By Heather Grossmann
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Comptroller William Thompson went head to head Tuesday night in the final mayoral debate, pummeling each other on education, taxes and transit reform.
Both candidates were combative, taking every available opportunity to rip into the other’s record. Bloomberg was especially feisty last night, going on the attack early and often in a marked departure from his usual campaign style.
“The only jobs he created were patronage jobs,” Bloomberg said, in reference to Thompson’s years as president of the board of education.
The comptroller fought back, saying the mayor had created the “Enron of education,” a favorite campaign phrase, and “cooked the books” by misrepresenting test scores and focusing the education system entirely on standardized tests.
A particularly heated exchange occurred when the candidates accused each other of engaging in pay-to-play politics.
Thompson latched onto news that Newark Mayor Cory Booker had received a $26,000 contribution to his campaign from Bloomberg about a month after endorsing New York's mayor this past spring. Booker spent this weekend stumping with Bloomberg at a series of black churches in Queens, and has campaigned for him on other occasions.
Thompson called this Bloomberg’s “pay-to-endorse” practice, but the mayor said he was happy to support Booker, whose work he was proud of, and that he had donated to several other mayoral campaigns in the past.
Bloomberg had a similar gripe with Thompson, ripping the Democrat for accepting approximately $500,000 in campaign donations from people who did business with the city, saying that the money resulted in favors for the contributors.
“Give the money back,” Bloomberg said repeatedly. “It just looks terrible.”
The mayor also said that under a Thompson administration, the city would see tax increases across the board. He said Thompson’s spending plans would hurt all New Yorkers.
"My opponent has proposed something like $5 billion in expenses,” the mayor said, when Thompson asserted he would not raise taxes. “He’s gonna tax someone.”
Thompson denied that and stuck with the theme that Bloomberg is anti-middle class, saying that he had made the city unaffordable to average New Yorkers and people were being pushed out. He said the mayor had failed to close the “affordability gap.”
“I think everybody recognizes the mayor is out of touch,” Thompson said, denying Bloomberg’s assertion that New Yorkers see the current mayor as someone who cares about and understands their problems.
When a question came up about Yankee stadium, Thompson said the mayor had given huge tax breaks to the team while people in the surrounding neighborhoods couldn’t even afford tickets to a game.
“This is just another example of the mayor’s giveaway to another one of his developer friends in the city,” Thompson said.
The debate wrapped up with Bill Ritter, a WABC anchor and the debate moderator, asking the candidates to grade each other.
Thompson, saying “I’ll be kind,” gave the mayor a “D-.” Bloomberg, who had the advantage of answering second, took another route, saying that Thompson had been a reasonably good comptroller, but he was not the right man to be mayor.
