Newsgroups: biz.americast.samples
From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com
Organization: American Cybercasting
Subject: \HD Anti-Ferraro ads hurt chances to unseat D'Amato
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 09:14:26 EDT

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\SE A;NATION
\HD Anti-Ferraro ads hurt chances to unseat D'Amato
\BY Donald Lambro
\CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES
\DT NEW YORK

NEW YORK - This may be the year of elevating women in politics, but two
women are fighting their way through a bitter Democratic primary campaign
here that may hurt the party's chances of defeating Republican Sen.
Alfonse D'Amato.

The primary battle pits Geraldine Ferraro, the 1984 vice-presidential
nominee, against New York City Comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman, a tough
former district attorney whose attack on Mrs.  Ferraro's ethical record
"has given a new meaning to negative politics," says one disgruntled
Democrat.

"It's a particularly nasty race, even by New York standards," said
veteran Democratic strategist David Garth.  "Holtzman is running these
vicious ads against Ferraro.  It's scorched earth politics.  D'Amato will
benefit from this if it keeps going."

A third contender, state Attorney General Robert Abrams raised similar
questions about Mrs.  Ferraro but generally stayed out of the women's line
of fire.  He hopes they will destroy one another and he will be able to
squeak through to victory Tuesday.  And some party people think he has the
best chance of toppling Mr.  D'Amato, who has ethics problems of his own.

The ethics issue that has divided the party is the same one that reared
its head when Mrs.  Ferraro was Walter Mondale's running mate: a lucrative
office lease arrangement between organized crime figures and a realty
business owned by Mrs.  Ferraro and her husband, John Zaccaro.

It was given new life by recent articles in New York Newsday and the
Village Voice.  Mrs.  Holtzman has been asking questions about the deal in
her TV ads and challenging Mrs.  Ferraro to tell "the truth" about it.

Mrs.  Ferraro said in 1984 that she knew nothing about the space leased
by her family's company to a business engaged in child pornography, and
vowed that the lease would be ended.  But three years later, Newsday
reported, the porn distributor continued to occupy the building that she
and her husband owned in lower Manahattan, collecting $340,000 in
additional rent.

There were other allegations in the Village Voice stories, including
one that found "24 mob associations" with the Zaccaros; that mob-connected
individuals were among her campaign contributors; and that she refused to
disclose tax returns for 1984 and 1985, when she was audited.

A flurry of attack ads by Mrs.  Holtzman say: "Geraldine Ferraro took
$340,000 from a child pornographer.  She still hasn't answered one
question: 'Why?'  "

When the ads first began to run, Mrs.  Ferraro angrily charged that
they were anti-Italian smears and "McCarthyite attempts to connect me with
organized crime."  Gov.  Mario Cuomo also condemned the ads.

But Mrs.  Holtzman fervently defended the ads in an interview with The
Washington Times.  "What I'm doing is asking the tough questions," she
said.  "The real question is why she's not answering them."

State Democratic Party officials say Mrs.  Holtzman's attacks have not
made any discernible movement in her support.  The most recent daily
tracking polls showed Mrs.  Ferraro still in the lead, Mr.  Abrams second,
Mrs.  Holtzman third and the Rev.  Al Sharpton a distant fourth.

But Ed O'Malley, Mrs.  Holtzman's campaign manager, said: "When we look
at the numbers, there seems to be real movement, both on our part and on
the attorney general's part.  Geraldine has come down, particularly among
prime voters [those who vote in primaries]."

However, even he concedes that the attacks could drive Mrs.  Ferraro
down just enough so that "Abrams could squeak it out."

****PHOTOS/BOX

N.Y.  SENATORIAL PRIMARY

Four Democratic candidates will square off on Sept.  15 for the right
to oppose Republican Sen.  Alfonse D'Amato in the November election.

Geraldine Ferraro: former New York congresswoman and the 1984
Democratic vice presidential nominee.  The first woman ever placed on a
najor party's presidential ticket.

Elizabeth Holtzman: New York City comptroller, the first woman ever
elected to that post, a former congresswoman, and former Brooklyn district
attorney.

Robert Abrams: New York state attorney general, former state
assemblyman, and former Bronx borough president.

The Rev.  Al Sharpton: A black civil rights activists who has never
been elected to public office.



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