By Betsy Scheinbart
Shortly after he was endorsed by his former Democratic rival Fernando Ferrer, Mark Green gained the support of U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-St. Albans), who had supported Ferrer in the mayoral run-off.
“I think that comparing Mark Green to Mike Bloomberg, there’s no question that Mark is better qualified to run this city and bring it together,” Meeks told the TimesLedger Tuesday. Bloomberg is the Republican candidate for mayor.
Green’s campaign is currently planning a formal event with Meeks, who was one of many elected officials to throw his support behind Green in a show of unity within the Democratic party, said Johanna Flattery, a spokeswoman for Green.
When Ferrer endorsed Green Friday, the two released a joint statement, saying “we pledge to work together in the coming weeks and years to ensure a campaign and a mayoral administration that includes all New Yorkers. The city’s greatness and future depend on the unity of our people.”
Meeks agreed that unity in the party and among elected officials in the city was needed more than ever during this period of recovery and reconstruction following the World Trade Center disaster.
“I think that especially at this time in our city’s history we need someone that has that ability, someone that can work with other city council members and other members of government,” Meeks said in an interview, “someone that understands the system and someone who also understands and has compassion for economic development in Manhattan, but also in the outer boroughs.”
Green also picked up the support Monday of the New York Central Labor Council, headed by Brian McLaughlin, a Democratic state Assembly member from Flushing.
“Throughout the years, Mark has been the staunchest advocate for right in our city — civil rights, consumer right, human rights and worker rights,” McLaughlin said. “Mark has worked with every community in this city and has real experience dealing with all kinds of organizations and people.”
In contrast to Meeks and McLaughlin, the Rev. Floyd Flake, the minister of the Allen A.M.E. Church in St. Albans and Meeks’ predecessor in Congress, made favorable comments about Bloomberg this week but did not formally endorse the media mogul.
Flake has acted as a mentor to Meeks and the two often appear together at southeast Queens community events, although they do not always agree on political endorsements.
Meeks said he hoped Flake would support Green for mayor and planned to talk to him about that endorsement.
“We disagreed in the past,” Meeks said. “I think that he’d be wrong [to pick Bloomberg] and Mark’s going to be the mayor and I hope that he jumps on that bandwagon.”
The mayoral campaign heated up heading into the Democratic run-off Oct. 11 when literature with racial undertones criticizing Ferrer and one of his major supporters, the Rev. Al Sharpton, was distributed in Brooklyn and other areas of the city.
Phone calls were also made to specific districts, apparently aimed at turning voters away from Ferrer. Green denied any involvement with the fliers or phone calls, but some in the Ferrer camp remained unhappy about tactics they said divided the Democratic Party and offended black and Hispanics.
Green and Ferrer said in their statement “there is no place in New York City politics for campaign tactics that deepen racial tensions. We condemn letters, fliers, posters, phone calls and rhetoric – regardless of their source – that have caused anger and hurt in communities within our city.”
The statement went on to say that the Green campaign will fully investigate the source of the material and any Green campaign employee found to be involved in the activities will immediately be fired.
Meeks said he thought the issues of fliers and phone calls had been addressed but not fully resolved.
“I think some people have been hurt,” Meeks said. “The Democratic Party is working at it because those racial undertones were not just in regard to Mark — it was bigger than Mark and had to do with the overall Democratic Party and I think that they are addressing those issues now and will overcome it.”
-Reporter Dustin Brown contributed to this story.
Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 138.
