With six days to catch an ascendant rival, Christine C. Quinn has released her first negative ad of the Democratic mayoral primary campaign. “Closer Look,†a direct attack on Bill de Blasio, suggests he is a hypocrite for accepting campaign contributions from landlords he had criticized, and seeks to undermine the perception that Mr. de Blasio is tougher than his opponents on New York City’s stop-and-frisk policing tactic.
It is true that Mr. de Blasio, the public advocate, received political contributions from landlords whom he had placed on a “watch list†after tenants complained of poor living conditions at their buildings. Mr. de Blasio’s aides say the contributions did not affect the list; some landlords who gave money were removed, but others were not. Ms. Quinn, the City Council speaker, has suggested that Mr. de Blasio shamed the landlords to extract political contributions; there is little hard evidence to support that claim.
The quote from Mr. de Blasio suggests that he is a stop-and-frisk supporter. But moments after saying these words in a May interview, Mr. de Blasio continued: ‘I disagree with anyone who says abolish a tactic we need, but I agree entirely that we have to fundamentally reform it, we have to change the nature of it.â€
Ms. Quinn’s team has criticized Mr. de Blasio for a misleading claim, in a previous ad, that he would be “the only candidate to end a stop-and-frisk era that targets minorities.†In fact, both candidates want to reform the practice, and although they differ on how to do so, neither would ban it completely. In Ms. Quinn’s new ad, the selective editing of Mr. de Blasio’s comment is also misleading; it suggests he supports the policing tactic, when he is actually a critic.
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