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COURIER L M BR B G IFE, FEB. 22–28, 2019 31
LEADING THE PACK: Councilman Jumaane Williams earned
the endorsement of the Kings County Democratic party for
his public-advocate bid, following a candidates forum at the
party’s twice-yearly meeting on Feb. 12, days after some of
his competitors criticized the local lawmaker for fl ip-fl opping
on issues such as gay rights and abortion.
File photo by Paul Martinka
PARTY LINE
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like to share with individuals why you were opposed
to those things in the past?” Blake said.
Williams rebuked the claims, emphasizing he
now supports abortion rights, but failing to note
his change in stance on issues such as gay marriage
— an omission his campaign staffers quickly
tried to address on Twitter, reported our sister
publication Gay City News.
“Just for the record, since people try to distort
mine: I 100-percent support the right to access
safe and legal abortions, and I 100-percent support
marriage equality,” read the tweet posted to Williams’s
account during the debate. “It’s unfortunate
that people try to falsify my record because
they have no other response to my years of fi ghting
for equity and justice.”
Seven of the 17 contenders for the seat — including
Williams, Espinal, Blake, Mark-Viverito, Assemblyman
Ron Kim (D–Queens), attorney Dawn
Smalls, and journalist-activist Nomiki Konst —
again faced off in the second, and last, televised
debate ahead of the special public-advocate election,
which aired on Wednesday at 7 pm on Spectrum
News NY1, as this newspaper went to press.
The hopefuls, whom the debate’s host billed as
the “leading candidates,” got their spots in the
lineup based on certain criteria set by the city’s
Campaign Finance Board , including meeting a
fund-raising and spending threshold of $170,813 by
Feb. 15, and receiving an endorsement from a local,
state, or federal pol who represents the city,
or from a membership group with more than 250
members residing in the city.
Public Advocate hopefuls who participated in
the fi rst debate, including Assemblyman Danny
O’Donnell (D–Manhattan), and Councilmen
Ydanis Rodriguez (D–Manhattan) and Eric Ulrich
(R–Queens), did not join the second event,
because they did not meet the requirements to appear.