White suburbanites were pulled into Harlem’s bitter congressional primary on Thursday.
Rep. Charles Rangel sent out a campaign flier featuring smiling “residents” loaded with money and in suburban settings as an eye-catching way to slam chief rival Adriano Espaillat for voting to repeal the city’s commuter tax in 1999 when he was in the state Assembly.
The campaign literature resembles a Mad Men-era newspaper ad with three photos of perky white residents holding wads of cash while thanking Espaillat — now a state senator — for their “swell” lives.
“Working and middle-class New Yorkers struggle every single day to make ends meet in the toughest city in the world,” proclaims the flier.
“So why did Adriano Espaillat vote to abolish the Commuter Tax and hand wealthy, suburban residents $9.7 billion in tax cuts, while destroying New York City’s budget and forcing devastating cuts to pre-K, law enforcement and affordable housing?”
The Espaillat campaign shrugged off the ad, but was as ready as ever to launch another attack on the veteran congressman in the increasingly fierce race.
“After nearly half a century in Washington, all Congressman Rangel has left is sad attacks like these,” said Espaillat campaign spokeswoman Chelsea Connor.
“Adriano continues to gain support from across the district because he’s talking about the issues that matter most to voters.”
Espaillat recently conceded that his vote to repeal the commuter tax was a “mistake.”
“That is a vote I would take back, I’ll be honest with you, it was a terrible vote,” he said last week.
Rangel, who is seeking his 23rd term, has seized on the issue throughout the campaign, since Espaillat has never offered an explanation for the vote, which came as Democrats were trying to win over suburban voters in a single Rockland County district.
“Think about it: we could have paid for universal pre-kindergarten, doubled the police force, increased affordable housing and covered the cost of the city’s youth, senior citizen, and parks services for years to come,” said Rangel campaign spokesman James Freedland.
“The message Espaillat sent to Manhattan and Bronx residents with this vote was crystal clear: drop dead or move away.”
The Rev. Michael Walrond, a third candidate in the race, agreed with Rangel that the vote has deprived northern Manhattan and other neighborhoods of economic resources.
The Democratic primary is Tuesday.