SCHENECTADY — Early on in the race, three-term Democratic Mayor Gary McCarthy pledged to strictly run on his record and not sling any mud at challenger Marion Porterfield.
And during a recent interview, the incumbent was adamant that the steady stream of campaign mailers he’s put out — some squarely aimed at Porterfield — are not at all personal, but a way to highlight their differences in what many view as a competitive primary contest to be decided Tuesday after voters are done at the polls. Early voting also began last Saturday and continues Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Porterfield, City Council president, earlier this week defended her record, including her “no” vote in 2014 to site a casino in the Electric City. She and then-councilman Vince Riggi voted against the $300 million casino at the former Alco site on Erie Boulevard that passed 5-2.
“He’s making an issue of it because he’s trying to find anything he can to say something negative about me,” she said about claims on McCarthy’s brochure that state “every Schenectady taxpayer would have paid the price for Porterfield’s poor decision.”
McCarthy, seeking a fourth term, reiterated during a recent interview, that Porterfield’s casino vote was wrong.
“There were no alternatives, she chose to vote against one of the major projects in history of the city, if we didn’t have the affirmative vote from the legislative body, we wouldn’t have the casino at all, we wouldn’t have the 1,000 jobs, we wouldn’t have the tax revenue, we wouldn’t have the image of a city that’s changing,” he said.
Porterfield said she was pushing for a community benefits agreement. She also feared that indigent people who could least afford to lose money gambling would rush to the casino because of its close proximity.
Both candidates say they’ve heard from a lot of city residents about…
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