Fields Tries to Regain Footing From Photo Faux Pas

C. Virginia Fields cleaned house with her mayoral campaign, firing top consultant
Joseph Mercurio (at right) after a series of unfortunate missteps involing a campaign flier. Mercurio spoke to The Politicker and said that Fields had approved the flier (Fields had claimed she never saw it and would never have let it be printed if she had), with the Photoshopped-in Asians. This comes after Field fired him, essentially blaming him for the fiasco, and put her campaign manager, Chung Seto, in charge, leading Mercurio to say that Seto wasn't capable of running the campaign. The Reverend Al Sharpton questioned the Mercurio's professionalism on his radio show yesterday, saying, "A professional ought to be a professional. And whatever disputes there are, they ought to remain that way [private]. They don't have a right to come back and try to slam-dunk you after stuffing their pockets."

The leading candidate in the hunt for the Democratic bid, Fernando Ferrer, seemed sympathetic to Fields, telling the NY Times, "I've known her for a long time, she's a woman of real integrity and honesty, and I trust her." Nice for Freddy to take the high road, when Fields did capitalize on his Amadou Diallo-related gaffe earlier this year. At any rate, The Politicker believes Fields' campaign is going down and the NY Times published a piece that raised questions about her toughness; the other real problem with Fields is that she doesn't quite stand for anything yet... you get a sense of what Ferrer, Gifford Miller and Anthony Weiner are about, but less so with Fields.