WEINER SAYS MAYOR FAVORS PUBLIC SCHOOLS OVER PAROCHIAL

Special to the Sun
June 21, 2005

Rep. Anthony Weiner, a Democratic candidate for Mayor, told an audience of about 50 at the CUNY Graduate Center yesterday that Mayor Bloomberg was favoring public schools over parochial schools when he failed to protest the recent closing of 22 Catholic schools in Brooklyn and Queens. "I called it a crisis," Mr. Weiner said in his speech. "Rather than jump into action, the mayor seemed to cheer their demise."

Stuart Loeser, Mr. Bloomberg's campaign spokesman, called the assertions by the Weiner campaign inaccurate. "Since he can't compete with Mike Bloomberg's record bringing New Yorkers together, Weiner has resorted to crazy allegations and pitting one group against another in his strangest attempt yet to salvage his relevance," Mr. Loeser said.