TOMS RIVER, NJ – Toms River Councilman Dan Rodrick is under fire from the forces behind the construction boom going on in Toms River. Earlier this week, Avi Schnall, Director of Agudath Israel of America condemned Rodrick, who is running for mayor against embattled incumbent Maurice “Mo” Hill for using the words ‘Lakewood Style Development’ in his campaign mailers.
Schnall said Rodrick’s messaging is anti-semitic.
“Agudath Israel of America’s NJ Office is deeply concerned about divisive and hateful rhetoric employed recently by elected officials in Toms River,” Schnall said in a statement. “At a time when antisemitism in New Jersey is at a record high, civic leaders carry the responsibility to counter hate and antisemitism, not promote it.”
Schnall said the term ‘Lakewood Style Development’ used in Rodrick’s campaign mailers was “Divisive and hateful language should never be used.”
” We call upon civic leaders throughout the state to denounce this rhetoric and to demand an apology from those who have engaged in this divisive activity,” Schnall said.
“I have never written or said anything anti-Semitic, and Avi Schnall won’t silence me,” Rodrick said today. “The Toms River VAAD already endorsed Mo Hill for Mayor, so it’s obvious what is going on here.”
Rodrick referred to a petition signed by leaders of the TR VAAD endorsing Hill’s campaign for mayor in March.
Schnall, who celebrated Mo Hill’s 2009 victory campaign, also criticized Hill for changing his messaging to appeal to residents fearful of the growth of the Orthodox Jewish community.
“It’s obvious that Mo Hill conducted polls and found out he’s on the wrong side of every issue facing Toms River, and this is a last-ditch effort to try to win over some extra voters,” Rodrick said. “He’s getting desperate by having his biggest supporters condemn me.”
Schnall has made a name for himself in Toms River and Jackson, criticizing policies such as Toms River’s no-knock ordinance and Jackson Township’s house of worship and dormitory ordinances. Some say he’s the Al Sharpton of the Jewish rights movement in New Jersey.
In 2020, Schnall criticized no-knock ordinances, claiming those laws were meant strictly to keep Jewish residents from buying homes in Toms River and Jackson.
He is also the driving force behind a multi-million dollar civil rights lawsuit in Jackson Township.