Skoufis' Major Donors Tried to Steal Election in South Blooming Grove

The complete South Blooming Grove election-fraud timeline

Here’s what The Monroe Gazette has been able to gather so far. Keeping in mind, we have several FOIL requests out to the Village of South Blooming Grove.

Videos:

First video: Village of South Blooming Grove resident Kelly Parzer asks Village Clerk Kerry Dougherty about the October 22nd election. This was recorded on October 23rd.

Second video: The Monroe Gazette wrote to South Blooming Grove Village Clerk Kerry Dougherty on Thursday, Oct. 23, requesting clarification concerning the village election in South Blooming Grove. As of this writing (Sunday, Nov. 2), we have not received a response from the village clerk. On Monday, Oct. 27, we went to South Blooming Grove Village Hall to get answers from the clerk.

South Blooming Grove Election Fraud Timeline

1. In early 2021, not long after controversially taking office — and you can go and you can see there’s a lawsuit from Joel Stern’s RSBM Party, and Joel Stern is identified as George Kalaj’s campaign manager, according to the Times Herald Record — already before they even get into office, there’s a lot of controversy. That controversy would continue when Mayor George Kalaj illegally fired every member of the Planning Board without notice or cause.

It’s never explained what RSBM or RLYBSS stand for.

Stern and Ekstein initially sought to throw out absentee ballots in that first lawsuit, but later withdrew the case after they won the 2020 election.

RSBM Excavating LLC and RSBM Management LLC are currently being sued by Orange County over digging up parts of Gonzaga Park to build what Joel Stern has frequently called the “Mangin Bypass,” which would provide a direct connection between the village of South Blooming Grove and Kiryas Joel. RSBM Excavating is represented in that case by the same attorney, Joseph Haspiel, who represents real estate developer Wayne Corts. So for those of you looking for yet another potential connection between what happens in South Blooming Grove and what happens in Woodbury, there you go.

RSBM Excavating is also connected to Rachves Estates LLC via a lawsuit and to a man named Abraham Malek. RSBM Excavating is working on the Clovewood project site and was named in yet another lawsuit. Samuel Holtzer is identified in a separate lawsuit as being associated with RSBM, using the address 37 Chevron Rd., Unit 201, Monroe, NY 10950 for RSBM Excavating. There’s a whole web of people involved with funding Joel Stern’s operations, but as we’ve pointed out before, the man you need to pay attention to is Mr. Avraham Ber Jacobowitz. According to our brothers and sisters in the Haredi community, Mr. Jacobowitz is alleged to be providing the funding for Joel Stern’s efforts to quickly convert the Village of South Blooming Grove into a city. He also may be related to Bernie Jacobowitz, which was the point of origination in this whole saga with: Zalman Berkovitz, Solomon Witriol, Mendel Schwimmer, Bernie Jacobowitz, Joseph Strulovitch, Jacob Gold, Moses Greenfield, and Sam Wiesner v. Village of South Blooming Grove. (The names in bold are confirmed investors in Keen Equities, which is the Clovewood developer.)

2. After Mayor Kalaj was elected, Joel Stern became the mayor’s confidential assistant, and Isaac Ekstein became the legislative aide. Despite that, Stern immediately began referring to himself as the village executive — a claim supported by Stern’s testimony in the Orange County lawsuit and emails obtained through FOIL.

Stern started using the title as early as 2021. In the Satmar community, Joel Stern is often referred to as “the mayor” of South Blooming Grove rather than Mayor George Kalaj.

When I speak with my Haredi brothers and sisters, they sometimes say “the mayor,” and I have to mentally correct it because they mean Joel Stern, not George Kalaj.

Second, the village attempted in 2021 to change the terms of office from two years to four years, but it did not file the required paperwork with the Department of State until late 2024.

Please pay careful attention to this timeline.

Note the date of October 12th, 2021, which is when this resolution was actually passed.

Below is a brand new, potentially never-before-seen or voted on, “updated” Local Law from 2024. The Village of South Blooming Grove was not exactly forthcoming in how this new local law came about. Nor does Local Law 5 of 2024 appear in any 2024 meeting agendas or minutes that we have found thus far.

Pay attention to the time jump.

