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Liu, Yassky Fight For Comptrol
By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 16, 2009
Modified Sep 16, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 16, 2009
Modified Sep 16, 2009
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Besides a run-off for Public Advocate, yesterday's primary election also resulted in a run-off for City Comptroller, with City Council member John Liu (D-Queens) getting 38% of the vote and fellow Council member David Yassky (D-Brooklyn) getting 30%. Two other Council members from Queens ran— Melinda Katz got 20% and David Weprin 11%.
The NY Times noted the differences between Liu's and Yassky's campaigns, "Liu, a former actuary and an immigrant from Taiwan, struck a populist tone, from his home neighborhood of Flushing to Chinatown, where voters embraced him as a trailblazer, and Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, where several black leaders endorsed him," while "Yassky, a former law professor, focused on Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn, and touted his accomplishments on the City Council, where he closed a tax loophole for developers and encouraged film companies to shoot in the city, with tax incentives for production." Liu won endorsements of major unions (and groups like the Working Families Party and the Citizens Union) while Yassky was armed with endorsements from the NY Times, Daily News and former boss Senator Chuck Schumer.
Runnin' Scared points out Yassky did better than expected, since one poll had him getting 22%, and wonders if he was aided by his "Election Day barnstorming of the Upper West Side" where people don't know him though, "Obviously some in the neighborhood -- like the man who heckled Yassky for five minutes at 72nd and Broadway over his vote in the city council to extend term limits -- knew him well enough already." The run-off election is on September 29.
Tagged
city comptroller
david yassky
election 2009
john liu
primary
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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