The Orthodox Union met with Democratic AG nominee Eric Schneiderman recently, a meeting that apparently was portrayed by an ad by a campaign sympathizer – though not the campaign, according to the OU – as an endorsement.

From the OU in a statement just now:

The Orthodox Union released the following statement regarding a campaign advertisement supporting State Senator Eric Schneiderman, a candidate for NYS Attorney General. The ad featured a press release of our recent meeting with Mr. Schneiderman above a statement that he has been endorsed by over 300 Jewish community leaders, implying that the OU had endorsed Mr. Schneiderman’s campaign.

Recently, the Orthodox Union met with Eric Schneiderman to discuss policy issues, as we did with his opponent, District Attorney Dan Donovan. A recent campaign advertisement by a third party supporter features the OU press release above statement detailing how many Jewish leaders or institutions have endorsed him.

“This implies the OU is among the endorsing institutions, which is illegal and would violate the OU’s status as a tax exempt nonprofit. We believe this was an error by a campaign supporter that while hopefully unintentional, is both glaring and embarrassing. We have contacted the campaign and asked them to instruct their supporters to pull the ad, as well as contacting Jewish media outlets and asking that in deference to the OU’s nonprofit status, they refuse to run the ad.”

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