TJH Speaks with David Lobl, Candidate for Assembly

Majority Rules

TJH Speaks with Assembly Candidate David Lobl

By SuSan ScHwamm

David, you are running for Missy Miller’s seat in the NYS Assembly. Tell us why you feel that you’re the perfect person to fill this position.

I’ve spent the last 10, maybe more, years of my professional life in and around government, with the bulk of it working with the Jewish community. I was always the go-between, if you will, between the people and the principals. I understand how government works. I worked in the highest levels of government in New York. I have the relationships that I could leverage to benefit our community and the greater district at-large. And when this opportunity presented itself, it just felt like a natural progression of how I could do more and how I could be more effective in helping our community.

What were those positions that you had? You said you worked with the highest levels of government.

I was Andrew Cuomo’s chief Jewish adviser.

What issues were you involved in to help the community?

I actually started working for the governor in October of 2012, so the first big one was Hurricane Sandy.

Talk about hitting the ground running early on. So early on – I think it was within the first week or first couple of weeks – I brought Jerry, Hauer, the commissioner of Homeland Security, to the community. We had a big meeting in the White Shul. Within, I think, 48 hours, we secured light poles that we placed throughout Far Rockaway, the 878, Lawrence, Cedarhurst, and Woodmere.

And then I helped combat antisemitic legislation when they tried to eliminate the Village of Kiryas Joel. I secured the governor’s veto on that.

When yeshivas needed funding, I was the point person for organizations like the OU, the Agudah.

We secured one of the first in the nation type of funding for STEM teachers. We initiated the grant that provides funding for yeshivas’ security.

I spearheaded and executed the governor’s execu-

Were you the only person in this position?

Yes.

The Jewish community in New York is so vast and diverse – you mentioned Kiryas Joel and we live in the Five Towns, two very different communities. How did you balance and manage that to make sure that all the Jewish communities’ needs in New York were met and being addressed?

You have to understand each community’s needs. What might work in the Five Towns doesn’t necessarily work in Kiryas Joel and vice versa. I had to cut through all the noise and really understand what people need and be able to deliver that.

Where did you grow up? I grew up in Chicago.

So how did you connect with Cuomo in New York?

So I came to New York like every other out-of-towner. I married in New Yorker. My wife is from Kew Gardens Hills.

My wife was in grad school at NYU at the time that we married, and we moved to Teaneck because she needed public transportation to grad school. After I learned a little bit, I started working for the Friedlander Group, which is a small boutique-y public relations firm. So, I was always into politics. That’s sort of how I got my feet wet in New York.

And from there, I worked for a non-for-profit called Human Care Services, which deals primarily with developmentally disabled individuals, children and adults. And from there, well, one day, I got a phone call from the governor’s office asking if I could come meet with somebody to talk about this job. And the rest is history.

What were your thoughts about Cuomo before the scandals came down?

He was a tough boss. He was a demanding boss. But at the end of the day, he got stuff done.

Forget about everything else for a second, airports were built or redone – new terminals in JFK, LaGuardia, new bridges. But then, I think, during COVID, everything shifted.

When people think about New York, their foremost thought is on their safety and security. What are your thoughts about that in relation to Cuomo?

I left the governor’s office before the bail reform policies, but I think the bail reform was done terribly. It took away judges’ discretion. That is something that has to be brought back. I think the current governor’s new proposal on fixing it is a good first step. But it’s not be all to end all, and it shouldn’t be the be all to end all.

Is that something that you think the Assembly has to work on changing? Is that one of the first things that you think has to be done in order to take New York City back?

One-hundred percent. The Assembly members, though, are saying that they don’t want to change it. They’re actually not backing Hochul’s plan.

Right. So what the governor did – and I think that this was smart – is that she included these reforms into the budget. So if you don’t want to do it, you have to vote against the entire budget. It’s sort of strongarming the legislature into making changes.

Let’s talk about the pros and cons of being a Democrat in this race and in this environment.

