Bob Turner, the Republican candidate in the Sept. 13 special election in New York’s Ninth Congressional District, planted his hands on his hips and scowled. Government spending was out of control, he said, and something had to be done.
His Democratic opponent, David I. Weprin, followed him to the lectern and offered a look of incredulity. Mr. Turner, he countered, was out of control, and wanted to destroy the social programs on which middle-class residents of Brooklyn and Queens depend.
“I’m very scared of his deep Tea Party philosophy,” Mr. Weprin said.
After each candidate spoke, dozens of people, gathered in the basement hall of a synagogue in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, cheered. Others tried to drown them out with angry boos.
So it went at a forum between Mr. Turner and Mr. Weprin, who are running to succeed former Representative Anthony D. Weiner in a race that seemed sleepy at first but has turned increasingly feisty. And, befitting the escalating tensions, the event amounted to as much to an exercise in heckling as a dialogue between candidates.
But the discussion that could be heard over the din revealed a wide gulf between Mr. Turner, a retired cable television executive, and Mr. Weprin, a state assemblyman, who talked at length about runaway federal spending but diverged on how to control it.
Other events with both candidates are expected in the coming weeks.
In the way that special elections sometimes fill a certain vacuum and turn into national political barometers, the candidates spent barely any time talking about the Ninth Congressional District, which covers parts of Brooklyn and Queens.
Some topics discussed at the forum have already been talked about at length during the campaign: Mr. Turner criticized the Muslim community center planned near ground zero, calling it an unnecessary provocation, and Mr. Weprin emphasized his support for Israel and said he disagreed with President Obama for saying that Israel’s pre-1967 border should be the basis for a peace agreement.
But while Mr. Turner’s competitiveness in the race has been seen as an indicator of deep consternation about Mr. Obama in a heavily Democratic district, the candidates’ back-and-forth focused only minimally on the president.
Mr. Turner, citing his background in business, said that the federal government needed to cut spending by 35 percent, and suggested eliminating the Agriculture and Education Departments and curtailing the Environmental Protection Agency.
“We have a government that is out of control,” Mr. Turner said, stressing that the cuts should be made without increasing taxes. “It’s not only possible, it’s absolutely necessary,” he added.
Mr. Weprin, on the other hand, used the Tea Party name as a pejorative and tried to affix it to Mr. Turner as often as possible. He proposed raising taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations, and defended the place of the federal government in regulating the environment.
He mocked Mr. Turner’s fiscal agenda. “You can’t just cut, cut, cut,” Mr. Weprin said. “We have to preserve Medicare and Social Security, and those programs that Americans rely on.”
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4 Responses
I attended this event last night, and was totally disguisted by the behavior (or lack thereof) of Turner’s supporters, several who mentioned that they live outside of the 9th CD. In fact, I just sent an email to Turner’s campaign about that. While the majority of attendees last night were probably Turner supporters at the start, by the time we left, many of us were no longer too sure we’d vote for him, despite our dissatisfaction with Weprin. It would have been worth 100 votes for Turner to have stood up and requested that this borderline mob (police were in attendance) please refrain from their heckling and shouting and act in a civil manner.
I too was appalled at Weprin’s supporters terrible behavior last night. Many people came in unsure who to vote for, but left knowing they’ll be voting for Turner.
You can’t vote for a man who supported the TOAVAH bill!!
Given the partisan bickering that appears to have occurred, either of these politicians would fit in just fine in Washington. We need reasonable people who are willing to compromise for the good of the country as a whole. There seems to be a shortage of such people.