Rabbi yanks Paladino support; new porn e-mails surface

Carl Paladino Wednesday lost the endorsement of the Brooklyn rabbi who co-wrote widely criticized remarks on homosexuality made by the GOP gubernatorial candidate.

Rabbi Yehuda Levin, a onetime New York City mayoral candidate who has said he wants to create an ultra-Orthodox tea party movement, said Wednesday he could no longer support Paladino because of his apology Tuesday for saying children should not be "brainwashed" into believing homosexuality was an "equally valid" choice.

"I am absolutely suspending my relationship with Mr. Paladino and his campaign," Levin told reporters at a news conference outside St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. "I am removing my endorsement from him. I will not restore that . . . until he does like the right thing and like the old Carl shows a little backbone."

Paladino's remarks to Levin and other Jewish leaders caused Republican leaders across the nation to call for an apology.

Campaign manager Michael Caputo said Paladino and Levin "agree on many things and disagree on some, too. [Levin] is entitled to his opinion."

Levin's comments came as Paladino campaigned with a sheriff's candidate in upstate Boonville and sent more than 100,000 yard signs to volunteers across the state. His staff released a statement criticizing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, saying it should come under the control of the governor as part of the Department of Transportation.

Asked by a YNN television reporter about Levin, Paladino said: "We're off that topic. . . . What else, honey?"

In a separate development, new pornographic e-mails that a website says Paladino forwarded to dozens of friends and colleagues surfaced online. WNYMedia.net, a Buffalo-area website, published more pornographic e-mails it says were forwarded by Paladino to friends and colleagues. Previous e-mails reported by the website also were racist.

Caputo called the website "a collection of Buffalo misfits and miscreants who are obsessed with Carl Paladino and pornography."

"None of this is new; none of it is relevant," Caputo said in an e-mail.