Board Forges Ahead on Sept. 25 Primary

By Robert Polner | STAFF WRITER

September 16, 2001

The attack that obliterated the Twin Towers, forcing cancellation of Tuesday's primary elections, has rearranged the city's political landscape as well, but no one is sure exactly how - or how profoundly.

Although the primary has been rescheduled for Sept. 25, the major candidates are not campaigning. Aides and political experts said they have no way to tell whether the terrorist attacks, or Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's commanding presence at the city's most harrowing juncture in history, will influence voting.

Although Giuliani isn't a candidate because of term limits, his central role in the recovery effort has made it abundantly clear that "the next mayor will matter, and who we choose does make a difference," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Polling Institute.

"It's unclear how the turnout will be affected," Miringoff said. "The question is whether people feel that part of a response to the attacks is to assert their democratic rights."

On the other hand, it's possible that people may stay away from the polls in fear, grief or preoccupation with the tragedy's wake.

The primary for mayor, comptroller, public advocate and City Council was halted hours after it began Tuesday morning. Gov. George Pataki and the State Legislature, at a special session Thursday, changed the primary date, and stipulated that any runoffs will be Oct. 11.

Even before the disaster, there were worries that there would be problems at the polls and during the vote-counting, because of an unprecedented number of candidates in many closely contested races. Now the disaster has multiplied those logistical worries.

"We've got to make this primary happen, regardless of the difficulties," said Douglas Kellner, the Manhattan Democratic commissioner on the city Board of Elections. The board, relocated from its lower Manhattan offices to Brooklyn, held a three-hour emergency meeting Thursday to discuss the challenges.

"The commissioners were unified in the belief that we've got to adopt a can-do attitude, and that running this election is an important part of helping the city to recover from this tremendous tragedy," Kellner said.

Logistical problems aside, the terrorist attacks clearly present the mayoral candidates with a radically changed set of political circumstances.

In the pre-disaster New York, the two candidates who criticized Giuliani's policies on schools and law enforcement, and his often-abrasive style - Public Advocate Mark Green and Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer - were running neck and neck for first place in the polls before the aborted primary.

In post-disaster New York, Giuliani's tirelessness, resolve and air of calm command have inspired a wave of praise and gratitude.

In pre-disaster New York, improving schools was every candidate's top priority. In post-disaster New York, survival and rebuilding are likely to be job 1. And the pre-disaster outcry against racial profiling could weaken, at least in certain cases, as polls show many Americans willing to see civil liberties curtailed in order to fight terrorism. Everything, from budget questions to building priorities, has changed.

One idea on which all the Democratic candidates agreed, using property taxes generated by the sale of the World Trade Center to increase the city's housing supply, is now cruelly irrelevant, too.

Despite the changes, the candidates do not intend to campaign anew.

"The campaign is over and now we will have an election," said Joe DePlasco, a spokesman for Green.

Aides say the hopefuls are discussing the election gingerly, if at all. Instead, they have fallen back on their governmental roles to help New Yorkers cope in their most tested hour.

Democratic candidate Peter Vallone convened the City Council at the New York Public Library on Thursday, and local legislators voted to send a home-rule message to Albany seeking $2.5 billion in additional city borrowing capacity to help with the rebuilding efforts.

Vallone's presence has been felt at Giuliani's meetings and news briefings as the leader of the legislative branch, said Vallone's campaign spokesman, Jordan Barowitz.

"There is no strategy; there is no campaign," Barowitz said, "but the fact remains that in the next few months, there are going to have to be council appropriations, zoning changes, land use decisions - you name it."

Green, for his part, visited the wreckage with no announcement, attended law-enforcement briefings, and convened his public-advocate's staff of 40 persons "to help people start their lives back together," DePlasco said.

Democrat Alan Hevesi, the city comptroller, has oriented his 800-person staff toward a variety of assistance efforts, and Ferrer has concentrated his office's energies on helping families and rescuers from the Bronx.

On the Republican side, Michael Bloomberg has organized restaurants to donate food for rescuers and turned over a downtown office for them to use for bunking and eating. Herman Badillo toured the disaster site with a former Port Authority director, also without announcement.

In keeping with the decision by the candidates to refrain from campaigning, the Campaign Finance Board announced Friday that candidates in all races were barred from exceeding their original spending limits, despite the two-week postponement of Primary Day.

An exception was made for a few candidates who now must rent new office space after losing access to their old offices in lower Manhattan, such as Betsy Gotbaum, who is running for public advocate.

With all the candidates pulling their ads off the air, the board's chairman, the Rev. Joseph O'Hare, will urge newspaper editors to write editorials asking voters to go to the polls. If afforded free TV air time, he will broadcast his pitch as well, board spokeswoman Molly Watkins said.