By Adam Kramer
Queens voters could prove vital to the election success of one of the two Democratic mayoral candidates — Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer or Public Advocate Mark Green — in Thursday’s election runoff.
The borough’s electorate, which was the driving force behind Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s 1993 and 1997 election wins, can help put the keys to Gracie Mansion into a candidate’s hand.
Both Ferrer and Green understand the importance of the borough’s large voting block and have fought to get endorsements from Queens’ powerful Democratic leaders.
Ferrer has received the support of southeast Queens politicians led by U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-St. Albans), state Assemblywoman Barbara Clark (D-Queens Village) and state Sen. Ada Smith (D-Jamaica). The group from southeast Queens split from the Queens Democratic machine, which supported Green.
Ferrer also corralled the endorsements of City Council Speaker Peter Vallone (D-Astoria), former Forest Hills congresswoman and vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, state Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan (D-Ridgewood) and state Assemblyman Ivan Lafayette (D-Jackson Heights).
Green was able to marshal the support of the Queens Democratic Party, which had endorsed City Comptroller Alan Hevesi in the Democratic primary. Queens Dem boss Tom Manton, along with Borough President Claire Shulman and City Councilwoman Helen Marshall (D-East Elmhurst), have led the fight for a Green win in the runoff.
Green also received the endorsement of Hevesi and longtime Queens political bigwig, former Gov. Mario Cuomo.
Ferrer and Green are in a run-off because neither amassed the 40 percent of the vote in the rescheduled Democratic primary Sept. 25 required to represent their party in the Nov. 6 election against GOP candidate Michael Bloomberg.
The original primary was cancelled Sept. 11 after the World Trade Center was attacked.
The New York City Board of Elections said the polls will be open as usual from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Officials said the election was held on Thursday rather than the traditional Tuesday because Monday was Columbus Day and Tuesday was a Jewish holiday.
Both candidates have crisscrossed the borough.
Ferrer “was in Queens a great deal and has a strong base of support there,” said John Del Cecato, a spokesman for the Bronx candidate. “You cannot understand the issues without spending time in the borough. Queens is critically important to anyone who hopes to be mayor of New York City.”
He said some of the difficulties facing Queens, a diverse borough, in the upcoming years are transportation, water rates, the environment and the Olympics.
Criticizing Green’s plan for the Second Avenue subway line, Del Cecato said the public advocate has left Queens out of the equation and Ferrer has called for a four-borough subway line.
In terms of the Twin Towers assault, Del Cecato said, Ferrer wants to provide 10 million square feet of office space in the outer boroughs to the companies affected by the attack. He said if those companies do not get office space, they will leave the city because it will take three to five years to rebuild the World Trade Center district.
Green has spent a good amount of time in Queens in the two weeks since the Democratic primary, said Joe DePlasco, a Green spokesman. On Saturday Green was in Glen Oaks, Floral Park and Bay Terrace and over the weekend he campaigned with both Hevesi and Shulman.
“We think Queens is essential,” said Joe DePlasco, a Green spokesman. “It is the city’s most diverse borough and the face of New York. It is the key to our overall strategy citywide.”
One of Green’s concerns was the economic damage the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center has caused the borough. One repercussion of the attack, he said, was that Queens lost 10 percent of its airline jobs.
If elected, DePlasco said, one of Green’s objectives would be to spur the economic development of Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx.
The most recent Quinnipiac University Poll, released Tuesday, showed Green with a 46 percent lead over Ferrer’s 41 percent with a 2.1 percent margin of error. The poll determined that among likely Democratic voters whites supported Green over Ferrer by a 67-20 percent margin, black voters favored Ferrer by a 55-30 percent margin and Hispanic voters chose Ferrer by a 68-23 percent ratio.
The New York Daily News and New York 1 poll, released Tuesday, had Ferrer leading the Democratic runoff by 46 percent to Green’s 44 percent with a 4.5 percent margin of error.
Reach reporter Adam Kramer by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 157.
