Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D) stated in an interview this week that the reason he recommended leasing a former public school to Yeshiva of Greater Washington was to combat neighborhood blight and not because he received $85,000 in campaign contributions from Yeshiva supporters.
He in turn is turning the finger back at opponents of the plan saying he will not tolerate anti-Semitism. The leading opponents say they were motivated to keep the school in public hands and angrily dismissed Duncan's charges. One opponent himself is Jewish, the lawyer who represented the group, Norman Knopf.
According to this WashingtonPost article after more than a year of negotiation and two council votes in support of the deal, Duncan signed a lease with Yeshiva in August 1999 that included an option to buy the Col. Joseph A. Belt Junior High School in Wheaton.
A month earlier, Duncan had received $35,000 in campaign contributions from Yeshiva supporters, including Abramoff. Duncan, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, announced last month that he would return $20,000 in contributions from Saipan and Guam linked to Abramoff. The lobbyist was sentenced in March to nearly six years in prison in connection with the fraudulent purchase of a fleet of casino cruise boats.
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