On October 26th, 2021, the last email about the terms of office change was sent. The Village of South Blooming Grove inappropriately (of course) blacked out the following as part of The Monroe Gazette’s FOIL request. We are currently appealing this.

The next email sent on the Terms of Office, as far as we know, is June 20th, 2024.

Five months later, the 2021 Terms of Office changes are filed with the Department of State in November of 2024 with a new name. At NO POINT does this new Local Law, Local Law 5 of 2024, ever appear on any 2024 agenda to be voted on or approved.

So I want you to hear this because it could become important in court.

In early 2021, Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein tried to change the terms of office from two years to four years, but Kerry Dougherty, the village clerk, did not file the paperwork with the Department of State until November 2024.

I have reached out to the Department of State for comment on whether the 2021–2024 change in terms is legally valid; they have not replied. Previously, they’ve said that’s for a judge to decide, but given the situation in South Blooming Grove, they’ve been more responsive, so I’m curious whether I’ll get a different answer this time.

Assuming the terms change was not legally valid, the village would have missed the mayoral election scheduled for March 2024. In 2025, the village also skipped an election for two trustees; that second skipped election prompted a lawsuit naming New York Attorney General Letitia James, alleging her office failed to act regarding this and other potential illegality involving Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein.

The Maderia case was dismissed on a technicality but could be refiled against the village of South Blooming Grove if a resident chooses to pursue it (the original suit was filed by Chris Maderia, who has since moved).

That’s why The Monroe Gazette sometimes describes the village leadership as de facto.

When I email George Kalaj for comment or submit a FOIL appeal, I sometimes refer to Stern as the unelected mayor. We still do not know whether the change in terms of office was legally valid.

3. During Joel Stern’s tenure, the FBI, EPA, Department of Health, Orange County Department of Health, New York State Comptroller, DEC, and the New York Attorney General’s Office opened multiple investigations into activities by Stern and Ekstein.

Multiple lawsuits were subsequently filed.

- FBI: The Monroe Gazette has confirmed the investigation is open and active.

- EPA: Open and active.

- New York State Department of Health: Status unclear; the department is often unresponsive to FOIL requests.

- Orange County Department of Health: Issuing fines to South Blooming Grove (see our last article).

- Orange County District Attorney: Has stated investigations remain open but can’t comment on the matter publicly.

- New York State Comptroller: Audit began March 2024, expected to be completed June 2025; the comptroller told The Monroe Gazette yesterday the audit is still ongoing and provided no completion date.

- DEC: As of this summer, no active enforcement was found; reports indicate no work at the Clovewood site, though clearing appears to be occurring behind the large apartment blocks on Route 208 that lack certificates of occupancy due to water issues.

- New York Attorney General’s Office: Did not return calls regarding the illegal election. Has not returned any calls concerning several issues related to South Blooming Grove.

Note: The Village of South Blooming Grove is operating under a state of emergency for its municipal water infrastructure crisis, which sources attribute to actions by Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein.

We also contacted Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office for comment on the illegal election; as of this recording, we have not received a response.

4. On Feb. 20, 2025, Joel Stern testified in a lawsuit between Orange County and the village of South Blooming Grove, stating that Mayor Kalaj’s term of office expires in March 2026. This matters because Stern’s sworn testimony is part of the record; given prior instances where Stern has been accused of false statements under oath (see our coverage of his activities in Union Township, N.J.), his statements should be treated with caution. (Just a note about Stern’s activities at 601 Lehigh Avenue in Union, New Jersey. Stern worked for Jacob Gold at a company called Windsor Global. Jacob Gold is the second largest shareholder in the Clovewood project behind the developer, Ziggy Brach.)

In his Feb. 20 testimony, Stern said Mayor Kalaj’s term expires March 26, 2026.

Somewhere between Feb. 20 and Sept. 25, the village of South Blooming Grove says it held a public hearing and passed a law moving the election from March 2026 to Oct. 2025. However, the village’s meeting agendas and minutes are not updated past May 2025, and when asked to produce the June resolution, Village Clerk Kerry Dougherty refused on camera. We’ll return to this shortly.

5. On Sept. 25, 2025, we published the story about the Committee to Elect Woodbury Democrats. At a Woodbury voting‑board meeting, Rhonda Fabro declared that any criticism of South Blooming Grove is antisemitic. That line is also used by state Sen. James G. Skoufis, who dismisses such criticism as antisemitic, fear‑mongering, or a conspiracy theory.

