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Last night, the four Democratic candidates for City Comptroller met for a debate to show why he or she should be in charge of ensuring the city's financial health. The Daily News explains, "With just days to go before Tuesday's primary, the race to become the city's top financial official is still a nail-biter, with three of the four candidates tied in the polls. Only two would be eligible for a runoff if no one takes at least 40% of the vote."
NY1, which televised the debate (watch it here), says City Councilman David Weprin attacked early, noting that two rivals voted to extend term limits, "Melinda Katz and David Yassky voted to overturn your rights." City Councilman John Liu went after Yassky, too, "You've given out more discretionary funding, more than 48 out of 51 council members. And now in the middle of the campaign, you want to eliminate, ban discretionary funding." Liu was hit for his claims of working in a sweat shop; Weprin said, "What has he done to prevent child-labor violations from happening?" And Weprin also said of Katz, "How can you be independent of the real estate industry when your finance committee, which is on your website, is a who's who on the Real Estate Board of New York?"
The NY Times thought the lightning round had "Some of the best information of the night... Among the revelations: all the comptroller candidates have gambled at a casino; all but one, Ms. Katz, have bounced a check; and Mr. Yassky is apparently the biggest fan of Beyoncé among them. Asked if they had ever been audited by the I.R.S., Mr. Yassky said, 'I don’t believe so, no.' Only Mr. Weprin said he had. The candidates were evenly split on the question of whether Derek Jeter was the greatest Yankee ever; Ms. Katz threw her arms up at the question." They all "gave mixed grades" to current Comptoller William Thompson.
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to me, Liu sounds like the cleanest of the bunch.
only because the Asians don't have much political pull in this city. therefore, no favors or not the favors presented to other groups this glorious city politicians dole out.
I expect an avalanche of insightful comments on this post to swiftly displace Alec Baldwin picking his teeth from the top of the site.
enjoyed your Wallace shawn piece. I always wanted to know a little something on his political thoughts.
and, what's the bruhaha over working in a sweatshop, if he did, he did. hey, there's still poor people in this city, then and now. and the streets are not lined with gold.
Thanks. I don't know what your referring to, re sweatshop.
that's to keep the post on track with the political discussion with liu's sweatshop ad, which I don't understand too.
Oh that's Liu?? Now it makes sense, i couldn't figure out what Jon Gosselin was doing running for Comptroller!
No one is upset that he worked in a sweatshop. They're upset that in his ads he claims to have worked in a sweatshop when he was 7 years old, but his parents contradicted him outright, saying he never did any such thing. His folks owned homes in Flushing and Bayside...they were hardly poor sweatshop workers.
"Mr. Yassky is apparently the biggest fan of Beyoncé among them."
insightful, hard-hitting, and provocative reporting getting straight to the questions we all wanted to ask.
alright JDS i did my part.
Liu's own mother called him a liar and he had his poor mother in a rally crying and she still stuck to the truth. she never worked in a sweatshop factory but took pieces home and was paid by completed work. Liu is scum
liu's still the cleanest politico there. he's small fry.
and the term limits extension vote, I will never forget those. every politician who voted for that will be outed.
Liu plays the race card and is a vile man. I met him in person and he can lie with a straight face without any conscience. In this case, I will stick with Yaskky.
you got your man, I got mine. that's the first time I've heard you use the term "race card". His race has very little clout in this city.
liu is still the cleanest politician there.
The issue for John Liu’s sweatshop is not whether or not the sweatshop existed, but whether Liu did as he said—that by age seven he had to “work in a sweatshop to make ends meet," and that he worked as a “knitting-thread manager” in a Queens garment factories from 1974 to 1978.
On August 5th, 2009, The World Journal, a New York Chinese newspaper published an interview with Liu in which he said that his family “was very rich in Taiwan with a big house and two maids,” and the reason his parents decided to immigrate to the US was because they wanted their children to have a better future.
That better future involved a good education—an even better education than in Taiwan. This means that the family must have had lots of savings when they migrated to the US, to make sure the children’s education would be better than in Taiwan. And also, the father had a job as an International Officer for the Hokkaido Takushoku Bank. His mom did some sewing work at home. So it’s extremely doubtful that the family needed to send the children to work in a sweatshop to make ends meet.
Liu’s family also bought a split-level house with a two-car garage in Flushing in 1977.
The parents have realized their dream because Liu excelled in city public schools, including the Bronx High School of Science and at the State University at Binghamton. However, they failed to teach their children to be honest, although the family has experienced a hard lesson from telling lies—Liu’s father has been jailed for cheating his customers. Now the son seems to be copying the father.
welcome peter, interesting post.
so lying is a big deal in America, I see.