In his first appearance on the campaign trail with Mayor Bloomberg, Rudy Giuliani yesterday warned Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn that the city’s frightening, crime-ridden days could swiftly return if they don’t come out to vote and give the mayor a third term.
Bloomberg put his own spin on what’s at stake — pointing to Detroit as an example of what can happen when a once-great city loses its way.
“Detroit went from a great city with lots of good-paying jobs to a city that’s basically holding on for dear life,” he said.
Giuliani focused on Bloomberg’s keeping the city safe from terrorists and criminals alike.
“I worried daily that the city might be turned back to the way it was before 1993 — and you know exactly what I’m talking about,” he told the Boro Park Jewish Community Council.
“This community remembers the fears, the worries and the crimes — and the great fear of going out at night and walking the streets.”
City Councilman Bill de Blasio, who backs Democratic mayoral candidate Bill Thompson, accused Giuliani of “veiled race baiting” for suggesting a black mayor wouldn’t be tough on crime.
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“If Giuliani is using an openly divisive tactic, Bloomberg has to disavow it,” said de Blasio, likely the city’s next public advocate
A Thompson spokesman said that Giuliani was using “a tired Republican campaign tactic” while Thompson “is committed to public safety, not to manipulating people and inciting unnecessary public fear.”
Meanwhile, sources in the Bloomberg camp disclosed that the city’s largest police union, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, will endorse the mayor this week — giving him a clean sweep of all five unions representing cops and senior officers.
Eight years after leaving City Hall, Giuliani remains immensely popular in some white ethnic and Jewish communities, but scorned in some black neighborhoods.
Additional reporting by Matthew Nestel