A bombshell letter lobbed into a crowded Council race has raised eyebrows and prompted contradictory denials.
Councilman Lew Fidler (D–Marine Park) penned a letter leveling dramatic accusations against his one-time campaign volunteer — and current candidate for Council in the neighboring 48th District — Igor Oberman, whom he accused of acting as a “mole” on behalf of David Storobin, Fidler opponent in the 2012 race to replace disgraced pol Carl Kruger in state senate.
“Igor Oberman purported to support me. In actuality, he was a ‘mole’ inside my campaign for Storobin,” Fidler wrote in the letter dated June 25 that he fired off to several labor unions and political clubs who have either endorsed or are considering endorsing Oberman.
Fidler’s poison pen letter goes on to say that he and his campaign was aware there must have been a spy in their midst, saying that “information about our efforts with Russian speaking voters was leaking like a sieve within minutes.” But he only suspected that Oberman was the culprit when he saw his volunteer celebrating with Storobin at his opponent’s victory party.
“The culprit revealed himself on election night, when Igor Oberman appeared at the Storobin victory party (weeks before the results could be known, if you recall) with his arms raised in triumph, interlocked with Storobin,” Fidler wrote.
A spokeswoman for Oberman said that the Brighton Beach attorney stopped by both parties as a liaison with the Russian community to congratulate both candidates on hard-fought campaigns.
Fidler described Oberman as a volunteer and an official endorser in his campaign for state Senate, which he ultimately lost to Storobin by a mere 13-votes. Oberman was privy to an e-mail list in which campaign plans were discussed and implemented, according to Fidler.
David Storobin flatly rejected any suggestion that he had employed Oberman as a spy in his campaign for state Senate in a phone interview, saying that, seeing as how Oberman attended his fund raiser and was an early donor in his campaign, he would have to be crazy to retain Oberman’s clandestine services for one simple reason — it would be too obvious.
“That would have been ridiculous, considering everyone saw he came to my fund raiser and donated money to my campaign,” said Storobin. “So it would have been preposterous to employ him as a mole.”
Campaign finance records show that Oberman did donate $250 to Storobin, but Oberman’s campaign pointed out that he made the contribution later in the year, during Storobin’s unsuccessful re-election campaign against Simcha Felder.
Storobin, however, said that he distinctly remembered Oberman attending his fund-raiser January 19, 2012, in the lead-up to his race against Fidler. The Oberman campaign said that was not true.
“Oberman did not attend a January fundraiser for Storbin nor has he attended any fundraiser for him,” said spokeswoman Chelsea Connor. She said the late 2012 contribution to Storobin “was made as a personal friend … despite the fact that Oberman does not agree with him politically.”
Ironically, if Oberman prevails in the Democratic primary, his opponent in November will likely be Storobin, who is running on the Republican, Conservative, and School Choice lines in the race to represent the 48th in City Council.
In the primary, Oberman faces district leader Ari Kagan, Community Board 15 chairwoman Theresa Scavo, Public-interest lawyer Natraj Bhushan, and Chaim Deutsch, chief of operations for the term-limited incumbent Michael Nelson.
As for why Fidler decided to make the inflammatory accusations, Storobin ascribed the provocative move to sour grapes
“This is just Lew Fidler being Lew Fidler,” said Storobin. “He’s a bitter man trying to stay relevant by picking a fight.”
Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixson@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4514.
