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ALBANY — Republican gubernatorial hopeful Rick Lazio yesterday unveiled a new ad showing rival Andrew Cuomo trying to slip out of Rep. Charles Rangel’s birthday party at The Plaza hotel and ducking questions about his support for the congressman amid his ethical woes.
Lazio claimed that Cuomo, the outgoing attorney general and presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, used an underground subway passage to get in and out of The Plaza on Wednesday to avoid the media waiting outside.
As the 1995 Euro-dance hit “Run Away” plays in the background, the GOP candidate’s Web video shows Cuomo walking up subway stairs at the Fifth Avenue/59th Street station with several aides before he emerges onto the street and gets into a waiting vehicle.
A woman with a microphone approaches the Democrat to say, “Sir, tell us about your support for Charlie Rangel.” Cuomo refuses to say anything.
The ad, entitled “Runaway,” concludes with a headline: “Andrew Cuomo. 29 years as a product of Albany.”
The video was shot by a Lazio campaign aide who was tailing Cuomo.
Meanwhile, the day after appearing at the Rangel birthday bash, Cuomo released a 30-second TV ad promoting his “tough, 20-point plan to clean up Albany,” including a curb on campaign donations from lobbyists and reforming how lawmakers dole out pork-barrel grants.
The spot features close-ups of average New Yorkers with words such as “disgraceful,” “dysfunctional” and “a mess” to sum up their view of the political process.
The voice-over complains that Albany is “overrun by lobbyists and special interests.”
The video debuted just hours after Cuomo joined several fellow top Democrats, such as Sen. Charles Schumer and Gov. Paterson, to praise Rangel, despite his upcoming trial in the House on 13 charges of ethics violations.
The attorney general, who for weeks ducked questions about whether he would attend the fund-raiser, told attendees, “Charlie delivered for New York. He delivered for this nation.”
Lazio — who, with Buffalo developer Carl Paladino, is vying for the Republican ballot line against Cuomo — panned Cuomo’s ad and said he should “investigate suspected lawbreakers, not toast them.”
“People are upset with Andrew Cuomo’s Albany because the day before Andrew Cuomo released his two-faced ad, he toasted the disgraced Charlie Rangel at a special-interest-funded dinner,” Lazio said.
Cuomo campaign spokesman Josh Vlasto said of Lazio’s spot, “This ad was long planned.”
Meanwhile, the powerful New York State United Teachers union cited Cuomo’s support for a property-tax cap in its decision to hold off making an endorsement in the governor’s race.