H EADLINES
Campaign Continued from Page 1
negativity in their campaigns.

“Th e most important thing
to me, as a candidate, but more
importantly as a person, was
running this campaign the way
I did: ethically, with integrity. I
was the only statewide Jewish
candidate this election cycle, so
it was important to me to make
sure that I conducted myself
in a way that would make us
proud,” McLaughlin said.

Th e Pennsylvania Supreme
Court race was defi ned by both
candidates’ steep budgets. One
week before the election, Brobson
launched an ad claiming,
without additional context,
that McLaughlin had “chose to
void the guilty plea of a drunk
driver who admitted to killing a
pregnant woman and her unborn
child,” though she had actually
joined a majority opinion among
judges saying that the defendant
should be retried.

The Bar Association’s
Judicial Campaign Advertising
Committee asked the Brobson
campaign to withdraw or edit
the advertisement.

Th e day before the election,
McLaughlin, a Congregation
LEGAL DIRECTORY
Mikveh Israel member, visited
the Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El
mikvah in Wynnewood, her
fi rst time since converting to
Judaism in 2017.

“I never anticipated attacks
coming from another judge,”
she said. “Th at disheartens me.

When I went to the mikvah, I
came out diff erent.”
But according to other
candidates, negativity in
campaigning is not endemic to
just one side of the aisle.

“I was proud that my
campaign was taking the high
road,” Weintraub said. “Th ere
were some professional attacks
that my opponent levied
against me, but I didn’t really
think to get into the gutter
with my opponent, and I really
didn’t have to.”
Weintraub won his election
by 32,000 votes by almost 17
points against Democratic
opponent Antonetta Stancu,
his former assistant district
attorney. Th e district attorney, who
became a bar mitzvah at Shir
District Attorney Matt Weintraub
Courtesy of Matt Weintraub
Ami in Newtown, said integrity
was his key asset in his govern-
ment role.

“Every decision I make is
based on principle as opposed to
based on political expediency,”
Weintraub said. “Sometimes
people don’t agree with my
decisions, but I know I’ll be able
to lay my head on my pillow
every night and sleep well.”
Weintraub said
his upcoming term will be defi ned
I never anticipated attacks coming from
another judge. That disheartens me.”
MARIA MCLAUGHLIN
ELDER LAW
AND ESTATE PLANNING
Wills Trusts
Powers of Attorney
Living Wills
Probate Estates
Protect assets from
nursing home
LARRY SCOTT AUERBACH, ESQ.

CERTIFIED ELDER LAW ATTORNEY
CPA-PFS, J.D., LL.M.,MBA
1000 Easton Road
Abington, PA 19001
For consultation call
215-517-5566 or
1-877-987-8788 Toll Free
Website: www.Lsauerbach.com
10 NOVEMBER 11, 2021
JEWISH EXPONENT
City Controller Rebecca
Rhynhart Courtesy of Offi ce of City Controller
by addressing recidivism in
the community, as he hopes
to tackle what he believes are
the root causes of crime: drug
scourges and mental health
issues. He attributes his popularity
in Bucks County to his
commitment to working across
the aisle — he’s one of the
few Republican offi cers in the
county government — and
returning every phone call and
email received from commu-
nity members.

Rhynhart credits commu-
nity trust with her race without
opposition as well. Following a
competitive primary election
in 2017, Rhynhart’s 2021 run
was proof that she had gained
the trust of the Philadelphia
public, she said.

“Th e reason I think I won
four years ago is that people
in Philadelphia want change;
they want a government that
works,” Rhynhart said.

In her fi rst term, Rhynhart,
who became a bat mitzvah at
Congregation Rodeph Shalom
in Center City, conducted
an audit of the Philadelphia
Parking Authority, a risky task
due to its ties to both political
parties. Th e audit investigated
the effi ciency of the authority,
whose extra funds are supposed
to be funneled to the School
District of Philadelphia.

Though each
candi- date claimed integrity as the
Jewish value that shaped their
campaigns, according to Robin
Judge Maria McLaughlin
Photo by R.D. Gallego
Schatz, director of government
aff airs at Jewish Federation
of Greater Philadelphia, Jews,
particularly younger ones,
don’t necessarily care about
candidates espousing Jewish
values during elections.

“There are people who
will vote for a candidate
because of his or her religious
background,” Schatz said. “But
especially with younger voters
... I don’t know if it makes a
diff erence.”
Schatz said that voters
who are pro-life may search
for candidates whose religious
values support their political
leanings. Abortion will be a hot-button
issue for the Pennsylvania
Supreme Court in the upcoming
term, McLaughlin said.

Th e trend of younger Jewish
voters potentially caring less
about the religious values of
candidates comes in tandem
with there being fewer young
voters, Schatz said. In both
Philadelphia and Bucks
counties, voter turnout for 18-
to 24-year-olds was the lowest
of all age brackets, according to
the Pennsylvania Department
of State.

To increase voter turnout,
Schatz believes young voters
need to believe their vote
counts. “Th ey don’t see that it makes
a diff erence,” she said. ●
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0741
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM