Chaim M. Deutsch is an American politician who served as a

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government model, the performance of ...

Member for the 48th district from 2014 to 2021. He is a Democrat. The district includes

Brighton Beach Brighton Beach is a neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, within the greater Coney Island area along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Brighton Beach is bounded by Coney Island proper at Ocean Parkway to the ...

Gerritsen Beach Gerritsen Beach is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, located between Sheepshead Bay to the west and Marine Park to the east. The area is served by Brooklyn Community Board 15. The population of the neighborhood is 4,797 as ...

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is ...

, Manhattan Beach, Marine Park, Midwood,

Plum Beach Plumb Beach (sometimes spelled "Plum") is a beach and surrounding neighborhood along the north shore of Rockaway Inlet, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is located near the neighborhoods of Sheepshead Bay and Gerritsen Beach, just of ...

, and

Sheepshead Bay Sheepshead, Sheephead, or Sheep's Head, may refer to: Fish * ''Archosargus probatocephalus'', a medium-sized saltwater fish of the Atlantic Ocean * Freshwater drum, ''Aplodinotus grunniens'', a medium-sized freshwater fish of North and Central Am ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. He was expelled from City Council after his guilty plea to charges of tax fraud in April 2021.

Personal life

Deutsch is the son of

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania ** Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditiona ...

immigrants who were

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...

s. As a teenager, his father survived three

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

s and was liberated at Gunskirchen before coming to the United States in 1965, but never spoke about the experience. Deutsch discovered his father's Holocaust history in a book after his death. Growing up, Deutsch lived in a small two-bedroom apartment as one of four boys. In between studying at

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy a ...

, Deutsch took up a number of jobs to support his family, such as making pizza in a

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...

pizza shop. He married his wife Sara at age 19 and has five children, as well as two grandchildren. He speaks English, Yiddish, and Spanish. Deutsch is an

Orthodox Jew Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on ...

and a

Kohen Kohen ( he, , ''kōhēn'', , "priest", pl. , ''kōhănīm'', , "priests") is the Hebrew word for " priest", used in reference to the Aaronic priesthood, also called Aaronites or Aaronides. Levitical priests or ''kohanim'' are traditionally ...

Career

In 1991 at age 23, Deutsch was inspired by volunteer patrols in neighboring communities and founded the Flatbush Shomrim Safety Patrol, in which he later served as President and ran until 2010. In 1996, he began working as a constituent liaison for Councilman Lloyd Henry and later became Chief of Operations for Councilman Michael Nelson. Deutsch also worked in real estate management and eventually founded his own firm, Chasa Management, which he had to give up after new City Council rules banned outside income for members. Deutsch is a graduate of the

New York Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

Citizens Police Academy. Following the aftermath of

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

in 2012, he mobilized volunteers to evacuate residents and assist in the distribution of goods to people affected by the storm. Deutsch was elected Councilman in 2013 after defeating Theresa Scavo, lawyers Nátraj Bhushan and Igor Oberman and District Leader Ari Kagan in the Democratic primary, and then defeating David Storobin in the general election. Deutsch also served as vice president and police liaison for the Council of Jewish Organizations of Flatbush.

New York City Council

In 2014 a new Council Subcommittee on non-public Schools was created, and he was appointed its Chair and only member. In January 2018 he was appointed Chair of the City Council’s Veterans Committee. In February 2018 he was unanimously elected Chair of the City Council's 14-member Jewish Caucus. In January 2019, his Holocaust Remembrance Bill passed the City Council, recognizing

International Holocaust Remembrance Day The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, is an international memorial day on 27 January that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of on ...

in New York City on January 27, and declaring the entire week following as a citywide Holocaust Education Week. He views himself as a "conservative Democrat." Deutsch's position has a

term limit A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

of two consecutive four-year terms. In 2019, Deutsch decided to solely use public transportation to travel to his office following the local killing of 10-year old boy Enzo Farachio in which a car which crashed into a bus stop. At a vigil with Farachio's family, he said: “I took a big step, I gave up my own personal car, just yesterday. And I’m going to be taking mass transit as much as I can. At times I’m going to be using a family member’s car, but I’m going to make an example to others, that if you can take mass transit, leave your car at home and take mass transit. If we can cut driving by 50 percent or 75 percent or 25 percent then we accomplish something.” After Deutsch pleaded guilty to tax fraud charges, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson announced that "Based on our review of the charging document and Mr. Chaim Deutsch’s plea agreement, the Council has concluded that the office of the 48th Council District has been vacated under the operation of law ... He is no longer a member of the City Council."

Congressional campaign 2020

On January 21, 2020, Deutsch announced his intent to run against incumbent

Yvette Clarke Yvette Diane Clarke (born November 21, 1964) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for New York's 9th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she first entered Congress in 2007, representing ...

in the Democratic primary for New York's 9th congressional district. On election night, Deutsch received only 9.4% of the in-person vote in the Democratic primary on June 23, 2020. He conceded over Twitter, congratulating Clarke while also expressing concerns about

voter suppression Voter suppression is a strategy used to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing specific groups of people from voting. It is distinguished from political campaigning in that campaigning attempts to change likely voting ...

Tax Fraud

On 22 April 2021, Deutsch pleaded guilty to tax fraud in Manhattan federal court. The charges arose from personal income tax filings for the year 2015 that included fraudulent information about business expenses related to Chasa Management, a firm that he solely owned. Deutsch failed to pay $82,076 in federal taxes from 2013 to 2015. The City Council expelled him the following week.

Election history

Deutsch was elected to the

on November 5, 2013 after defeating Republican

David Storobin David Storobin (born 1979) is a New York attorney and a former New York State Senator. A Republican, Storobin represented District 27 in the New York State Senate for several months in 2012. Early life Storobin was born in the Soviet Union in 19 ...

and multiple primary opponents. He succeeded Democrat Mike Nelson, who was term-limited. In 2017, Deutsch won re-election, after defeating both an opponent in the Democratic primary and Steve Saperstein (Republican, Conservative, and Reform Parties) in the general election. Per official election night results, Deutsch came in fourth in the 2020 Democratic primary for , behind incumbent Yvette Clarke and Adem Bunkedekko.

References

External links

The New York City Council: Councilman Chaim Deutch"48th Council District Candidate Interview: Chaim Deutsch,"
October 2, 2017. {{DEFAULTSORT:Deutsch, Chaim 1969 births American Orthodox Jews New York City Council members Living people Politicians from Brooklyn New York (state) Democrats 21st-century American politicians American people of Romanian-Jewish descent Candidates in the 2020 United States elections People expelled from public office New York (state) politicians convicted of crimes American people convicted of tax crimes