NYC-WTC_000230689

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document Green & Ft rm | sw DAILY NEWS, MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2001 Be ae inging a ees TT oe errer come out ‘durin tie cine : ete ee deba es Nice-guy race turns ugly as Thursday runoff nears By MICHAEL SAUL and JOEL SIEGEL . DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS Mark.Green and Fernando Ferrer engaged in a smackdown yesterday during, two testy debates in which Green charged that Ferrer flip-flopped on issues and is not up to managing the city’s crisis while Ferrer accused Green of breaking Battling for advantage in the final days of the deadlocked run- off for mayor, the Democrats re- _peatedly accused each other of distorting the truth as they dueled over issues from the Rev. Al Sharpton to their clashing views on a term extension for Mayor Giuliani. It was by far the most combat- ive day of what had been, until re- cently, a kid-gloves race. The run- off is Thursday. The debates ended an hour be- fore the United States unleashed air strikes on Afghanistan, launching a war that likely will overshadow the rest of the runoff if not the campaign. They later is- sued statements supporting the offensive. Gloves come off During the debates, the candi- dates often spoke with indigna- tion and sarcasm. “T need to respond to this: Who are you trying to kid, Mark?” Fer- rer Said at one point, when Green denied explicitly asking for the endorsement of Sharpton, who backs Ferrer. “Stop acting, Freddy,” shot back. At another point, Green said, “If you can’t take the heat, you shouldn't be in the debates.” Ferrer answered, “Oh, Mark. I can certainly take the heat, but I am not going to allow you to Green promises to runa positive race. stand there and distort.” “What have I said that’s un- true?” Green fired back. Swapping salvos The jousting began with a free- wheeling 30 minutes on WNBC- TV and spilled over into an hour debate on WABC. In both forums, the candidates show- cased closing campaign themes. Seeking to regain his former lead, Green was the aggressor, minimizing Ferrer’s plans for managing the city through the World Trade Center crisis — a strategy aimed at implying Ferrer is not up to the job as mayor. “To compare our ideas is fine. To denigrate ideas, and say, ‘Mine’s a big idea, yours is little,’ is not only beside the point, it is apart from what there should be,” Ferrer said. ° Green shot back, “It is not be- side the point, it is the point ... How else should voters judge us, Freddy ...except to how we respond to the greatest crisis in our history?” And Green repeatedly . por- trayed Ferrer as shifting posi- tions on two core liberal issues: support for abortion rights and opposition to the death penalty. “You flip-flopped on death and choice. I never have. That's a fact,” Green said. “That’s nonsense,” plied. Ferrer re- “Facts are facts,” Green said. At every opportunity, Ferrer in- voked Green’s backing of a 90-day term extension for Giuliani, a stand that has cost Green support of liberal voters. Ferrer opposed the extension. The Rudy issue Ferrer accused Green of telling him when the issue first came up that they should both oppose the mayor. “You want to talk about veracity and credibility, I'll go back again to the choice to stand with the mayor,” Ferrer said. Green denied such a conversa- tion took place. And Ferrer cast himself as a vic- tim of negative campaigning. In the WABC debate, Ferrer went so far as to count each attack Green lobbed. “That’s No. 4, Mark,” Fer- rer said stiffly. Green countered that Ferrer “mocked me” in his campaign kickoff speech, and that Ferrer’s surrogates attacked him. ‘1 didn’t whine, I didn’t complain,” Green said. Ferrer acknowledged his goal of boosting teacher pay 30%— a promise made before the eco- nomic turmoil of the terrorist at- tacks — “is not realistic, it’s not rea] world” now, Green answered a 30% hike was not only “unlike- ly, implausible and irresponsible now ...I thought it was a year ago when he [proposed] it.” NYC-WTC_000230689 CITY _21MC100_ 011830862