The Spirit of '77

Who knew events for Democratics hopefuls for attorney general could get so vicious? At a meeting of the Stonewall Democrats club (yes, they are gay), not only did other candidates storm the stage to speak when only Andrew Cuomo, the fundraising frontrunner, was scheduled to speak, an interesting part of NYC political history emerged. From the NY Times:

Mr. Cuomo also tightened up a bit when an audience member suggested that Mr. Cuomo was a "driving force" behind an infamous 1977 campaign poster that read, "Vote for Cuomo, not the homo," seen during the mayoral race between his father, Mario M. Cuomo, and Edward I. Koch. (Mr. Koch has said in the past that he is a heterosexual.)

Cuomo, for his part, denied having anything to do with the posters and called it an "ugly, cheap" rumor, and, according to the Daily News, calls Koch "crazy" over this debate. the Politicker notes Koch said they were hung "up and down" Queens Boulevard. At any rate, while the attorney general's race may continue to be interesting, we just want to read Ladies and Gentleman, the Bronx is Burning by Jonathan Mahler, which is about tumultuous 1977. Last year, Gotham Gazette spoke to Mahler, who said, "I think a lot of [Koch's victory] was due to his campaign manager, David Garth. Without him, Koch wouldn't have won. And the truth is that Cuomo ran a terrible campaign and kind of destructed."