Outside of billionaires and corporate PACs, one of the largest individual donations Skoufis received was $10,000 from Village Executive Joel Stern. After we reported that on Skoufis’s Facebook announcement concerning the village election, Skoufis blocked The Monroe Gazette’s main and secondary accounts. We will send him a legal letter within a week alleging he’s violating the judge’s orders in Wagschal v. Skoufis by blocking us; if he does not unblock our accounts within ten business days of receipt, we will pursue federal court. He will then have to explain publicly why he is blocking accounts that report factually accurate information about Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein being among his largest individual donors.

But let’s stop here to examine those May 2022 donations.

On May 15, 2022, state Sen. James G. Skoufis received $70,000 in campaign contributions: $10,000 from Joel Stern and $10,000 from Isaac Ekstein. In Skoufis’s top 25 largest individual contributions are the two people at the center of the South Blooming Grove controversy.

Also reported that day: $5,000 from Canadvance Toisim LLC; $10,000 from Chaim Schwartz; $10,000 from Chayim Piekarski; $10,000 from Esther Klein; $10,000 from Joseph Landau; and $5,000 from Kisvarda Equities LLC. The latter LLC is alleged to be connected with Tovia M. Jacobowitz. Tovia owns six properties in South Blooming Grove: 4 Red Bird Drive; 316 Lake Shore Drive; 321 Lake Shore Drive; 30 Merriewold Lane N; 32 Merriewold Lane N; and 8 Tanager Road.

So, I think it’s fair to say it’s in Mr. Skoufis’s financial interests, and in the interests of Skoufis’s flunkies like the Fabbros, to try to act outraged about what happens in South Blooming Grove when asked, but then do nothing about anything when the time comes. Or in the case of the Fabbros, try to downplay and shout down criticism of Stern and Ekstein by claiming antisemitism despite the facts.

6. On Oct. 9, 2025, Joel Stern — from his Gmail account — sent an ad to the Mid-Hudson Times announcing the Oct. 22, 2025, election. The Mid-Hudson Times provided a copy after searching their records; we thank them for their help.

Notably, the ad publicly identifies Isaac Ekstein for the first time, to our knowledge, as deputy village clerk of South Blooming Grove — a development we will examine in future reporting. (We’ve asked the Village of South Blooming Grove for proof that this ad did run.)

7. On Oct. 16, from his United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove email (not his official village address), Joel Stern requested the complete South Blooming Grove voter roll from the Orange County Board of Elections. We obtained this and related emails via FOIL. We’ve filed FOIL requests for many materials from South Blooming Grove and intend to sue for records we haven’t received. As of this recording, Clerk Kerry Dougherty has not responded to our questions about this election nor provided any documents to verify the legitimacy of this election.

And also just one quick point here, like you’ll notice that on our timeline, it’s already October 16th, News 12 reported that in June 2025, there was a village referendum to change the time of the elections. However, if you go back to the Village of South Blooming Grove website on June 9th, 2025, under the board agenda, it’s not there. There is no agenda item that appears to correspond with the document provided by the Orange County Board of Elections to News 12.

Is it a fake? We don’t know. But I sure want to see its metadata.

Interestingly, this SBG Village resolution, allegedly from June 2025, came from the Orange County Board of Elections, according to News 12; however, when The Monroe Gazette put in the following FOIL, we did not receive this same resolution. This could have been a mistake on the County Board of Elections’ part to not include it. So we’re going to put in an appeal and get to the bottom of that one.

If you look at the June 9th and June 23rd Board of Trustees meetings, if you look at the resolutions that were voted on, there were no resolutions in June concerning changing the election from March of 2026 to October.

8. On October 16th, from his United Jewish Community in Blooming Grove email, Joel Stern asked the Orange County Board of Elections for a complete voter roll for South Blooming Grove.

9. On October 20th, and this is the difference between our timeline and the News 12 timeline. Isaac Ekstein, now identified as the deputy clerk. Sends an email to the Orange County Board of Elections stating that the election went well with 61 yeas and 10 nays. There are no attachments to this email. There is no request for clarification by the OC BOE on what election Ekstein is discussing here. There’s nothing. Just this vague statement.

