As the Democratic mayoral frontrunner, Fernando Ferrer, runs from one campaign event to the next in the crunch before Tuesday’s primary, he apparently can’t run from a gaffe he made nearly six months ago.

Yesterday, Mr. Ferrer addressed students of Hunter College, in a speech that used Hurricane Katrina to highlight the “crisis” of economic inequality in New York. After the remarks, Mr. Ferrer fielded questions from students and faculty on a variety of issues, including Executive Order 41 – which prohibits the denial of city services to New Yorkers on the basis of their immigration status – and the lack of a teachers’ contract.

Mr. Ferrer said he would take a resolution to the contract situation “in a heartbeat” and said it was important to “start really getting serious about stopping the bleeding of our teachers to suburban school systems that pay more.”

The candidate’s answers evidently inspired a man who identified himself as a member of the City University of New York’s teaching staff but declined to identify his department.

“You talk about bleeding; you talk about taking it in the heart. And you talk about executive order 41,” the man, Abram Negrete, 50, said in a heated tone. “But the 41 that I remember is the 41 shots that killed Amadou Diallo in the Bronx. … And what you said about that when you were trying to curry favor … with the police, you said that was not a crime.”

In mid-March, Mr. Ferrer said he thought the 1999 police shooting of an unarmed African immigrant, Amadou Diallo, was not a crime during remarks delivered to the Sergeants’ Benevolent Association. The comments outraged many in the African-American community, sent Mr. Ferrer’s poll numbers plummeting, and threatened to derail his campaign.

“But to the people who work and study at CUNY,” Mr. Negrete continued, “that was a crime and we will never forget it, nor will we forget what you said.” The instructor’s comments were met with applause.

Mr. Ferrer, for his part, responded that in his March remarks he was “acknowledging the fact of a jury verdict.”

“I also acknowledge that I did it carelessly,” Mr. Ferrer said.

The Diallo matter had already surfaced yesterday morning, during a television interview on WB11, when Mr. Ferrer was asked whether he stood by statements “that you felt the shooting was more of a tragedy and not a crime.”

Mr. Ferrer replied: “I didn’t use the word tragedy or isolated tragedy as some others did. … For a 6-second part of the answer I was acknowledging the fact of a jury verdict.”

During the interview, Mr. Ferrer – who, according to most public-opinion polls, appears likely to face a runoff election September 27 – was also asked whether he thought such contests are harmful to the Democratic Party.

“Well, I think it hasn’t helped the party,” Mr. Ferrer said. “I think you’ve seen situations over the course of time, from 1973 going forward, when we’ve had runoffs that were very hurtful.” In 2001, Mr. Ferrer won the primary race but lost a racially divisive runoff contest to a former public advocate, Mark Green.

Given his history of failed mayoral bids, Mr. Ferrer was also asked about the intensity of his commitment to this year’s race. Although the generally placid Mr. Ferrer has been criticized in recent months for a lack of passion on the hustings, the candidate assured voters yesterday: “I’ve got enough heat in there to melt concrete.”

– Meghan Clyne

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A judge of State Supreme Court in Manhattan dealt City Council Speaker Gifford Miller’s campaign a blow yesterday, refusing its request for an emergency injunction to stop the Campaign Finance Board from making a ruling this week that could cripple Mr. Miller’s ability to spend money in the last few days before the Democratic mayoral primary.

In her ruling late yesterday, Justice Jacqueline Silbermann said: “Plaintiff is not being deprived freedom of speech; rather, he is being held to a bargain which he entered into with the Board, when he agreed to accept public financing of his campaign in exchange for agreed to abide by hits rules.”

The board is expected to rule tomorrow on the Miller case.

– Jill Gardiner

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None of the Democratic mayoral candidates came close to winning the maximum in public matching funds they were eligible for under city campaign finance law. A candidate could receive city matching funds on a four-to-one basis for as much as $782,000 raised in contributions of $250 or less. Instead, most of the candidates raised the bulk of their money from large donors.

As of the last filing on September 2, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller came closest to the limit, raising $679,346 that was eligible for matching funds. The other three Democratic candidates were clustered around $400,000 raised from small donors.

– Julia Levy

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The head of the Independence Party, Lenora Fulani, led a group of New Yorkers carrying signs reading “Bloomberg on C” yesterday afternoon to announced a “coalition of outsiders” rooting for Mayor Bloomberg in the mayoral election.

Ms. Fulani, who has been critical of Jews and Israel and has been under fire for alleged abuses at an after-school program she founded, refused to renounce her past comments and said she wanted to talk only about her support for Mr. Bloomberg, who she said “has begun to change for the better.”

“Relative to the statement that I made, my political friends and advisers have told me that it’s impossible to have a serious dialogue and discourse in this city at this time about those issues, so I’m following their advice and I’m not having them,” she said.

She said New York journalists “harp on things in the past” rather than talking about the future.

When asked directly if she renounced her past statements, she said no.

– Julia Levy

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A Quinnipiac University poll re leased yesterday found that of 572 likely Democratic primary voters surveyed in the last week, 32% said they planned to vote for Mr. Ferrer, down slightly from last month. Rep, Anthony Weiner was supported by 21%, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller by 17%, and Manhattan President C. Virginia Fields by 13%. The remainder were undecided. … The City Council speaker, Gifford Miller, received the endorsement yesterday of a coalition of Jewish community leaders in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. “Mr. Miller was always there for us and interested and dedicated to our community,” Rabbi Abraham Weiner said. “It’s payback time.” …The Uniformed Firefighters Association was expected to endorse Rep. Anthony Weiner’s Democratic mayoral candidacy today, NY1 reported last night.

– Jill Gardiner