Weiner Rips Ferrer on Tax 

BY MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
 
Setting the stage for the first official Democratic mayoral debate tonight, Rep. Anthony Weiner blasted front-runner Fernando Ferrer yesterday as a tax hiker with few ideas.

"I disagree with his notion that the way to solve education is for a tax increase, the way to solve housing is a tax increase," said Weiner (D-Queens, Brooklyn), who unveiled a plan to cut waste in the city budget.

Weiner, who already has released 11 policy proposals, also suggested that Ferrer, who released five proposals, is a man of few ideas.
The congressman, who is lagging in the polls, took similar shots at his other Democratic rivals: City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and Manhattan Borough President Virginia Fields.

Jen Bluestein, a Ferrer spokeswoman, said Weiner's attacks "do nothing" to address the problems facing the city.
"Freddy Ferrer is proud to be the only candidate to propose a way to get the $23 billion our schools are owed by Albany, and put forth plans to graduate more kids and build homes families can afford," she said.

A Miller spokesman said the speaker spends his time "getting results for New Yorkers" rather than "swinging wildly at other Democrats." A Fields spokeswoman did not return a request for comment.

The Democrats will face one another in the first official debate on New York 1 at 7 p.m.