The gloves are off!
When told it would have been hard for her to run against former Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the 1990s because she is a lesbian, mayoral candidate Christine Quinn sounded off like a prize fighter.
“I would’ve kicked his ass,” she said of a matchup with the former federal prosecutor and two-term mayor.
Quinn, the City Council speaker, was at a same-sex marriage forum at Fordham Law School Monday night when moderator Thane Rosenbaum said running against Giuliani would have been tough for Quinn in 1993 because homosexuality was not as accepted as it is today.
That’s when Quinn offered her clipped reply, which drew laughs from the audience.
There was no response from Giuliani’s corner.
Although she isn’t running against Giuliani in November, a matchup against one of his former deputies may be in the cards.
Joe Lhota, who served as a deputy mayor to Giuliani and more recently as head of the MTA, is vying for the GOP nomination in a crowded field. His main challenge comes from billionaire supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis.
Quinn yesterday called her remark a “flippant, offhand joke” and added, “I would put my record up against anybody’s.”