While some rivals want Anthony Weiner to exit the mayor’s race in the wake of his latest cybersex revelations, Comptroller John Liu is not calling for the ex-congressman to drop his bid.
Mr. Liu, however, is apparently quite perplexed by Mr. Weiner’s lewd online behavior.
“With Anthony’s propensity to take pornographic self-portraits, I think that’s a valid issue for voters to consider,” Mr. Liu said today when asked by Politicker if he too wanted the scandal-scarred pol to drop out of the race. “It’s not the issue of the relationships. It’s the issue of, ‘What is he thinking?’ To continue to do that after a relatively spectacular fall from grace …. you think someone would learn.”
Mr. Liu, speaking at a City Hall press conference where several public sector workers’ unions endorsed his candidacy, also compared the media to “puppy dogs” for constantly writing about Mr. Weiner and said “basic decency” was going to count in the heated September primary.
“Anthony has been very eloquent and he is able to win people over because he says the right things,” Mr. Liu continued. “I think eloquence and having great ideas propels candidacies and I think that’s a great thing. But at the end of the day, judgment, and I think basic decency is also going to count.”
Mr. Liu, of course, has also seen his own share of scandal thanks to the federal investigation into his fund-raising, which resulted in guilty verdicts against a fund-raiser and his former campaign treasurer.
Yesterday, Mr. Weiner confessed to having an online relationship with a 22 year-old woman after he resigned from Congress two years ago. Several candidates, including Democratic rival Bill de Blasio, later called for Mr. Weiner to drop his mayoral bid.
One backer of Mr. Liu, however, actually encouraged Mr. Weiner to stick it out at today’s event.
“Let him stay in the race,” declared DC1707 Executive Director Raglan George at City Hall today. “Let him divide up those votes. Let him stay in the race and kick each other’s butts and our man will come out the victor!”