I think being a Democrat in this atmosphere in this district is certainly challenging. But at the end of the day, there are 150 Assembly members. 107 caucus with the Democrats; 43 members caucus with the Republicans. Now, in order to get anything done in the State Assembly, you have to be a Democrat. I challenge anybody: I will donate $100 to your favorite tzedakah if you could tell me in the last 20 years when a bill that was introduced by a Republican member of the Assembly actually passed. It doesn’t happen. It just doesn’t happen. That’s just the way it is. They won’t bring a bill to the floor for a vote if they can’t pass What about the real progressives that are in the Assembly? Six voices from the frum community are great. But if you have 10, 15, 20 people who are vocal about things that are antithesis to the frum community, will the frum voices be able to be heard?

With this setup, you would actually have more frum Jews than you would have people that belong to DSA, the Democratic Socialists of America, so the frum community would actually have more of a voice.

“If we’re able to elect a Democrat – and hopefully, by January, there’ll be six frum Democrats in the State Assembly – that will create a real voice that can’t just be ignored.”

it purely on a party line. So if they don’t have a majority of Democrats to vote for something but it could pass with Republican support, they won’t do it. It’s just the way it is. It’s unfortunate, but it’s the way it is.

If we have the opportunity as a community to elect a Democrat who shares our values – then that’s something that we need to do. I’m a Darchei parent. I’m a TAG parent. I have the same struggles as people in our community. I have the same values as my neighbors do. If we’re able to elect a Democrat – and hopefully, by January, there’ll be six frum Democrats in the State Assembly – that will create a real voice that can’t just be ignored.

We’ve had an Assembly member for six years, and our community hasn’t seen results. And it’s not because she didn’t want to. She’s very nice, but she just can’t do it as a Republican. It’s simple. If 45 Republicans get up and say, “We hate this,” it doesn’t matter. But if five, six Democrats walk into the Speaker’s office and say, “Hey, look. This is a problem,” they can’t ignore it. But haven’t we seen how the governor has had to bow to the progressives with, for instance, the mask mandates in New York?

Well, I think the governor’s dynamics and my dynamics are much different, right? I A) have a different value set than the governor does. B) I’m not running for statewide office, right? The community of the district literally elects me. And this is a conservative-leading district. I know that the district will have my back when I stand up and talk about how these policies are bad. I have no problem standing up to a Democrat, and I have no problem standing with a Republican. You run for office to help the community you represent. So if it’s standing with a Republican, then so be it. If it’s standing up against a Democrat, then so be it. It doesn’t scare me.

If and when you get to office, after April 7th, you’re going to have to rerun in November. Do you anticipate a Republican wave in November like we saw in the past election?

I think there’s no question that there’s going to be a red wave or a Republican wave, especially here in Long Island. But I also think that I’ll have April, May, June, July, August, October, and November to prove myself and to show people that we could get results, we could get resources, we could get things done, and we can stand up for a community. We have to be able to vote and negotiate from a position of strength.

majority in the Assembly.

One important thing to note is that the New York State Senate historically has been Republican. The last election cycle has shifted to Democratic control, but the margin in the Senate is much slimmer. So electing a Republican senator might make more sense because he or she would have a much easier time picking off, if you will, three or four moderate Democratic senators to agree with them on a certain issue.

When you speak to voters, safety and security is number one on their minds. What else do they want from their representatives?

They want help. I live in Cedarhurst. When I walk through the Five Towns, the sidewalks are a mess. The roads are a mess. The lighting is a disaster at night. And the same thing could be said anywhere else in the district. People want quality of life.

The district is not just the Five Towns. It’s Long Beach. It’s Atlantic Beach. It’s Oceanside. How are you going to get your message out to the entire district?

The same way I’m doing it in the Five Towns. Communicate with as many people as humanly possible, knock on as many doors as you possibly can, and just talk to people. I am going to tell people what I stand for and connect with people. That’s how this election is going to be won and lost.

We have an incredible, incredible opportunity here to send a message and to fight with power and from a position of strength – enough of empty promises, empty talks. When I’m a member of the Assembly, I will not stand with an elected official who comes here just to hold a press conference. If you don’t have real action attached to what you’re coming to say, I’m not standing with you. It’s a waste of time. That’s not what our community deserves. We deserve a lot better. We deserve a lot more. And enough is enough. Leadership is actually doing something about an issue and not just talking about it. I don’t want to hear that antisemitism is bad. I know it’s bad. We deserve an action to go along with that.

