Monday, February 22, 2010
Campaign's photo (c)op
A candidate vying to replace Brooklyn Councilman Simcha Felder is using a picture himself with a high-ranking cop in uniform in campaign mailings - a move that violates an NYPD rule about uniformed members and politics, The Post has learned.
Beneath the picture is a large caption reading 'Protecting Us." a clearly on-duty DeBlasio is wearing his uniform shirt and badge in the picture. DeBlasio until recently was the commanding officer of the 66th Precinct, which straddles much of the Boro Park Council district that Lazar is running for.
Contacted about the mailer, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said, "Police personnel are prohibited from knowingly appearing in uniform in campaign material."
DeBlasio couldn't be reached, and it wasn't clear if he knew the photo was being used in campaign literature.
Lazar campaign manager Gary Tilzer responded in an email that it's long been "standard practice for candidates to print pictures of thesmeves posing with police officers, firefighters and EMS workers. In this case, we did not identify the officer pictured in our literature or in any way imply that the officer was endorsing Joe Lazar."
He added, "The purpose of this photo was to highlight the dangers to our public safety of budget cuts to the police department in this time of economic crisis; a position that certainly any member of New York's Finest would agree with."
Tilzer tried to point to a Mayor Bloomberg campaign flyer with him with someone in uniform as an example - but in that case, the officer was reportedly off-duty, was wearing a rented, non NYPD uniform, and gave consent.
Lazar, a longtime city government agency official, is one of the frontrunners in the race to replace Felder - along with David Greenfield, the executive vice president of the Sephardic Community Federation.
Greenfield, a first-time pol, has been backed by Sen. Joe Lieberman, whose campaign he once worked for, and Mayor Bloomberg and former Mayor Ed Koch.
Lazar has his own string of endorsers, including Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Councilman Brad Lander, and state Sens. Diane Savino and Kevin Parker.
Felder is leaving the seat in the heavily-Jewish district to join the top staff of City Comptroller John Liu. The special election is scheduler March 23.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/campaign_photo_op_1Wt7NtC2I5QANu4FaSB3BL
Beneath the picture is a large caption reading 'Protecting Us." a clearly on-duty DeBlasio is wearing his uniform shirt and badge in the picture. DeBlasio until recently was the commanding officer of the 66th Precinct, which straddles much of the Boro Park Council district that Lazar is running for.
Contacted about the mailer, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said, "Police personnel are prohibited from knowingly appearing in uniform in campaign material."
DeBlasio couldn't be reached, and it wasn't clear if he knew the photo was being used in campaign literature.
Lazar campaign manager Gary Tilzer responded in an email that it's long been "standard practice for candidates to print pictures of thesmeves posing with police officers, firefighters and EMS workers. In this case, we did not identify the officer pictured in our literature or in any way imply that the officer was endorsing Joe Lazar."
He added, "The purpose of this photo was to highlight the dangers to our public safety of budget cuts to the police department in this time of economic crisis; a position that certainly any member of New York's Finest would agree with."
Tilzer tried to point to a Mayor Bloomberg campaign flyer with him with someone in uniform as an example - but in that case, the officer was reportedly off-duty, was wearing a rented, non NYPD uniform, and gave consent.
Lazar, a longtime city government agency official, is one of the frontrunners in the race to replace Felder - along with David Greenfield, the executive vice president of the Sephardic Community Federation.
Greenfield, a first-time pol, has been backed by Sen. Joe Lieberman, whose campaign he once worked for, and Mayor Bloomberg and former Mayor Ed Koch.
Lazar has his own string of endorsers, including Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Councilman Brad Lander, and state Sens. Diane Savino and Kevin Parker.
Felder is leaving the seat in the heavily-Jewish district to join the top staff of City Comptroller John Liu. The special election is scheduler March 23.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/campaign_photo_op_1Wt7NtC2I5QANu4FaSB3BL
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