Alan Hevesi’s mayoral bid suffered a major blow today, when The New York Times’ endorsement – long coveted by Hevesi’s camp – went to Democratic front-runner Mark Green.
The paper heaped praise on Green, and offered a severe critique of the comptroller.
“Despite all his years in office, Mr. Hevesi was relatively unknown to most voters when the race began, and his attempts to introduce himself have gone badly,” the paper said.
“Reports surfaced about his relationship with campaign contributors that showed Mr. Hevesi might be lax about avoiding the appearance of conflicts of interest,” the paper said in today’s editions.
“Lately, the courtly Mr. Hevesi has mutated into the campaign’s angry man, attempting to out-Giuliani the mayor himself in name-calling,” the editorial said.
Last week, Hevesi started airing ads complaining that Mayor Giuliani and The Post were colluding to ruin his City Hall bid.
The loss of the Times’ endorsement was a major setback for Hevesi, who political observers believed was the early favorite for the paper’s Democratic primary endorsement.
The Times’ decision also improved Green’s odds of capturing the 40 percent plurality he needs to avoid a runoff – although such a decisive Green victory is still a long shot.
The Times is widely read by the core liberal Democratic primary voters on whom Hevesi has started focusing in recent weeks.
But the editorial said Green has “shown the most evidence that he is evolving into a man who could be a successful mayor,” adding that his frequent trips to different neighborhoods “assure us that Mr. Green would be a mayor who would go anywhere and talk to anyone.”
The Post has endorsed Council Speaker Peter Vallone.
Meanwhile yesterday, Green and Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer held rival Harlem press conferences, while Vallone and Hevesi stumped on Staten Island.
Green stood with former Mayor David Dinkins and the Rev. Calvin Butts as he laid out his housing plan and later took a three-borough tour to salute Latino voters, while Ferrer picked up the backing of 20 ministers who have formed a political committee to support his City Hall bid.
Ferrer has been vying to boost his numbers among black voters, while Green was clearly trying to bump up his own support with Latinos, who form Ferrer’s core support.
Elsewhere on the trail, Vallone pressed the flesh at the Richmond Town County Fair on Staten Island, and said his plan for the final days is “to meet as many people as I can.
“But I won’t go negative – it’s not my style,” he said.