Mayoral Hopefuls Speak to Downtown Democrats

By Barry Owens

In their passion, the panelists’ questions to the candidates could be long, winding, and at times even confusing. A few of the candidates were late to the podium. And the occasional gabbing and glad-handing in the back of the room forced more than one shush from the seniors seated in the front row. But for the more than 100 democrats who filed into a Soho gallery space on May 9, the mission was clear.

“We have to find somebody to beat Bloomberg and end the 12 year reign of Republican rule,” said Carl Rosenstein, owner of the Puffin Room at 435 Broome Street. Rosenstein is a member of the Downtown Independent Democrats, a political club whose endorsements carry more than a little weight with voters in Lower Manhattan. On this night the four Democratic party candidates for mayor, Fernando Ferrer, C. Virginia Fields, Gifford Miller and Anthony Weiner were invited to speak to the group and answer questions. Christopher X. Brodeur, who has run in the past as a Green Party candidate, made his unsolicited case for his candidacy as well. Concerns over affordable housing, police brutality, increasing rents, and residual 9/11 toxins  were raised in the questions asked to each of the candidates. There were also questions on bridge and tunnel tolls, marijuana laws and the rights of Critical Mass, a bicycling group whose monthly mass rides have resulted in a number of arrests in recent months.

“I’m the candidate from Brooklyn and Queens, you’re not going to get me to agree to more tolls,” said Weiner, a Congressman. “Critical Mass has been around a long time,” said Ferrer, Bronx borough president and a former City Councilman. “Keeping people off the street and out of the way only started with the [Republican National Convention].” “Marijuana is illegal. That law is on the books,’ said City Council Speaker Gifford Miller. “As mayor, I will enforce it.” “We can build affordable housing,” said Fields, Manhattan Borough President. “But we need a plan to preserve what we have first.”

“The other candidates have been working for you for years,” said Brodeur, a freelance writer and cartoonist. “And what have they accomplished so far, ladies and gentlemen? Nothing.” The candidates had made previous visits to the DID board, but this was the first time they had addressed the entire club. Sean Sweeney, the group’s president, said it was too early to consider an endorsement. “Believe it or not, I wasn’t paying much attention to the answers,” said Sweeney, who spent much of the evening ushering the candidates, who appeared one at a time, in an out of the gallery. “I was too busy being a nervous hen.” “I felt like they were all pretty honest,” said DID member Diane Lapson, who posed a few questions of her own to the candidates. “Even when they were pointed, and we made them that way on purpose, they didn’t seem to duck. To me that was a good sign that this was a real dialogue.” The forum was a chance for a lesser known candidate, like Weiner, to make a first impression. “Anthony Wiener was the most convincing, most passionate,” said Pearl Scher, who brought along more than 20 of her neighbors from the Hallmark, a senior’s residence in Battery Park City. “I didn’t know anything about this

guy, but he showed a sense of humor and humility, the ability to make fun of himself that strikes me as an important characteristic for the job.” Wiener eschewed the microphone and in a loud, clear voice promised he would fight for the job. “Too often Democrats come to a knife fight carrying a library book,” he said. “I may not look like much, but I can handle myself.” Miller, recognizing the crowd from the Hallmark, reminded them that his grandmother lived there and joked: “I may be the City Council speaker, but she still doesn’t think enough people know who I am.” “I can win this race,” he said in conclusion, pausing and repeating for effect. “I can win this race.” Which on this night seemed all that the club was really asking. I hope they heard us, I hope they listened, and I hope one of them wins,” said Lapson. ‘