After Citizens Union informed Craig Caruana, the Republican candidate running for the 30th Council District, that they were going to endorse him, the government watchdog group pulled their support following what the Caruana camp says amounts to pressure from Democratic elected officials. Citizens Union, however, has said the backing was rescinded days after the group told Caruana they had tapped him for the endorsement because of a controversial mailer from the Republican’s campaign about which Citizens Union members said they were not aware before the group expressed its support for the candidate running against Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village).
Citizens Union’s director of public policy and advocacy, Alex Camarda, emailed Caruana on Monday, Oct. 21 to inform him of their support.
“I wanted to let you know before we make it public later this week that we will be endorsing your candidacy in this race,” Camarda wrote in the email. “Congratulations!”
However, in an Oct. 24 phone call to Caruana’s campaign, Citizens Union Executive Director Dick Dadey said the group was pulling its endorsement, saying two Council members had called them regarding the decision. According to Caruana’s campaign, Dadey said the reversal was due to one of Caruana’s campaign mailers, which had been released several weeks prior, which Dadey said engaged in “fear mongering.”
“After the Citizens Union board met…and reviewed the message of the flyer and its consequences, it felt the flyer crossed a line and engaged in inappropriate fear-mongering that unfairly targets immigrants,” the group said in a statement to the press in regards to a campaign piece Caruana had sent out lambasting Crowley for supporting a bill that prevents the city Department of Corrections from checking the immigration status of individuals charged with a crime.
Atop the mailer, the Caruana camp wrote, “Liz Crowley made our neighborhoods more dangerous,” and it goes on to cite Councilman Peter Vallone (D-Astoria), who argued the policy would make “our streets more dangerous.”
“The behavior of Citizens Union… is sickening,” Caruana spokesman Kevin Ryan said. “Citizens Union has lost its integrity and caved in to political pressure from the Crowley cronies. They stand for exactly the opposite of the non-partisan reform they claim to support.
“They’ve made themselves a disgraceful part of the politics-as-usual system and just another phony partisan group in New York politics,” Ryan continued. “It’s Craig Caruana who’s fighting for good government reform – not the puppets at Citizens Union.”
The endorsement issue was brought up during Monday night’s debate in Middle Village between Crowley and Caruana, and the incumbent stressed that the legislation in question had been supported by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and the five borough district attorneys.
“They said they didn’t endorse your campaign because your campaign messaging was racist,” Crowley said during the debate of Citizens Union, which will now not make any endorsement in the race for the 30th Council District. The district covers Maspeth Middle Village, Ridgewood, Glendale, Woodhaven, and Richmond Hill.
The incumbent added that the law was “meant to have the immigrant community not fear law enforcement.”
Caruana, meanwhile, said at the debate that he is “very proud of all the mailers we’ve sent out” and stressed that others have questioned the bill, such as Vallone.
By Anna Gustafson
