Kevin Hagen for New York Daily News
Former New York Mayor David Dinkins? memoir, set to hit bookstores in the fall, has reopened wounds from 1993, when he was defeated by Rudy Giuliani because of 'racism, plain and simple,' he says.
A mayoral race focused on New York City?s future was hijacked Wednesday by what happened in a campaign 20 years ago.
Republican mayoral hopeful Joe Lhota issued a rebuke to former Mayor David Dinkins, a day after Dinkins charged that he failed in his bid for reelection in 1993 against Rudy Giuliani because of racism.
?David Dinkins is wrong,? Lhota said.
?He?s doing a disservice to New Yorkers by reducing the debate to incitable comments about race. Both Democrats and Republicans voted him out of office because he was incapable of governing the city.?
Dinkins, the city?s first black mayor, has long spoken elliptically about what, if any, effect the city?s racial currents had on his political fortunes.
But the 86-year-old former mayor pulls no punches in his memoir, ?A Mife: Governing New York?s Gorgeous Mosaic,? which is due in stores in the fall. Details of the book began appearing in press accounts Tuesday night.
Dinkins writes that racism was a factor in his narrow victory over Giuliani in the 1989 campaign and that it was responsible for his equally narrow loss to Giuliani four years later.
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?When asked why I lost, I used to say, ?Why do you think?? Dinkins wrote. ?I did not want to say it out loud, but it?s time. Now I say, ?Racism, plain and simple.? ?
Lhota served in a number of capacities in the Giuliani administration, including as a deputy mayor. And Giuliani has emerged as a high-profile supporter of Lhota?s own campaign for City Hall.
The Republican hopeful ? who is not mentioned in Dinkins? book ? issued his rebuttal in a five-paragraph statement bearing a headline that charged the reason Dinkins lost was ?because he was not competent as mayor.?
The statement said the city suffered ?gross deterioration? on Dinkins? watch, with a ?sky-high crime rate, more than 2,000 murders per year, record welfare rolls and violent riots.?
?When I am mayor, I will have an open door with every community and represent every New Yorker equally,? Lhota said in his statement.
?The fact of the matter is, people from all political persuasions and ethnicities voted Mr. Dinkins out of office. He owes all New Yorkers an apology.?
Dinkins did not immediately return calls left at his office and his home Wednesday seeking comment.
jsiegel@nydailynews.com
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NydnRss/~3/WIcEGz8E3U4/story01.htm
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