THIS STORY NEVER would have occurred if the New York State School Boards Association, and leaders such as Judy Katz, Al Hawk, Gordon Purrington, and Georgine Hyde, hadn’t had the courage to take on the most powerful politicians in the state. I begin by thanking the association and its leaders for standing by me every step of the way.
This book grew, perhaps oddly, out of discussions I had with George Shebitz, a close friend who, in this case, was my adversary as counsel for the Kiryas Joel school district. Although we were on different sides of the case and had decidedly different opinions on how it should come out, we both realized the constitutional significance of the case and the importance of telling this story. George planted the seed, but much to my regret, he passed away and will never see how his offhand suggestion for a book blossomed into The Curious Case of Kiryas Joel.
Still, getting an idea for a book and writing it are two rather different things, and while I owe George credit for getting the ball rolling, I owe an immense debt of gratitude to my friend Justin Jamail. Justin is a brilliant young lawyer, the associate general counsel with the Metropolitan Opera, a graduate of the excellent Fordham Law School, and an insightful poet who did graduate work in fine arts at the University of Massachusetts. Early on, Justin and I together interviewed scores of legislators, county leaders, state officials, reporters, and residents of Orange County who were involved in the story. We conducted interviews that consumed eighty hours of tape, all of which were transcribed with the help of Pat Agard, my executive assistant. Justin also reviewed thousands of pages of litigation material and helped construct the first draft of the manuscript. This book could not have been written without him, and the materials he provided to me and my coauthor, John Caher, were absolutely invaluable. Justin provided John, a veteran legal journalist who was likely the first reporter to grasp the significance of this case, with the meaty substance that we were then able to mold into this book.
Justin and I were blessed with the cooperation of many of the players, beginning with the Kiryas Joel mayor Abraham Wieder, who was also president of the village school board, and including: Steve Benardo, the superintendent of schools at Kiryas Joel; Rabbi Jacob Freund, a key adviser to KJ and to Governor Pataki; and Nat Lewin, the legal legend, who represented the Satmar throughout most of the litigation. Both of the sponsors of the original legislation, George Pataki and Joe Lentol, provided incredible insight into the process, as did former Speaker Mel Miller. One important voice that is missing is that of former governor Mario M. Cuomo, who declined to be interviewed. Although, much to my regret, this case severely strained my relationship with Governor Cuomo, I always respected and in some ways revered him, and at this writing I still feel a loss over his death on New Year’s Day 2015.
The local perspective contained in the book was enriched by the hours we spent interviewing area individuals: local activist Ann Krawet; Roxanne Daugherty, chairwoman of the Orange County legislature; Michael Amo, the county legislative representative from Kiryas Joel; State Senator Billy Larkin; Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun; Monroe diner owner Sotirios “Steve” Lagakos; Monroe-Woodbury school board president Carl Onkin; and superintendent of Monroe-Woodbury Schools, Tony Olivo.
Marc Stern of the American Jewish Committee added great historical perspective, as did Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and Tom Hobart, longtime president of the New York State United Teachers union.
Jay Worona, the David who went up against Goliath at the Supreme Court and won, generously reviewed the manuscript, as did Dan Kinley, the wunderkind legislative analyst who was a crucial asset as the case progressed.
Mike Spain, associate editor of the Albany Times Union, was characteristically helpful and patient as he tracked down necessary resource materials. Clearly, Mike’s investigative reporting skills remain sound despite his now working in a management position, as he was able to find what we needed even though the materials had been misfiled in a folder labeled Curious Joelle. The fruits of Mike’s efforts are the many Skip Dickstein photos that are posted, compliments of the Times Union, to our website: CuriousKiryas.com. Also on the website (so kindly created by my friend Ron Lai, an IT expert now working in Australia) are photographs generously provided by the New York Law Journal and photographer Rick Kopstein.
Our agent, Janet Rosen of Sheree Bykofsky Associates, believed in this project from the get-go and charitably shared her expertise as we drafted the proposal and sought a publisher. Our publisher, Chicago Review Press, and our editor, Lisa Reardon, proved to be a perfect fit and contributed greatly to this book. Lisa has a wonderful eye, a keen editorial sense, terrific judgment, and an uncanny knack for catching miscues and holes that none of the half dozen people who read the manuscript had noticed. Devon Freeny, the developmental editor at CRP, contributed his sharp eyes and sharp mind and further polished our work.
I would be remiss if I failed to acknowledge the support, encouragement, and endorsement we received from three of the top legal minds in recent New York history: former governor and attorney general Eliot Spitzer, late New York chief judge Judith S. Kaye, and the Honorable Sol Wachtler, Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law at Touro Law School and former chief judge of the New York State Court of Appeals; as well as two of the nation’s premier advocates of religious freedom: Nadine Strossen, the John Marshall Harlan Professor of Law at New York Law School and former president of the American Civil Liberties Union, and Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. Their thoughtful endorsements are posted in their entirety on our website.
Last, and most certainly not least, I thank my family—Barbara, my wife, and my daughters Deborah Lynn and Lisa Fleming Grumet—for their love, affection, support, encouragement, and wise counsel.
One final note: My daughter Lisa, an attorney and director of the Diane Abbey Law Institute for Children and Families at New York Law School, has carried on this family fight. Lisa represented the New York City Board of Education in major litigation (Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education) to stop another attempt to erode the wall of separation between church and state. In that case, religious groups claimed a right to conduct Sunday church services in public schools. Lisa’s argument to the contrary ultimately carried the day when the US Supreme Court refused to hear the religious group’s appeal. I thank Lisa for helping to ensure that the vision of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, a vision so fundamentally essential to our freedom, extends to yet another generation.