Candidates in congressional race make their case
The differences were crystal clear as the three candidates vying to replace disgraced former Congressmember Michael Grimm –who resigned in January after pleading guilty to tax evasion — spoke out at a forum sponsored by the Bay Ridge Community Council (BRCC).
Democratic Councilmember Vincent Gentile, Republican Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan and Green Party candidate James Lane – the three candidates running in the 11th C.D. which includes Staten Island and part of southwest Brooklyn — traded occasional barbs during the two-hour event which drew a standing-room-only and largely partisan crowd to the Guild for Exceptional Children, 68th Street off Third Avenue.
How partisan the crowd was – with many people holding signs for Gentile, others cheering loudly for Donovan or Lane, and questioners from the audience clearly sent to the microphone by one candidate or another — was noted by Donovan, who at one point remarked wryly, “There are probably about four of you in the room who haven’t decided who you are voting for yet.”