Issue 1 — Sunday, June 8th, 2025

Did you get an email from Joe Holtz on Wednesday, June 4?

Joe Holtz used our Coop email address list to send 17,000 member-owners his personal opinions about how to vote on hybrid meetings and who to vote for in our Board of Directors election.

It was no-reply because Joe wants you to do what he says, but doesn’t care what you think.

Members did not authorize Joe to send the email. No one checked it for accuracy before sending.

On June 7, Joe said to a member he would personally prevent the candidates from sending their own email and speaking for themselves after his one-sided attack.

Joe misrepresented Coop history and outright lied to us.

Let’s take a closer look at his message!

LIE: Dan Kaminsky and Taylor Pate hid their PSFC4Palestine endorsement from the membership.

FACT: Dan and Taylor were endorsed by PSFC4P on May 21. At the March General Meeting, during the Board Candidate Forum, Joe asked Taylor to disclose any endorsements; she said there were none. Dan could not attend this meeting and submitted a video to introduce himself.

Candidate bios were also published in March, before the PSFC4P endorsement on May 21. Both candidates had previously published LWG letters in support of a boycott. PSFC4P is actively canvassing outside the Coop; the support is not hidden.

LIE: To get members to vote against Taylor and Dan, Joe says they will force the Coop to boycott Israeli products or join BDS.

FACT: Taylor and Dan are NOT seeking to unilaterally force the Coop to do anything. They will protect the membership’s right to vote on any issue, including a vote on a boycott. Both are on the record saying they would abide by a membership vote against a boycott.

FACT: For fifteen years, Joe has done everything in his power, including collaborating with members who work with national pro-Israel groups, to prevent us from discussing or voting on a boycott.

LIE: Joe wants members to think Dan and Taylor care only about boycotting Israeli products.

FACT: Both candidates are running for the Board because they believe in the Coop. Read their bios in the Gazette. They have leadership experience in cooperatives and food justice organizations. Both have strong, principled beliefs in the importance of the cooperative movement for affordable food and community power. Taylor and Dan are actually the most capable candidates for safeguarding the Coop’s viability, and they will uphold the right of the membership to vote on all proposals.

As individuals, they support a boycott. As candidates, they have positions and expertise on a variety of topics important to our community. Ask them what they think about our Coop and related topics!

LIE: Joe greatly distorts Coop history when saying 75% for boycotts is a “long-standing tradition.”

FACT: From 1973, Coop boycotts required 50%+1, like all other votes. The threshold was only changed to 75% in 2016 by a small group of pro-Israel members who feared a future boycott of Israeli products was likely, after the 60-40 vote against it in 2012. Moving the goalposts entrenched the status quo and allows small groups of members to control the Coop.

FACT: Over his years at the PSFC, Joe has expressed inconsistent views on boycotts. He previously argued that in order to have impact, we should only take part in well-organized boycotts with many participants outside the Coop - and now, he falsely claims that if we were to boycott Israeli products, we’d be controlled by outsiders.

FACT: Joe provided an inaccurate description of the number of Israeli products we carry. This number varies from week to week and season to season. The products subject to a boycott would be determined by the deliberation and voting of the membership, not any particular list. When we boycotted South Africa and the Pinochet regime, both only affected one product (apples and grapes).

Joe Holtz has taken a “Father Knows Best” approach to this election. Joe’s years of service do not entitle him to dictate how members should vote. We are all member-owners of the Park Slope Food Coop and our shopping markup pays Joe’s salary. Our mission states that, “We seek to maximize participation at every level, from policy making to running the store.” You can’t maximize participation in policy with email blasts of misinformation, telling members how to vote.

Joe Holtz has used obstructionist tactics to block voting on the Hybrid Meeting proposal - and that is why it has taken 18 months to come to a vote, now via a referendum issued by our Board.

Even still, just two weeks ago, Joe hired a lawyer in a failed personal attempt to stop the referendum.

Joe had ample opportunities to share his views in Coordinators’ Corner opinion pieces, in General Meeting oral reports and in conversations with staff and members. In these contexts, members have a chance to respond and challenge his views, holding him accountable. But not with an email blast.

Joe also expresses his views via his actions, his refusals to act, and his collaboration with a small group of likeminded members. These make it clear that he does not actually care about democracy.

Joe Holtz is retiring on June 30, a week after the election he is trying so hard to control.

Our coop owes Dan Kaminsky and Taylor Pate the right to respond to Joe Holtz’s one-sided, untruthful attack.