In 2006, more than 80% of Roosevelt voters supported the recall of Neil Marko, the Borough's mayor, by a vote of 282–68, in an effort initiated by the Committee to Recall Marko. Voters chose Beth Battel, then the Borough Council's president, to replace Marko as mayor. The recall election was part of a larger controversy regarding a local yeshiva, a school for Jewish boys, that had been permitted to operate in a local synagogue by Mayor Marko, who was also the congregation's president. While supporters of the yeshiva, including Mayor Marko, described the opposition as "thinly veiled prejudice", a local historian described the recall as reflecting "not so much anti-Semitism as anti-Orthodox feelings".