Are you supporting Governor Hochul in her run for Governor of New York?

I haven’t even given that any thought.

I will meet with both candidates. If the governor wants to meet with me, great. If the Republican nominee wants to meet with me, great. And I’ll make a decision that’s in the best interest of the community of the district.

When you get to Albany, what are the two, three things that you want to tackle immediately?

Public safety is my number one goal.

After that, I want to bring resources back to the community to be able to fix our infrastructure.

The way I view government is it’s like when you call customer service. You don’t want to be routed from one department to another department to another department. At its core, government is about providing results and making sure that your constituents have quality of life and are safe. That’s what people want, and that’s what I’m going to do. bly in terms of, let’s say, reforming the Bail Reform Act? What’s your vision?

I’d work to fix the Bail Reform Act and then see how I could leverage the relationships that I’ve built over a decade to help residents of the 20th Assembly District.

Have you encountered any pushbacks or any challenges because you’re a frum person when you’ve been dealing with people in the Assembly or in state positions?

No. I wear my yarmulke wherever I go. I never take it off. And I’ve never had an issue.

Have you seen more incidents of antisemitism in the state overall?

There’s no question that antisemitism is on the rise. I think based on all the hate crimes in New York, antisemitic attacks were, by far, unfortunately, the highest type of hate crime. It’s disgusting. Hate crime is never good for anybody, but these types of situations always, always have a way of coming back to Jews.

If there’s an attack on one ethnicity or one race, that’s where it starts. It’s not where it ends. It ends with us.

We as a Jewish community have to start demanding real action. Something that bothers me so much is when there is an antisemitic attack, any elected official will put out a press release, “Antisemitism has no place in Long Island in New York City, New York State, etc.” And then we sort of applaud that. We call that leadership. But no, that’s not leadership. That’s like basic humanity 101 – to say that antisemitism doesn’t have a place in New York. That’s the least somebody could do. We’ve got to stop settling. We have to start demanding real, actual results.

Saying that antisemitism is bad stops precisely zero attacks. No one stops from attacking a Jewish person because some a politician said antisemitism is bad. We need politicians to come to us with results and to come to us with a plan. Don’t just have a press conference. Give us concrete plans on what you are going to do to tackle it. What plan would you like to see presented?

How about this? If you touch a Jew, you’re in jail. Forget about bail. There should be no bail. If you touch a Jewish person or anybody because of their race, religion, or anything, you should go to jail. And you shouldn’t be out after a day. There should be real prosecution.

What do you do to relax after your long days?

So now, I’m spending a lot of time on Long Island meeting with voters. I live in Long Island, but I’m spending a lot of time in Long Beach and the other beaches.

I love, love, love going to the water and listening to Ishay Ribo. It’s so beautiful at the beach and very relaxing.

And I love to cook.

Oh, really? What do you like to cook? Cooking evokes memories of my childhood for me. And I love cooking with those memories going through my mind. I feel almost in a way that I carry on that kind of love and passion that my mother had when she fed me and when my grandmother had when she fed me. When I cook, I feel like I’m continuing that to my family and friends.

I’m sort of a purist when it comes to food. So I have a charcoal barbecue in the backyard; I have a charcoal wood smoker in the backyard; I have a charcoal and wood pizza oven in the backyard.

Sounds like you have a nice backyard.

Feeding people brings joy to me, and it’s a safe space for me.

Do you plan your menus in advance?

No. I usually go to the supermarket, and I’ll get inspiration.

With the primaries coming out at an odd time, your hardest job may be getting people to the polls.

That’s so true. But if we keep on getting the word out and working with people in shul to get the word out to ehri members, we can hopefully get people to the polls.

How many voters are there in the district?

I think there’s about 80,000 voters for this Assembly district.

How many do you think realistically will come out for the special election?

It’s so hard to guess. You can get from 2,000 to 15,000, 16,000.

That’s a pretty big swing.

Yes, it’s impossible to guess.

I want voters to know that my values are who I am at my core. It’s who I am fundamentally as a parent, as a father, as a husband, as a son, as a brother. That won’t change when I’m in the Assembly. And my values are the same as so many people in the district.

By electing me to the Assembly, I will be able to bring those same values to the majority ruling party in the Assembly of New York.