We reviewed the Oct. 20 South Blooming Grove meeting (a 2026 budget preview); the agenda and minutes contain no mention of a referendum.

I asked Clerk Kerry Dougherty directly where the referendum and local law were; she refused to produce them.

One possibility: Stern and Ekstein frequently wait until the last minute and attempt to sneak resolutions through. For example, Ekstein once proposed renewing the Clovewood permits at the end of a meeting without prior agenda notice and the board approved. So it’s possible something was slipped in at the Oct. 20 meeting; I can’t rule that out.

What’s interesting to note about the October 20th meeting also is that the agenda has several items concerning 58 Fort Worth Place, which is Mayor Kalaj’s property. That also is like a whole side quest that I don’t have time to get into, but it’s just worth flagging that there’s this whole thing going on with the mayor’s property and the mayor is claiming to live there. There are a lot of questions about whether or not he actually lives there, to say nothing of the financial transactions happening here between his property and the Village / Stern & Ekstein’s operations in and round it.

But if you go and you look at the advertisement for the village election, it’ll say 58 Fortworth Place for Mayor Kalaj. Whether or not anyone bothered to verify if the Mayor lives there prior to the election being held is unknown. Also unknown is whether or not other candidates were aware of the election, and if the candidates on the ballots gathered the appropriate signatures to appear on the ballot.

10. On October 27th, Kerry Dougherty is recorded, stating Isaac Ekstein is a deputy clerk and may have access to the email in question, which is sbgdeputyclerk at sbgny.gov.

However, like I said, nowhere in any budget or document that The Monroe Gazette has found thus far demonstrates that Ekstein is actually Deputy Clark. So there were questions here about the legitimacy of whether or not Ekstein is Deputy Clerk. And it’s also interesting because we have screenshots of these emails where Ekstein never identifies himself. It just says Deputy Clark, which is also sketchy because usually the Deputy Clerk, who is Rosemary Vega, signs her emails, and this person did not, so again super sketchy. (For one thing, it calls into question all of the FOILs that have been submitted where Ekstein is directly associated with the records being requested, like with 1 Roanoke Drive, which we have previously written about.)

Regardless, Ekstein then informed the Orange County Board of Elections that the election would take place two days later, on October 22nd and requested the poll book.

11. Here is where it gets interesting. A source close to the Orange County Board of Elections told The Monroe Gazette that the OC BOE did not know about the election. But this email exchange demonstrates that the Orange County Board of Elections was either misinformed or lying; And had full knowledge of the election and chose not to intervene. So we asked the following questions:

Hi Courtney and Louise,

As you know, I put in a FOIL request for emails concerning SBG’s Village Election (held 10/22/25) with the OC BOE. I’d like to ask, on the record, the following questions:

1. Was the BOE aware of whom they were emailing at the address SBGDeputyClerk@sbgny.gov, the email, according to the Village Clerk, does not belong to the Village Deputy Clerk. The Village Clerk (Rosemarie Vega) does NOT have access to this email address.

2. When the BOE was told by this individual that a referendum passed on October 20th, did the BOE inquire or ask for any further information on this referendum? I requested a copy from the Village Clerk this morning and she refused to provide it. (This was the referendum to move elections from March to October. The Department of State at this time is looking to see if it received a copy.)

3. On October 16th, Joel Stern emailed requesting the Voter Roll for SBG from his UJC of Blooming Grove email, did anyone at the BOE inquire about the nature of this request given that it did not come from an official SBG email?

4. The unidentified individual using the Deputy Clerk email asked for the pollbook no later than 10am on 10/22 (day of election). They received it at 2:29pm. Is there a time when this information needs to be received by in order to conduct an election that same day?

5. Did the unidentified individual ask for any additional assistance for the Village of SBG in terms of voter machines or anything else?

6. The Village Claims the election was held at Village Hall that evening, did the BOE know the location of the election that night?

7. Has the BOE received any additional information (such as final vote tallies, who was on the slate, ect) after 10/22? What is the process to certify election results after they are held, if any, on the County level?

And they’ve released a statement to the Monroe Gazette. We did get a statement from the Orange County Board of Elections, which says:

Mr. Mendelson,

In response to your inquiry - pursuant to Election Law section 15-124(1), which is attached, the village clerk has the responsibility for the general conduct of all village elections and the proceedings preliminary and subsequent thereto and we feel that your inquiries would be more appropriately directed to the Clerk’s office.

So that’s the Orange County Board of Elections not answering our questions. They did provide a resolution to News 12, although the origins of it are unclear, and they did also provide voting totals:

129 votes for Mayor Kalaj, 132 votes for Abraham Weiss, 130 votes for Yitzchok Feldman. All running on … You guessed it. The RSBM Party.

Does that RSBM name sound familiar?

The Monroe Gazette has requested the security camera footage from Village Hall on October 23rd to confirm whether or not an election actually took place. (We’ve also been informed of a rumor that the people who voted are the people who have business connections with Stern, and were not informed they were voting in an election. We cannot confirm this.)

12. On October 21st and 22nd, there is an email discussion with the Orange County Board of Elections and the person believed to be Isaac Ekstein asking for an updated poll book before 10 a.m. on October 22nd. Mrs. Dougherty, when asked, did not have a physical copy of the poll book, nor did she have a readily accessible digital copy that was requested from the village.

We have now spoken with several residents who expressed concerns that Mr. Ekstein wanted the poll book in order to forge signatures. We were trying to get that signature book. If we can get it, we’ll look at it. But that’s a concern that’s been raised by residents.

Mrs. Kerry Dougherty, when asked, has only confirmed that an election was held by Mrs. Kelly Parzer. You can see this in the video. She says it’s a special election.

So, is it a special election? Or did they pass a resolution in June to change the date of the election? Because here’s the thing … we talked to the Department of State.

The Department of State said, we don’t have anything from South Blooming Grove concerning changing the date of the election or a resolution / local law to confirm that.

I have all of the local laws filed with the Department of State, including a couple from June involving Stern’s latest scheme of creating a public safety department. You know what the Department of State DOES NOT HAVE FROM JUNE? Anything having to do with changing the time of the Village elections.

And if you watch the video of me trying to get answers from Kerry Dougherty, the village clerk, you know, she says we sent a resolution saying that they changed the election dates to them to October. This statement from the Department of State says they do not have that.

So I take the Department of State’s word over Kerry Dougherty’s word any day of the week.

13. So next, Kiryas Joel Weekly was informed of the election results by an unknown party, probably Joel Stern, but that’s just a guess, and published the news on its front page on Friday, October 24th.

Although it could have been Ekstien, because his uncle is a bigwig in Kiryas Joel.

So it could have very well been either of the two. Either way, you should know that the Governor’s Office, like I mentioned, has declined to comment so far. Congressman Pat Ryan’s office has not yet replied to requests for comment.

State Senator Skoufis, as you know, does not reply to requests for comments from the Monroe Gazette. He did give what we feel is a pretty weak-ass statement to News 12 about questions his office has. And then he also put out a statement on Facebook, which was also kind of like...

Look, at this point, I think if you’re reading The Monroe Gazette, you kind of know that that’s Skoufis is a corporate schill. And he’s not gonna say anything that’s gonna piss off one of his top donors and his friends. You know what he’s going to do? He’s going to make a lot of noise for like, a week, and then go back to his nothing burger weekly newsletter where he never says anything about I.C.E. or the millions of New Yorkers without healthcare. Instead, he’s going to tell you about his tax cuts for the wealthy and his tinkering with laws to do the absolute minimum.

And we also want to note that Skoufis is telling people to call if they have concerns about this Village Election.

So, we want to note that the head of constituent services for Skoufis is a man named Matt Fascaldi. We called and left the message on October 23rd. Our call was not returned. Matt Fascaldi is currently on the ballot as a Democrat to be an Orange County legislator in District 15, which is New Windsor and the area surrounding New Windsor. So take that for what it’s worth.

So that’s our timeline. That is what we have as of November 2nd.

Is that June resolution cited by News 12 legit? We don’t think so. Is the Attorney General going to do anything about it? Probably not. Is Skoufis? Nope. Neither is Hochul, because she’s got a tough primary ahead of her next year. The only solution here is for South Blooming Grove residents to sue. If you’d like to do so, email me at bjmendelson@duck.com

Of course, we’ll have more to share on this story soon.