Every so often, Gothamist gets passionate emails from Christopher X. Brodeur, who is running for mayor, about Mayor Bloomberg being corrupt. And yesterday, Brodeur sent us something about how a flier that Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields put together had Asians Photoshopped into it. As Gothamist had trouble opening the attachment and needed to rest up for the bid anticlimax that was the 2012 Olympics announcement, we had to wait for today's Post story with Fields's chief consultant admitting the whole picture was doctored:
Fields' chief consultant Joseph Mercurio said that the photo in the handout — "Virginia Fields, Democrat, a Mayor for All New Yorkers" — is actually four separate pictures that were melded together into one. Mercurio said the fake photo was intended to represent Fields' "inclusiveness."
The questionable picture features a rainbow coalition — two Asian-Americans, one Hispanic-looking man, one white male, three black males, one black woman and one white woman. The photo is made to look as if it were taken at a single event — a Fields press conference.
: Reader Dave noticed that the NY Press actually broke the story first. Other Democratic candidate campaign staffers said things like "This is something that should have been caught, that should have been seen" and "You've made my day." This comes as one Democrat thinks Mayor Bloomberg is the "9-to-1 prohibitive favorite" to win the election.
New York magazine thinks Fields could beat Bloomberg - if she got a platform; plus, here's an interview that Gabe Pressman, one of Gothamist's favorite New Yorkers, did with Fields. And you might remember Mercurio from goofs as saying he didn't remember who Geraldine Ferraro is when Ferraro turned her support to Fields rival Fernando Ferrer.
