Congressman Bob Turner brings affordable housing deal to center stage in Senate race
U.S. Rep. Bob Turner speaks during the New York State Republican Convention in Rochester. (March 26, 2012) Credit: AP
The affordable housing settlement between Westchester County and President Barack Obama’s administration is complicated. This much we know.
And the politics of this deal are downright ugly, especially in election years.
Congressman Bob Turner, a Republican trying to beat Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, proved this again when he recently called on the president to “call off his dogs,” a reference to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and defended Westchester County as not being racist.
He’s also chastised Gillibrand, a former HUD attorney he noted in his news release, for remaining so silent on the settlement.
We’ve heard this kind of campaign talk many times before: once for county executive race in 2009, in races for Board of Legislators in 2011 and here we are again in 2012 – this time for U.S. Senate.
It’s a campaign issue that keeps on giving, yet for all the talk and speeches, little gets accomplished when candidates run on this issue.
It’s easy to go after the federal government – especially with this settlement and its many layers and complications -- but when leaders exploit race in a campaign, it’s going to go south. Fast.
Enter George Maragos, the Nassau County comptroller vying for the Republican line. He was quick to chastise Turner for using “crude and potentially racially insensitive language.”
He says it exemplifies what’s wrong with Washington and our political culture. On that matter, he’s right.
The deal is mired in a stalemate between County Executive Rob Astorino and HUD and they’re the ones who ultimately have to figure it out.
