The most electric moment on the mayoral campaign trail occurred this week when Bill Thompson, a concerned father of a teenage son, found himself vigorously defending stop-and-frisk before a predominantly African-American audience.
Like most of the Democrats looking to succeed Mayor Bloomberg, Thompson, who is black, had called for changes to the controversial policy, mentioning that he has even instructed his 15-year-old son how to act if a cop ever stops him.
Hearing that, rival John Liu urged Thompson to join him in demanding the practice be abolished, not just modified.
“I feel lonely here,” chuckled Liu, thinking he was pandering to a friendly audience.
And that’s when Thompson — responding as an anguished parent channeling the fears of all moms and dads in rough-and-tumble neighborhoods — stole the show.
“I’m the one who has to worry about my son getting shot on the street,” Thompson shot back, his voice rising in anger as he reminded everyone that he’s not only a politician but also a parent.
“I’m worried also about my son being shot by someone who’s a member of a street gang, about my son being mugged on the streets of New York City.” he said at the forum at the First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, Queens. “I don’t have to sacrifice his constitutional rights to make sure he’s safe,” he added, indicating he’s open to modification.
Liu had nothing more to say after Thompson’s head-turning defense of stop-and-frisk.
But the audience members did. They loudly applauded Thompson, the former comptroller.
If there was ever a demonstration that stop-and-frisk is not a cut-and-dried issue, this was it.
Residents of high-crime neighborhoods may have a problem with too many random stops by cops, but they also want the NYPD to keep doing its job and keep them and their kids safe.
Bloomberg yesterday praised Thompson, his 2009 Democratic opponent, for speaking out.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, leading the polls in the Democratic race, plunged right into the middle of this furious debate by pushing her plan for an NYPD inspector general to probe stop-and-frisk.
Quinn had previously staked out ground as the most pro-police candidate in the Democratic field by announcing she would keep Police Commissioner Ray Kelly if she got to City Hall.
It seems incongruous.
Kelly is one of the architects of stop-and-frisk, and here Quinn is saying the force he leads needs more supervision.
Quinn has proven to be a master in having it both ways politically on many issues. This time, however, she infuriated her ally Bloomberg to curry favor with left-leaning voters who dominate the primary turnout.
It’s a calculated risk that the winner of the Democratic primary won’t have much to worry about in the general election, where former Giuliani administration deputy Joe Lhota could emerge as the Republican nominee.
But if voters are clamoring for a law-and-order candidate in November and Bloomberg decides he’s got more in common with Lhota than Quinn, this could become a very interesting election.