Pirro Goes on the Offensive In First Debate Against Cuomo

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The New York Sun

Trailing in the polls and entangled in a federal investigation, the Republican candidate for attorney general, Jeanine Pirro, attacked her opponent yesterday, saying Andrew Cuomo is unqualified to be the state’s top lawyer.

In their first televised debate, Ms. Pirro repeatedly cast her Democratic rival as a nonpracticing lawyer who doesn’t “understand the criminal justice system.”

“Your running for attorney general would be like my running for Joe Torre’s position because I played softball 21 years ago,” she said, referring to the manager of the Yankees.

Mr. Cuomo, the son of Governor Cuomo who served as a secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Clinton, rebutted by saying he had overseen an office of 300 lawyers. He also tried to poke holes in Ms. Pirro’s record of sending sexual predators to jail.

Leading by about 20 points in public opinion polls, Mr. Cuomo employed the same front-runner strategy he has relied on since the Democratic primary, rarely losing his temper or taking his opponent’s bait. He repeatedly invoked his endorsement from Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who is the leading candidate to become the next governor.

The hour-long debate on WABC was the most divisive encounter between the two candidates in a race that has been marked by a series of stories about Ms. Pirro’s marriage. It was one of two debates before the November 7 general election.

The 9 a.m. morning television slot means that New York voters largely missed the exchange, and the story will likely be eclipsed today by a 6,800-word article in New York magazine in which Ms. Pirro’s husband, Al Pirro, talks about his frustration with his wife’s political career and how their marriage has suffered.

Ms. Pirro is currently under federal investigation for asking a disgraced former police commissioner, Bernard Kerik, to wiretap her husband, whom she suspected was having an affair. The former Westchester County district attorney insists she did nothing wrong and that the investigation is a political witch-hunt, but the case has dogged her campaign.

“There is a candidate who is being accused of criminal wrongdoing and is under investigation by a number of law enforcement agencies and has their ethics questioned,” Mr. Cuomo said. “That’s not however me.”

Ms. Pirro tried to direct the fire at Mr. Cuomo, even turning a question about her ethical behavior in the wiretapping situation into a criticism of him. She cited his failures in the 203 K housing scandal, in which appraisers, lenders, and landlords bilked residents in Harlem and in Brooklyn.

When a panelist asked Mr. Cuomo about his close ties to a developer whom HUD fined, she piled on.

Mr. Cuomo was paid $1.2 million for work that he did for developer Andrew Farkas, whose company sued by HUD for allegedly paying millions of dollars in kickbacks to the owners of federally subsidized projects.

Mr. Cuomo said HUD “brought hundred and hundreds of cases against corrupt vendors” while he was in charge.

“Mr. Farkas was one of those matters. I hadn’t met him at the time. I didn’t meet him until afterwards, so I don’t see the conflict,” Mr. Cuomo said.

The candidates sparred over a bill that would keep convicted sexual predators in “civil confinement” after serving time in prison, over the death penalty, and over the recently disclosed abuse of office by Comptroller Alan Hevesi. Mr. Hevesi, a Democrat, acknowledged using a state employee to chauffeur his ill wife. He has since reimbursed the state.

Mr. Cuomo said if he was referred the Hevesi case he would investigate and “prosecute it if necessary.” Ms. Pirro said she would proactively prosecute the case.

Mr. Cuomo attacked by citing a New York Times story that questioned Ms. Pirro’s claims in connection with a sting of sexual predators. He also criticized Ms. Pirro for failing to act on the case of a convicted murder and rapist who served 16 years in prison but was recently exonerated after she left office. He also said he would clean up corruption in Albany.

Ms. Pirro said Mr. Cuomo failed to understand that DNA technology was not in place when she was in office. She also brushed off his plans to clean up Albany, saying it was “hypocrisy.”

The dean of the school of public affairs at Baruch College, David Birdsell, said Ms. Pirro was “plainly on the offensive” and “highly articulate,” but that her negative approach could be seen as extreme.

Mr. Birdsell said Mr. Cuomo is clearly trying to avoid making waves in the final three-week stretch of the campaign.The next debate will be aired tomorrow night.


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