| Rob Tornoe | |
|---|---|
Tornoe at the Big Apple Convention, May 21, 2011. |
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| Born | 1978 (age 33–34) |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist |
| Notable works | The Press of Atlantic City The Philadelphia Inquirer The News Journal |
Rob Tornoe is the political cartoonist for Politicker.com, a network of state-oriented political websites owned by The New York Observer. He is a member of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists and provides cartoons to The Press of Atlantic City, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The News Journal, and others. Tornoe is one of the only editorial cartoonists in the country who has a staff job for an online media company, and typically draws over 10 cartoons a week on national and local subjects in Politicker.com's network of 15 states. He has drawn political spoofs ranging from Al Gore to Peanuts.[1] In addition to cartooning, Tornoe blogs at Politicker.com on editorial cartooning news and observations.
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Tornoe graduated from The Kubert School.[2]
Tornoe has won several awards for his editorial cartooning, including "Best Cartoon" by the New Jersey chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists in 2007 and second place in 2006.[3]
On July 9, 2008, U.S. Representative Jim McDermott (D-Seattle) used one of Tornoe's cartoons[4] as a backdrop for his criticism of officials of the George W. Bush administration and what he described as their true motivations for the Iraq War:
War Secretary Donald Rumsfeld may have said that invading Iraq had nothing to do with oil. But the announcement that western oil companies would get what they have lusted for says otherwise. And editorial cartoonist Rob Tornoe of Politicker.com summed up the world view the other day in the cartoon displayed behind me. He spoke truth to power with one compelling image. It says all at once that this entire war -- its tragic casualties and immense cost –- was all about oil.[5]
In addition to The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, Tornoe is a frequent contributor to articles on The Daily Cartoonist.[6]
On April 9, 2008, Tornoe posted a cartoon on Politicker's New Jersey website depicting a yarmulked, maniacally smiling Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9) about to wield a meat cleaver on Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferriero's private parts.[7] Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, also wearing a yarmulke, is shown holding Ferriero down for the procedure.
The cartoon poked fun at Rothman’s move to keep Ferriero from endorsing Rep. Rob Andrews in his bid for Lautenberg’s Senate seat, but both the New Jersey Jewish Standard[8] and the New Jersey Jewish News[9] reported criticisms of the cartoon as antisemitic.
The Anti-Defamation League and a number of local New Jersey politicians thought that the cartoon gratuitously ridiculed Rothman and Lautenberg as Jews, while mocking a sacred Jewish ceremony. Still others thought the cartoon, appearing in the weeks before Passover, smacked of the notorious "blood libel" linking Jews with ritual murder.
"I respect the freedom of the press and recognize that Rob Tornoe’s work is meant to be provocative,” Rothman said in a statement to the New Jersey Jewish News. “Still, I do not understand the relevance of a Jewish ritual to the admitted efforts of Senator Lautenberg and myself to persuade our friend, Chairman Joe Ferriero, to support the Senator’s re-election. The imagery used by Tornoe, unfortunately, plays into an age-old canard often used against Jews and is thus offensive and inappropriate."
Bob Sommer, president of the Observer Media Group, disagreed. He is Jewish, as is Jared Kushner, owner of Observer Media Group.
“The cartoon was about the use of power, and the senator and the congressman adeptly used their power to the senator’s benefit,” he told the New Jersey Jewish News. “That’s what the cartoon is about and any adept reader would understand that.”
Asked why, then, the cartoon included elements of the politicians’ religion, Sommer said, "Both the senator and the congressman are proud of their religion, and it was a humorous use of how they use their power."