Responding to Fidler’s Nazi “Ties” Claim, Storobin Releases Photos of Slain Relatives [UPDATED]

The Senate race for Carl Kruger’s seat is getting very, very personal.

In response to yesterday’s press release sent by Democratic Senate candidate Lew Fidler — stating Republican opponent David Storobin has “ties to skinheads and neo-Nazi groups and white supremacist groups” — Storobin just sent out his own press release highlighting his Russian relatives who were actually killed by Nazis and Soviet religious persecutors.

According to the Storobin press release, this photo montage includes Storobin’s grandfather – five of whose brothers were killed fighting Nazis — his great uncle who was killed in action, another great uncle who was murdered in the former Soviet Union in 1989 for being Jewish, the Hebrew gravesite of Storobin’s grandmother’s who fled to Israel from the former Soviet Union, and a young Storobin himself, who fled with his mother Anna to the United States from the Soviet Union in 1991.

“Mr. Fidler, these are my true ‘ties,’” Storobin said in a statement. “These are my family members who died fighting the Nazis in World War II and who were murdered by Soviet persecutors for being Jewish. These are the blood ties I share with so many other Jewish people in our community whose families were also persecuted and killed. This is what is real, Mr. Fidler. Not your false and outrageous claims that I have ties to neo-Nazis and skinheads.”

“Once again, Mr. Fidler, I demand that you retract your offensive statements and apologize to my family and the broader community for using the memory of murdered Jews to spread an untrue attack rumor for your own political gain.”

As reported by the Observer yesterday, a spokeswoman for Fidler had trouble explaining why various white supremacist groups posting writings by Storobin constituted actual “ties” to those groups.

Even Room 8 blogger Gatemouth, who dug up much of the original research on Storobin, thinks Fidler’s campaign may have overplayed its hand.

I’m awaiting comment from a Fidler spokeswoman.

UPDATE:

Wow. Filder’s campaign, which was making a huge deal of this issue over the past few days, now seems to be backing away from it entirely. I just got this statement from Jennifer Krinsky, Fidler’s spokeswoman:

“With a long record of experience and results to run on, Councilman Fidler wants this campaign to be about what the community needs, not Mr. Storobin’s peculiar internet relationships.”