Ferrer Quick To Play ‘Gay’ Card
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Seizing on a New York Times report that a Republican state senator from Queens, Serphin Maltese, allegedly tried to block gays from high leadership positions in the state party, the campaign of Democratic mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer yesterday called on Mayor Bloomberg to “openly condemn the anti-gay efforts of his Republican Party colleague.”
As chairman of the Queens County Republican Party, Mr. Maltese, is, however, campaigning against Mr. Bloomberg in behalf of the mayor’s Republican-primary opponent, Thomas Ognibene, a former City Council minority leader from Queens.
Attacking the mayor for the alleged homophobia of a political adversary “shows the Ferrer campaign doesn’t know how to do its job,” a Democratic political consultant, Hank Sheinkopf, said. Trying to link the men – without acknowledging that they are in quarreling camps – showed the same “error of judgment” that has plagued the Ferrer campaign with its previous “flubs,” including the now-infamous comments about Amadou Diallo, Mr. Sheinkopf said.
While the Ferrer campaign faulted Mr. Bloomberg for sharing a party affiliation with Mr. Maltese, Mr. Ognibene has repeatedly charged that Mr. Bloomberg is not a true Republican. Moreover, Mr. Bloomberg has been criticized by social conservatives for his support of same-sex unions.
“Somebody saw the words ‘Republican’ and ‘anti-gay’ in a sentence together and jumped on it without thinking it through,” Mr. Ognibene said yesterday of the Ferrer camp.
A spokeswoman for the Ferrer campaign, Jen Bluestein, said: “Mike Bloomberg and Serphin Maltese are both members of the Republican Party, and Mike Bloomberg needs to tell the Republican and Democratic voters of this city where he stands on Maltese’s anti-gay efforts.”
A spokesman for the Bloomberg campaign, Stuart Loeser, said the mayor was “disgusted” by what Mr. Maltese tried to do. “Mr. Maltese doesn’t support us and we don’t support him.”
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Rep. Anthony Weiner, one of four Democrats hoping to knock Mayor Bloomberg out of office, picked up the endorsement of the Lambda Independent Democrats – Brooklyn’s oldest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender political club.
At a five-hour meeting on Monday where the four Democrats seeking the party’s nomination delivered stump speeches and pitches, more than 100 of Lambda’s 300 members voted to support Mr. Weiner.
“None of the [Democratic] candidates are bad on gay issues,” Lambda president Gary Parker told The New York Sun. “But the mayor has consistently made the wrong decisions at every turn when it comes to legislation that would impact the LGBT community.”
Mr. Parker said the mayor “has not been a friend to the LGBT community at any point.” He cited the mayor’s appeal of a state judge’s decision that would have made gay marriage legal, his veto of a bill that barred the city from doing business with companies that fail to provide benefits for employees’ domestic partners, and his lackluster response to curbing school bullying.
Mr. Bloomberg has defended his position on all of those issues. He has said, for example, that while he favors same-sex marriage, it would be disingenuous to issue licenses without ensuring that they be recognized by the state.
Mr. Weiner, who has been trailing in the endorsement category, said in an emailed statement that he was “thrilled” to have the group’s support.
“The Democratic values we share is what my campaign is about,” he said, “fighting for middle class New Yorkers and those aspiring to get there, and equality for all.”
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Democratic mayoral hopeful C. Virginia Fields called on the Bloomberg administration yesterday to abandon the idea of closing a health clinic in Hamilton Heights.
Ms. Fields, the borough president of Manhattan, said it was unacceptable to permanently close the facility and use it for another purpose, as the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Frieden, said at a recent City Council hearing could happen.
The clinic, which has been closed for renovations since 1999, but was due to reopen, treated more than 8,000 patients in its last year. Of the $6.3 million allocated to renovate it, $1.5 million was appropriated by Ms. Fields and the remaining $5 million came from the Giuliani administration.
“We raised this money for a health clinic,” Ms. Fields said. “Northern Manhattan has the highest incidence of child asthma and infant mortality – we need this child health clinic.”
Ms. Fields said failing to reopen the clinic would further burden already crowded emergency rooms. “The ability to receive proper health care in one’s own community should never be a problem,” she said.