Unhand Piermont!

Law Office of John J. Tormey III, Esq.
John J. Tormey III, PLLC
1578 Third Avenue, PMB 188
New York, New York 10128 USA
(212) 410-4142 (phone)
(212) 410-2380 (fax)
jtormey@optonline.net
https://www.tormey.org

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

VIA FAX: 1-202-353-0472, U.S. MAIL, and E-MAIL:
todd.blanche@justice.gov
todd.blanche@usdoj.gov
The Honorable Todd Blanche
Acting Attorney General of the United States
United States Department of Justice (USDOJ)
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001 USA

VIA FAX: 1-202-616-0646, U.S. MAIL, and E-MAIL:
harmeet.dillon@justice.gov
harmeet.dillon@usdoj.gov
The Honorable Harmeet K. Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General
United States Department of Justice (USDOJ), Civil Rights Division
Office of the Assistant Attorney General, Main
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20530 USA

VIA FAX: 1-202-353-0472, U.S. MAIL, and E-MAIL:
chad.gilmartin@justice.gov
chad.gilmartin@usdoj.gov
The Honorable Chad Gilmartin, Deputy Director
United States Department of Justice (USDOJ), Office of Public Affairs (OPA)
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001 USA

Re:
Antisemitism Within The Piermont Democratic Committee (PDC)
The Village of Piermont, New York – Rockland County, New York
Ms. Marthe Schulwolf, PDC Member And PDC Candidate For Re-Election

Dear Attorney General Blanche, Assistant Attorney General Dhillon, and Deputy Director Gilmartin:

I am an attorney and reside in the Town of Orangetown, New York. Seeking oversight, I have contacted agencies in the past with certain disquieting findings regarding the Village of Piermont, located in the Town of Orangetown and Rockland County, New York. My understanding is that Village of Piermont government is already under New York State Comptroller Audit and law-enforcement investigation relating to Piermont’s finances, as of this day. Yet this new civil rights-related discovery came as a surprise. I will explain.

Below-linked is a full transcript (“Transcript”) of the Piermont Democratic Committee (PDC) Candidate Forum called “Meet the Committee Candidates”, held on Thursday, June 4, 2026 (the “Forum”):
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2026/06/full-pdc-transcript-thursday-june-4.html

The video of the so-transcribed Forum is found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Eya_AhJads

The Forum was held because, for the first time in memory of many Piermont residents, there is a contested choice between 7 PDC candidates for 4 openings on the PDC. June 23, 2026 is the primary election day, and early voting has already commenced.

When reviewing the Transcript, I was appalled to discover blatantly antisemitic remarks made by one Marthe Schulwolf. Marthe Schulwolf is a current member of the Piermont Democratic Committee and is seeking to remain on the PDC. Although some other remarks in the Transcript you will find to be ageist, sexist, and otherwise offensive - here is Marthe Schulwolf’s specific hate-speech in question and the reason for my letter to you today:
- - - - -

“Marthe Schulwolf: … But let me just say this. At the town and county level, what hurts us, what sometimes kills us… is that we have a severe... distortion in Rockland County politics. We have the town of Ramapo, and… also Haverstraw to a degree, where you have the Ultra-Orthodox voting blocs. Register as Democrats, they put Democrats in the County Legislature so they can control the majority and be the majority, and then they vote, exclusively, to a like 90, 95% for Trump and Lawler. And they also are, of course… very authoritarian, structured, cultish societies that do what the rabbis tell them to do. Their values are far more in tune with the Republican Party. They don’t believe in gender or racial equality. And the fact that they control the local… they have taken over the Rockland County Democratic Party. We have worked very hard in Orangetown, and we hope that this Fall we can take it back. They did get one of their people to become the Democratic Commissioner of Elections. Hopefully she’s following the law. She is the daughter of the…

[Moderator] Chris Sanders: Time.

Marthe Schulwolf: Ramapo Chair…

[Moderator] Chris Sanders: Time, Marthe.

Marthe Schulwolf: …who is an ultra-Orthodox.

[Moderator] Chris Sanders: Thank you.

Marthe Schulwolf: Severe problem.”
[Bold-face emphasis added].

Piermont Democratic Committee (PDC) Candidate Forum.
“Meet the Committee Candidates”, June 4, 2026:
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2026/06/full-pdc-transcript-thursday-june-4.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Eya_AhJads
Time-Code: [01:04:06,960 et seq.]
- - - - -

I know not what Marthe Schulwolf’s own religious, ethnic, or cultural background may be, but it does not matter here. After all, she expressly excluded herself from the calculation of “they” and “their people” when referring to “Ultra-Orthodox”[her words]. Marthe Schulwolf spoke as a member of the Piermont Democratic Committee, ostensibly for the Democratic Party generally, and as a candidate for renewed public office as a public official in New York State. Even in the heat of a political contest, Marthe Schulwolf had absolutely no right to willfully and intentionally disparage the “Ultra-Orthodox”[her words] as “cultish societies that do what the rabbis tell them to do”, and “who don’t believe in gender or racial equality”. Her reference to “one of their people” was similarly repugnant and wholly dissonant with respect to what are purported to be traditional Democratic Party principles. Piermont is a liberal village almost wholly comprised of Democrats. I am surprised that not one Piermont resident in the room stopped Marthe Schulwolf, or apparently even sought to stop her, as she was making these loathsome comments on June 4, 2026. Perhaps they were all too shocked by Schulwolf’s comments to do so. Or perhaps many in the room are complicit in them.

In any event, Marthe Schulwolf had no right to demean, degrade, and disparage a faith - an entire group of people, an entire class of people – my own neighbors in Rockland County - particularly for the purposes of her own self-serving political benefit. Her intolerant comments made in that setting violate the United States Constitution, the New York State Constitution, and, I have to believe, federal and state civil rights laws as well.

250 years ago this country was founded by those seeking free exercise of religion. I was born the son of two New York City artists in show business who raised me in the spirit of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King. My father was U.S. Army crypto and intel. JFK was his Commander-in-Chief. Years later, JFK Jr. and I became schoolmates in Manhattan. The Democratic Party of those days always purported to stand for equality and non-discrimination. Apparently, no more, though.

I am asking that your office of the Attorney General of the United States please commence a plenary investigation of the so-called “Piermont Democratic Committee” and an investigation of Ms. Marthe Schulwolf individually, given Ms. Schulwolf’s wholly-wrongful and repulsive remarks publicly-made as a member of the Piermont Democratic Committee.

Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

Respectfully submitted,

John J. Tormey III, Esq.