Hamptons Bar Mitzvah Brouhaha

Tim Bishop Image by getty images

Josh Nathan-Kazis August 15, 2012

A fireworks display at a Long Island bar mitvah damaged a Bentley — and is threatening to singe a congressman’s career.

Rocket debris from the rooftop fireworks demonstration apparently dented the high-end luxury car. But not before Tim Bishop, a Democratic congressman on Long Island, allegedly solicited a donation from the bar mitzvah boy’s father while simultaneously working to get him a permit for the fireworks display, Politico reported today.

The fracas started when Jewish hedge fund manager Eric Semler was having trouble getting the necessary permits for a fireworks extravaganza to cap off his son’s Hamptons bar mitzvah party. So he turned to the local congressman, Tim Bishop.

Bishop, a Democrat, is facing a tough reelection fight this November in the East End swing district against Randy Altschuler, a Jewish Republican he beat in 2010.

According to Politico, Bishop’s staff asked Semler for a $10,000 donation while Bishop was working to help Semler obtain the fireworks permits. That may be a violation of House ethics rules, but Bishop insisted he was just helping a constituent in need, not to mention his bar mitzvah boy son.

“I did my job. I was asked to fix a problem for a constituent that I did not create. I fixed it,” Bishop told Politico. “I never directly solicited him. We told him how he could help. And then a month later, he helped.”

Josh Nathan-Kazis is a staff writer for the Forward. He covers charities and politics, and writes investigations and longform.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward. Discover more perspectives in Opinion. To contact Opinion authors, email [email protected].

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO