Candidate Profiles: Town voters have choices to make

By Howard Prosnitz, Staff Writer

Teaneck Suburbanite, May 3, 2006, p. 2

Township voters have a choice among 14 candidates running for 4 three-year terms and three candidates running for a two-year unexpired term.

Long term Councilman Paul Ostrow is not seeking reelection, nor is Councilman Emil "Yitz" Stern.

Councilman Randall Day, who was appointed in January to fill the remainder of former Councilman Michael Gallucci's term following Gallucci's resignation, is not seeking reelection. But Councilman David Langford, appointed in January following the resignation of former Councilwomen Deborah Veach, is seeking reelection to fill the two unexpired years of Veach's term.

The Teaneck Suburbanite is publishing interviews with candidates in two alphabetical parts. The interviews will continue next week.

(Only the relevant candidate is shown here)

Elnatan Rudolph

Elnatan Rudolph, 25, of South Forest Drive moved into the township a year and a half ago. Rudolph is a political consultant who has worked on more than 600 campaigns in 26 cities and eight foreign countries.

He has served on the New York City community Board for Brooklyn, to which he was appointed at age 16. He has been political consultant to the Congressional Black Caucus and legislative director for the assistant speaker of the New York State Assembly.

Rudolph is one of three candidates contending for a two-year unexpired term.

"I am running because property taxes are out of control," said Rudolph. My years of experience working with budgets a lot larger than Teaneck's will serve Teaneck residents well."

The only effective way to stabilize taxes, he said, is to bring in new ratables.

Rudolph believes his experience with working police unions can help heal the township's troubled labor relations. He said that he is currently working with a national association of police officers and has worked with 20 police and corrections officers unions.

"I will be able to help on the council in building relationships with the police department," he said. "I know how to work with police officers and have seen in other areas what happens when police and management do not get along together."