http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/bruce-ticker/35763/political-deal-as-services-are-cutWhile Albany's leaders performed New York's version of the chainsaw massacre on public services, they scrounged up $18 million to allot tuition aid to students attending some private religious schools.
Most of the beneficiaries are likely to be 5,000 men who apply to attend Orthodox rabbinical schools.
One can argue that this measure breaches the separation wall of church and state, but the larger concern is whether rabbinical students should be cut a break while public schools and public colleges and universities are being hammered by state funding reductions.
We would never conclude that tuition aid was a political deal. We cannot bring ourselves to suggest that Gov. Andrew Cuomo along with Democratic and Republican lawmakers are trying to cement election help from the large, active bloc of Orthodox Jewish voters in Brooklyn and suburbs like Monsey in Rockland County and the Five Towns area on Long Island.
More at the link --