TO PREZ BLAZ
Dem mayoral debate
de Blasio said.
Perhaps the most heated backand-forths came on the issues of housing, and donations from real estate — issues that have dogged de Blasio for years as he came under scrutiny from federal investigators who ultimately never charged him. As Albanese accused him of having “turned over the city to big developers,” de Blasio touted his support of a program to provide lawyers to lowerincome New Yorkers facing eviction.
“It’s a lie,” a woman in the crowd screamed.
“My friends, there was nothing like that in previous administration,” de Blasio shot back. “You didn’t get lawyers given to folks facing eviction, I’m sorry.”
Asked whether they believed that donations from real estate developers led to inherent conflicts, the two differed yet again, with Albanese saying he does not accept such donations.
“I’ve decided that I would do things on the merit, on the merits,” Albanese said. “When I get to City Hall, I don’t want to be indebted to big real estate.”
Two Democrats faced off on the mayoral debate stage Wednesday night, neither one inhabiting the same political universe. Sal Albanese, the only challenger to raise enough money to qualify for the primary debate, stressed his devotion to high ethics when he wasn’t lobbing zingers highlighting Mayor de Blasio’s lack thereof — and will almost certainly lose the Democratic primary coming up on Sept. 12. Albanese — on his third full bid for mayor — is a good-government purist who gave up his bonus pay for serving as a committee chair during his 15 years on the City Council. As he reminded debate viewers, he’s raised modest sums for his campaign without help of special interests. De Blasio has in three years as mayor proven an opposite mode of leadership, justifying once again in the debate his fund-raising from donors doing business with the city as a means to help disadvantaged New Yorkers come out ahead — and he will almost certainly win. The incumbent mayor has cracked the code for winning the top job in this town, doing the right favors for the right supporters at the right time while sidling up to the limits of what the law allows. That he has a decent enough record of accomplishments — low crime, improving schools — sure helps. In the debate, Albanese attempted earnestly to rip the mask off de Blasio, to reveal him as both hopelessly compromised by his donors and a failure at delivering on promises like a wave of new affordable housing. De Blasio swatted off the attacks and stared into the camera as if giving a mayoral address, albeit one at times delivered at the speed of a voiceover at the close of a pharmaceutical ad, making him sound anxious and defensive. All the same, Albanese did New York the public service of demanding to de Blasio’s face stringent ethics so painfully lacking for the last three years — “a higher standard than the mayor not being indicted.”
De Blasio, meanwhile, argued donations from real estate didn’t stop him from taking on the industry — citing a lawsuit filed by a landlord group after the city enacted a rent freeze. And he argued Albanese’s assessment of the influence of donations on officials is an affront to public servants.
Albanese, meanwhile, struggled with specifics on issues like fixing Rikers Island or the city’s troubled child welfare system.
He was asked whether his national profile was high enough to be mayor.
“Whenever you become the mayor of New York City, you become automatically prominent — even Bill’s prominent now,” Albanese said.