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Governor debate, round 1

Spitzer, Faso exchange jabs over tax cuts, same-sex marriage and abortion in first debate in race that has Spitzer far ahead in polls

BY ERROL A. COCKFIELD JR | NEWSDAY ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF

September 27, 2006

New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is seen after a fundraiser at the Glen Oaks Country Club in Old Westbury. (Newsday / Karen Wiles Stabile / February 15, 2006)

ITHACA - Facing low poll numbers and predictions from his own allies about a loss, John Faso, the Republican nominee for governor, sought yesterday to use his first one-on-one debate with front-runner Eliot Spitzer to convince voters that Spitzer's agenda would lead to higher taxes.

Spitzer, the Democratic attorney general who has been firmly ahead in the race since he announced his candidacy two years ago, portrayed Faso, a former Assembly minority leader who opposes both abortion and gay marriage, as an extremist.

Spitzer reminded those watching that during Faso's days in the Assembly the Republican called the Roe v. Wade decision "a black mark" on the nation and that many Republicans had said Faso's views were outside the mainstream.

The debate, sponsored by NY1 News, featured witty jabs by both men over a range of issues, including taxes and abortion.

They also sparred over gay rights. When asked whether he would support a law legalizing gay marriage, Faso said Spitzer, who supports the law, is "going to force gay marriage down the throats of New Yorkers."

Before reiterating his pledge to sign a gay marriage bill into law, Spitzer said, "Let me respond to John without responding to his use of metaphors."

One of the most heated exchanges between the candidates came at the end of the debate, when Faso noted that Spitzer's spending plans had been vetted and endorsed by state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, a Democrat, who said Monday that he would pay the state $82,000 after failing for more than three years to reimburse the state for the services of a public employee who drove his wife around. The case has called Hevesi's credibility into question.

Spitzer said, "If anybody on my watch did that, trust me, there'd be very serious consequences because I do not tolerate that sort of abuse." He said what Hevesi did was wrong but then he described the comptroller as an "honest, stupendous public servant."

That perturbed Faso, who said, "This is a perfect example: one set of standards for his friends and another set for everyone else."

Repeatedly during the hour-long debate at Cornell University, Faso charged that Spitzer would maintain the status quo and that his spending commitments to special interests would exacerbate the conditions that have driven businesses and people from the state.

"The fact of the matter is he's not leveling with the people of the state," Faso said. Faso even directed voters to a Web site, spitzerspending.com, where his campaign has offered his partisan analysis of the attorney general's platform. Spitzer cut him off and reminded the audience "Just so we're clear ... that's your Web site, not mine." The comment drew laughter from the crowd, mostly students from the university.

Both men have proposed tax cuts for homeowners, but unlike Spitzer's plan, Faso also is calling for an array of business tax cuts and a cap on spending by school districts to slow the growth of local property taxes.

Spitzer has said he is opposed to that proposal because it would take choices about school spending out of the hands of local voters. He also said that Faso was using what former President George H.W. Bush called "voodoo economics" because he had not specifically laid out how he would pay for all of his tax cuts. Faso has said a renewed business climate would bring the state more revenue.

Near the end of the debate Spitzer noted that Faso's voting record had been assailed even by his fellow Republicans, including state GOP chairman Steven Minarik III, who said during the lead-up to the state party's convention that Faso was in "La-La-Land." Spitzer said Faso voted against a bill that would have guaranteed equal pay for equal work to women. "You march to a very bizarre drum," Spitzer said.

But Faso said the bill, if read in detail, paid equally for different types of work, and he said that Spitzer's handlers "did not read the bill before they told you to ask that question."

Highlights of the debate

Faso challenged Spitzer's promise to cut taxes while reinvigorating the upstate economy and spending billions of dollars more each year on schools.

Spitzer questioned Faso on his past votes as an Assembly member, interpreting them as extreme, and said his opponent was distorting his tax plan.

Faso said he supports a death penalty law. Spitzer said he would sign a death penalty bill for terrorists and cop killers but it wouldn't be a high priority.

Faso said he would veto any bill to legalize gay marriage; Spitzer said he would sign one.

Faso said Democratic state Comptroller Alan Hevesi should be removed from office for using a state-paid chauffeur for his ailing spouse. (Hevesi agreed to repay the state for the service after his opponent revealed the use of the chauffeur.) Spitzer said Hevesi should be credited for acknowledging the problem and for paying $82,000 back to the state but did not call for Hevesi's removal.

SOURCE: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS