Councilman David Yassky had former Mayor Ed Koch endorse him for the controller runoff on the steps of City Hall this morning, and while Koch praised the Brooklyn Heights Democrat as a paragon of honesty and integrity, he ducked the chance to cast any aspersions on his opponent, John Liu.
Yassky, however -- perhaps figuring it's time to go for broke -- went there:
"John Liu has shown a pattern of statements that do raise questions about playing fast and loose with the truth. And I think that that's important in a controller. We have to have a controller with honesty and integrity."
He didn't cite any examples, but it unmistakably referred to questions about whether the Democrat from Flushing, Queens really worked in a sweatshop starting as a 7-year-old, as he claims.
Video below; Liu's response is after the jump.
Liu was asked for his response at his own endorsement event a few minutes later (with former state controller H. Carl McCall, former Bronx borough president Fernando Ferrer, and Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum):
“I don’t think there’s any response necessary. I think the fact of the matter is that my record stands for itself. ... I know my life story, I’m very clear about it. Even since I was little kid I have very vivid memory of working in the sweat shop, as well as numerous other things that I’ve gone through in life. And the fact that I’m not able to produce pay stubs, I’m sorry I can’t produce the pay stubs from them.”
Asked what does it say that Yassky has gone on the attack, he said:
"We’ve got eight days to make our case to the voters. I’m going to be talking about my professional qualifications for the office, my vision of what the office of controller can do for New Yorkers and how I have been consistent on all the issues.”
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