Benny Goldstein is running for Lawrence village mayor

Benny Goldstein, the brother of former Lawrence Trustee Daniel Goldstein, is running for mayor of the village.

The current mayor, Alex Edelman, cannot seek office again due to term limits. Mayors serve four terms of two years in Lawrence. Deputy Mayor Paris Popack also announced she is running for mayor.

Goldstein, 46, grew up in Israel but has been living in the United States since 2018. He served as the town supervisor of Canajahorie in upstate Montgomery County and has served on other government boards, including zoning. He had previously lived in Kingston.

“I’ve been back and forth since 2009,” he said, about traveling from Israel to New York state. “I’ve been working consistently. I love America.

In Israel, Goldstein became a lawyer and obtained a master’s degree in law and specialized in international, patent and government law in the Jewish state. He and his brother both run for the Knesset, the ruling legislative body in Israel.

Part of his platform then was suggesting that Israeli companies that typically pay their employees monthly, pay them weekly.

“I tried, I tried, it’s a whole different ball game in Israel, he said.

In his town supervisor role, Goldstein took pride in passing what is considered a comprehensive solar panel law that was crafted to limit the harmful impact of solar development on the residents and funding was said to be a long-awaited highway garage. When he ran for office upstate he proudly called himself a Trumpist Republican.

“I had a police department, a fire department and two villages under me, I am very familiar with running things and being a good manager,” he said. “You need a board that works as one.”

After a divorce, Goldstein, the father of three boys, moved down to Lawrence.

“Lawrence is a beautiful place, but it’s in the Stone Age,” he said, noting the village’s lack of speed bumps to mitigate traffic issues and outdoor working gyms.

His platform includes possibly selling a sticker for $15 so residents could park for free for either hour or two all the time, instead of needing to feed the parking meters all the time with quarters.

“I don’t like pettiness,” Goldstein said, adding that municipalities such as Lawrence could be a “little more lenient and not so strict,” regarding certain laws.

He also thinks that Lawrence village has spent too much money on what he termed “petty lawsuits,” and he would look to lower taxes.

Goldstein hadn’t been an announced candidate for long when generate he some controversy and criticism for pushing what is known as Yiddishkeit — the Jewish way of life — in a campaign mailer.

“What I meant in the mailer is I’m appealing to the majority who very religious,” he said. “I knew I might upset some percentage, but I grew up very, very religious. Threatening was not my point. I know you can’t push Judaism. I was appealing and getting to understand whose my crowd.”

Known for what some people would call his quirkiness, Goldstein has boasted of earning roughly $500,000 from inventing what is called the SoloCam selfie stick, to creating a board game called Zabaerias to investing $20,000 of his income on cryptocurrency called “Fucvax” to protest the Covid-19 vaccine mandates.

“I plan on going door to door for more people to get to know me,” he said. I’m good at getting things done. I’ve done it before.”

The village election is June 18. All candidate petition forms are due to be submitted by May 14.