Three in Congress Back Ferrer for NYC Mayor Despite Diallo Comment

• RANGEL GIVING NOD TO FIELDS [more] 
  

Three members of Congress endorsed Fernando Ferrer for mayor yesterday after Mr. Ferrer's campaign scrambled for days to shift attention away from his controversial comments about the 1999 police shooting of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant. In prepared statements released by the campaign, Representatives Major R. Owens, Edolphus Towns and Nydia M. Velázquez all emphasized what they see as Mr. Ferrer's long record on economic and social issues like affordable housing, public education and racial profiling. Several African-American Democrats criticized his statements and accused him of pandering to white voters. The support of black and Latino voters is considered critical to the success of Mr. Ferrer, who is of Puerto Rican descent, but his recent comment, coupled with the candidacy of the Manhattan borough president, C. Virginia Fields, who is black, already appears to be threatening the re-creation of his coalition of 2001. The Diallo comment continues to come up at Mr. Ferrer's appearances. At a forum last night at the City University of New York graduate center, a member of the audience asked about the case. "Well, you may have heard I have a position on the Diallo shooting," Mr. Ferrer said, "and I mean that seriously, because I've had it - the same one - for six years. The shooting occurred in my borough, it was a bad shooting."

• Would you share a fox hole with Fernando Ferrer? As a politician, Ferrer has a reputation for flip-flopping on issues relevant to Blacks. He once opposed capital punishment when he was seeking a borough-wide office in the Bronx, whose denizens are overwhelmingly members of historically-oppressed groups. When whites are factored into the equation, he conveniently morphs into a political chameleon.[more]
• Ferrer Offers Explanation of Remarks in Diallo Case [more]
  
• As Fields Runs for Mayor, She Counts on Women to Help Her Make History [more]