Turner’s 9/11 Ad Painful For Some
By DOMENICK RAFTER
Republican Congressional candidate Bob Turner released his first television ad last week in the race to succeed former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, but the ad is creating controversy.
Turner, who got just under 40 percent of the vote in the longtime Democratic district against Weiner in 2010, is running against Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Little Neck) for the seat.
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| Bob Turner’s first ad in his race to succeed Anthony Weiner, invoking images of the Sept. 11 attacks, angered some. |
The ad focuses on the proposed Islamic Center in Lower Manhattan that made headlines last summer as the “Ground Zero Mosque.” In the ad, the narration over images of the Sept. 11 attacks says “It’s been 10 short years. Everyone remembers. Some, though, want to commemorate the tragedy by building a mosque on Ground Zero. President Obama thinks that’s a good idea. And so does Congressional candidate David Weprin.”
Though the ad implies a mosque would be built on Ground Zero, the “mosque,” which is actually an Islamic Cultural Center that includes a gym, was proposed at the former site of a Burlington Coat Factory store three blocks away from the site.
When asked about the center last summer, President Barack Obama refrained from commenting on the “wisdom” of building the center, insisting that his support went as far as protecting the builder’s right to build it.
The Weprin campaign responded to Turner’s ad by calling it “shameful.” The Turner campaign defended the ad as “simple and factual” and said they were standing by it.
The ad also invoked harsh reaction among other Queens politicians. Assemblyman Mike DenDekker (D-Jackson Heights), who was a responder on 9/11, said he was “appalled” by the ad and demanded Turner remove it and apologize.
“This is not only a cheap campaign trick, but a form of emotional manipulation that just isn’t appropriate on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in world history,” DenDekker said.
The Uniformed Fire Officials Association, New York’s top firefighters’ union, also slammed the ad.
“Robert Turner’s commercial is very insensitive,” said Capt. Alexander Hagan, President of the Uniformed Fire Officials Association. “We object to anyone exploiting the pain of thousands of families who lost loved ones on 9/11 to score political points.”
The 9th Congressional District includes the neighborhoods of the Rockaway Peninsula, home to a large number of FDNY firefighters who lost colleagues on 9/11, as well as numerous victims of the tragedy whose families still reside there.
The Islamic center became a political football last year and Turner had used it to attack Weiner. At the time, Mayor Mike Bloomberg fiercely defended the builder’s right to build. Mayor Ed Koch, who has endorsed Turner, called the center “insensitive,” but in an op-ed last August, defended the owners’ right to build and defended Bloomberg and Obama’s stances on the issue.
“Government should neither favor nor hinder the efforts of religious institutions, other than to protect their rights to engage in carrying them out as permitted under the First Amendment of the Constitution,” Koch wrote on Aug. 17, 2010.
Turner’s ad made its way around on social media circles last week. The Turner campaign removed the ad from YouTube on Friday, three days before it began airing on Queens and Brooklyn cable channels.
Meanwhile, the two candidates continue to roll out big named endorsements. Turner received the endorsement of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani while Weprin was endorsed by U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, who represented the same district in the 1990s.
“Congress is in dire need of business leaders like Bob Turner, not another career politician,” Giuliani said, endorsing Turner’s business credentials. Schumer meanwhile said Weprin would fight “reckless, extreme right wing Republicans” and protect Medicare and Social Security.
“As we work to close tax loopholes for companies that ship jobs overseas, preserve and protect Medicare, and reform our government so it works more efficiently and effectively for everyone, we need a leader like David fighting for us,” Schumer said.
The special election is Sept. 13.
Reach Reporter Domenick Rafter at drafter@queenstribune.com or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 125.