A demonstration outside the Bronx mayoral forum in support of the Upper East Side transfer station.

It appears the gloves are finally off.

At a forum in the Bronx on Wednesday, Sal Albanese accused Public Advocate Bill de Blasio of fibbing, disputing his assertion that a garbage transfer station in Red Hook was actually within "walking distance" of Mr. de Blasio's Park Slope home. And in a rare moment in the endless parade of forums, Mr. de Blasio, actually shot back.

"Sal, Sal, I have long tolerated your reconfigurations of the truth and I actually can walk easily from my house at 11th Street and 6th Avenue to the Hamilton Avenue station," Mr. de Blasio sharply told his lesser-known rival and fellow Brooklynite at the contentious forum. "I guarantee it Sal, I'll come walk with you one day."

For Mr. de Blasio, it represented what may be a turning point for himself and his Democratic rivals in the increasingly tight primary: they are becoming more willing to go on the attack against each other in person.

Just as Mr. de Blasio previously ignored Mr. Albanese's jabs at his character and record, Council Speaker Christine Quinn seemed to tire of brushing off constant broadsides from Mr. de Blasio. And Bill Thompson, not typically the focal point of any verbal clashes, found himself enduring  the wrath of Mr. de Blasio and even members of the crowd at Hostos Community College in the South Bronx.

(Anthony Weiner, barring moments when he drew boos and catcalls from the crowd for speaking out against a proposed Upper East Side trash transfer station, managed to avoid the fray.)

"I have to take issue with Speaker Quinn saying that she wants to differentiate from Bloomberg's policy on this because she has been the mayor's chief ally while he's been doing this," Mr. de Blasio said at one point, responding to a question about the supposed inadequate funding of Latino nonprofits. “The third term was brought to us by Speaker Quinn working in cooperation with Mayor Bloomberg to change the term limits law."

Ms. Quinn, a strained smile on her face, hit back at Mr. de Blasio for doing little more than issuing a "press release" to prevent nonprofit cuts from his less-powerful perch as public advocate

"When the mayor had a proposal out there to close down senior centers ... with my colleagues I didn't just criticize it. I just didn't have a press conference; I stopped it," Ms. Quinn said. "Last year, when there was proposal to close daycare centers all over the city, ones in the Bronx and communities of color that didn't score well enough on the [request for proposals], we didn't just issue a press release, we put that money back in the budget ... So that's what it's about, not way you say, not what you promise, what you've done."

"I just have to have a 'get real moment' here," replied the public advocate. "You can't say you brought back the mayor back for a third term and you made things a little less bad. It doesn't work that way."

"It does," Ms. Quinn began, as applause drowned her out. "If you're one of those parents who still has a daycare center to go, if you're one those daycare workers who has a job, if you're one of those children who's learning in the same environment because of what I did with my colleagues last year, that's what you care about."

The forum, hosted by several Hispanic organizations including the newspaper El Diaro, encouraged the Democrats to clash on a variety of issues that impact the city's growing Latino community, including immigration and the distribution of garbage transfer stations in the five boroughs. The proposed construction of a waste transfer station on the Upper East Side of Manhattan has become a hot-button issue of the primary. Advocates of the station, including protesters at the forum, argue it forces higher-income neighborhoods to finally share the burden of dealing with the city's trash. Detractors say the Manhattan station will destroy a park and hurt residents who live in a nearby housing project.

While Ms. Quinn and Mr. Thompson have already fought over the station, Mr. Thompson's opposition to the construction was questioned by another rival and openly challenged by furious spectators in the auditorium.

"Go visit the site, it bisects a development for children, Asphalt Green, the rail runs down the middle of Asphalt Green ... It is a bad site," Mr. Thompson said as boos rained down upon him. "We need to move forward in reducing the number of sites in African-American and Latino communities ... We need to look at other sites as a part of the larger, solid waste plan."

After Ms. Quinn defended the Upper East Side station--Mr. Thompson interrupted her several times, blurting out, "this is not true" and "we can find other sites"-- Mr. de Blasio took a rare shot at Mr. Thompson.

"I have to say, with absolute respect to Bill Thompson, you can't have it both ways on this issue," he said. "The site has to stay there--there's no two ways about it."

Christine Quinn posing with charter school kids outside the forum Tuesday night.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and former Comptroller Bill Thompson both pulled out of a mayoral forum hosted by charter school advocates at the last minute Tuesday--earning the ire of audience members who accused them of being too scared of crossing the powerful teachers' union a week before their endorsement vote.

Mr. de Blasio dropped out less than an hour before he was supposed to appear on stage, and Mr. Thompson pulled his RSVP Tuesday afternoon, according to an event organizer.

"We are disappointed that the more than 800 families who came from across the City tonight didn't get to hear a diversity of opinions because some candidates weren't able to talk about where they agree and disagree with school reform," Jeremiah Kittredge, the Executive Director of Families for Excellent Schools, the group that hosted the forum, said in a statement.

Parents in the audience booed when they heard the news.

"I think they showed a lack of courage. And it's also insulting to the people who organized this," said fellow candidate and former City Councilman Sal Albanese, who called the cancellation showed a "lack of class."

"Unless there's real extenuating circumstances ... I think they're afraid of facing charter school parents because they may alienate the United Federation of Teachers that is going to make an endorsement very soon,"  he concluded.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Thompson, who has attended the vast majority of this year's many forums, blamed his cancellation on a scheduling conflict. Mr. de Blasio, usually a diligent attendee (minus a Crain's New York Business forum), did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But both men have been heavily courting the UFT, which is set to endorse next week.

While the two are often darlings at traditional public school forums where their attacks on charter school founders and calls for a moratorium for co-locations win loud applause, Tuesday's forum was a very different world.

There, in a Salvation Army auditorium on West 14th Street, the crowd applauded loudly for the more moderate approaches of ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who was mobbed after she spoke by little girls eager for autographs and hoping to pose for photos with the woman who, if elected, would become the city's first female mayor.

On stage, Ms. Quinn seemed relaxed and friendly (as if she were chatting with friends over coffee, as one attendee described), mostly stuck to touting her education accomplishments, including a new pilot program that will lengthen the school day at some schools, and previously announced ideas like replacing textbooks with tablets. She also chided the current mayor, a close ally, for failing to make parents feel engaged

As Council speaker and candidate, she said she's heard from too many parent who "feel like their voice not only isn't heard, isn't wanted." She added, "I don't just want to hear it. I need to hear it," arguing that parents should have a direct line into the mayors office.

"You know, there's not a lot I miss about Rudy Giuiani. But he used to go out and have all these town halls in communities, which were a good thing, 'cause people got an opportunity to speak directly to the mayor," said Ms. Quinn who herself recently came under fire for skipping another education forum hosted by a group extremely hostile to the current administration.

Anthony Weiner on stage at the charter school forum.

The reception was also positive for Mr. Weiner, who appeared perfectly at home on the grand red-draped stage, standing and gesturing with his arms as he answered questions about how to deal with failing schools, co-locations (an option) and whether charter schools should have to pay rent (no).

Mr. Weiner, for his part, called on both charter advocates and their opponents to ratchet down the rhetoric, which has often placed charter schools and traditional public schools at odds.

"The fight and the choice between quality public schools and the charter movement is a false one that I think has been perpetuated too long ... It's also been perpetuated too long by the people in this room," said Mr. Weiner, who noted charters comprise only about five percent of the city's 1.1 million students. "I am gonna try to turn down the temperature on this conversation to get a place that it's less us against them."

But the son a school teacher did make one revelation: that he failed freshman math in high school. ("I was forced to walk with my tail behind my legs and ask my mother for help," he recalled.)

Still, he also declined to jump into the fray over the Bills' absences.

"None of us can make it to everything. All I can do is be accountable for my own schedule," he said.

Anthony Weiner and Sal Albanese at a Staten Island mayoral forum.

Anthony Weiner took a beating on his first official stop in Staten Island Monday night.

Mr. Weiner was repeatedly hit by his rivals, including Green Party candidate Tony Gronowicz and former Councilman Sal Albanese, for an old racially-charged campaign flier, his congressional vote authorizing the Iraq War, and his allegedly "coarse" conduct during a candidates' forum hosted by the Pleasant Plains, Prince’s Bay and Richmond Valley Civic Association.

"I'm going to point out something that has nothing to do with your anatomy, I'm going to point out something that has to do with your record," an agitated Mr. Gronowicz said, knocking Mr. Weiner for mailers he sent out during his first City Council run that played on the tensions between the black and Jewish communities of Brooklyn at the time. "Back in 1991, he was a long-shot candidate in a Jewish district in Brooklyn and he ran a race-baiting campaign that the Times attacked because he won."

Mr. Gronowicz had become irritated when he spotted City Comptroller John Liu and Mr. Weiner bantering with each other while he was addressing the audience. After Mr. Liu had said--with a grin--that he did not vote in favor of a term limits extension as Mr. Gronowicz discussed the topic, Mr. Weiner quipped that "no Green Party" Council member had voted that way. The Green Party obviously has no members in the City Council.

"His recent behavior is also very coarse. I would not have said anything but he dared to interrupt me," Mr. Gronowicz said.

The conversation got so heated that public advocate candidate Letitia James had to interject.

"Mr. Weiner didn't interrupt you, he was just talking to the comptroller of the City of New York," Ms. James said. "It was not his intent."

Mr. Albanese, another candidate with an uphill battle to City Hall and no stranger to tweaking Mr. Weiner, would soon jump in with his own line of attack--twice mentioning a vote Mr. Weiner took in favor of the Iraq War.

"Anthony voted for the invasion of Iraq, which cost us a billion dollars," said Mr. Albanese. “We have this problem in urban centers across America, we can't fund our transit system. Let's take care of America, let's not get involved in unnecessary skirmishes."

Mr. Weiner parried the charge with another wise-crack.

"Notwithstanding the critique, I won't rule out as mayor invading Yonkers. I want you to know I keep that possibility at my disposal," he joked.

After the forum, Mr. Weiner, when pressed by Politicker, stuck to his laugh line.

"Apparently there's some concern about my record, that I'd be too quick to invade Yonkers or Jersey City," he said. "People have no reason to be concerned, unless they're aggressive, then I reserve the right."

He also repeated that he'd already apologized to Ms. Cohen for his conduct during the 1991 race.

"I said at the time, immediately that week, I jotted a note to Adele," he said.

Anthony Weiner. (Photo: Getty)

Anthony Weiner's Democratic rivals in the mayor's race have generally done their best to avoid talking about the sexting scandal that led to his downfall two years ago. Former Councilman Sal Albanese, however, has been the exception, and he directly confronted Mr. Weiner at a Queens breakfast forum earlier today.

"Before I get into that," Mr. Albanese said in response to an unrelated question about  funding local cultural institutions, "I just want to say that listening to Mr. Weiner is interesting because he's very glib and articulate. But ... he's betrayed the public trust on several occasions and I think that disqualifies him."

Several audience members audibly voiced disapproval, saying in unison, "Ohhhhhh."

But Mr. Weiner ignored the jab. And, asked about Mr. Albanese's remark after the debate, he further dodged the question.

"Look, this campaign is going to be about the ideas of the middle class and those struggling to make it," he replied, pivoting to tout his understanding of what small businesses are looking for from City Hall.

Indeed, throughout the discussion sponsored by the Queens Courier and NY1, Mr. Weiner focused on what little substance could be squeezed into a forum with ten different candidates. