time for them stand up and be counted.
Hooray for the boycott!
Wolf needed Koppell's letter like a "luch in kup!"
ReplyDeleteHaven't Riverdalians had enough of these rusty politicians like Oliver Koppell, Jeffrey Dinowitz and Eliot Engel? Change would be nice!
ReplyDeleteI guess Oliver Koppell has decided that he really doesn't need Andy Wolf anymore!
ReplyDeleteYes ... Instead of supporting Wolf, these local politicians should support their constituents (who are rightfully upset about Wolf's spiteful and deleterious misrepresentations).
ReplyDeleteREGARDING THE ALLEGATIONS OF A SECRET DEAL BETWEEN CONGRESSMAN ENGEL, COUNCILMAN KOPPELL AND ANDY WOLF ... It is unethical and disgraceful for elected officials to secretly solicit and steer cash to a politically motivated newspaper in exchange for supportive coverage of themselves and negative propaganda about their opponents.
ReplyDeletethis pretty much sums up the entire debacle on both sides:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xxgRUyzgs0&ob=av2nm
People in Riverdale and Kingsbridge are clearly fed up with that yellow-journalist thug Andrew Wolf and his McCarthy-esque attacks not just on PS 24, but also on the Ampark School, SAR Academy & High School, and the Riverdale-Kingsbridge Academy MS/HS 141.
ReplyDeleteCity Councilman Oliver Koppell, U.S. Representative Eliot Engel, State Senator Adriano Espaillat, State Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. should all be defending these important local educational institutions from Andy Wolf's damaging lies, manipulative half-thruths, and wild distortions.
Mr. Koppell’s sudden praise for P.S. 24 is just a masquerade, so it’s best for the parents and the other boycotters to continue with their assertive stance against him for not revealing his true relationship with the Riverdale Review.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Koppell is not being up-front about the secret relationship with that rag, at least he's publicly acknowledging that Wolf's attacks on Public School 24 are baseless nonsense.
ReplyDeleteWow....what a stunning failure these local politicos are. I am just appalled at how overwhelmingly idiotic and ham-handed their approach has been to this whole situation. Keep Up That Boycott!
ReplyDeleteForever after he should be known as "Cop Out Koppell". Certainly better than G. Oliver-never liked guys with first initials instead of names.
ReplyDeleteNote to Andy Wolf: Nothing is quite like the Holocaust or state collaboration with Nazi Germany … These things are NOT available for analogy to Bronx civic, political or educational affairs!
ReplyDeleteThe Nazi-sympathizing smear against the boycotters of Mr. Wolf's ridiculous publication is just one more example of how absurd and reckless that man's hate-filled rants have become. He deserves to be shunned by decent, fair-minded readers and advertisers.
ReplyDeleteN.Y.C. Councilman G. Oliver Koppell (and U.S. Representative Eliot Engel, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., N.Y. State Senator Adriano Espaillat and N.Y. State Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz) don't get it. The people have the right to protest and boycott an obnoxious, offensive, lying rag like the Riverdale Review.
ReplyDeleteSoon it will be GAME OVER for the RIVERDALE REVIEW!
ReplyDeleteIt's time for the boycotters to step up the pressure on Wolf's advertisers!
ReplyDeleteAndrew Wolf is a vile bully. The local politicians should be ashamed for supporting him and his terrible tabloid.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Anon. Jan. 21 3:55 PM . . . There is NOTHING even remotely analogous between Nazi collaborators and the local elementary school’s parents’ association.
ReplyDeleteIt’s amazing and disappointing that the local elected officials have never really taken on Andy Wolf for the Riverdale Review’s biased, false and destructive reporting over all these years.
ReplyDeleteThe local elected officials, especially the longest-serving ones (Oliver Koppell, Jeffrey Dinowitz and Eliot Engel) should have pushed hard to stop Wolf’s false and misleading portrayals long ago.
However, as we now know, these elected officials have been in close and collective collaboration with Wolf from the start. This is why they do not and cannot deny the allegations of the secret deal that helped finance Wolf’s purchase of the Riverdale Review back in the early 1990s.
RE: The Secret Deal to Finance the Review . . . . The allegations that the local politicians were involved MUST be true, otherwise those politicians would surely have come out to deny them and indignantly attack the accusers.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Wolf claims the controversy is not about him but about the First Amendment . In this he could not be more wrong.
ReplyDelete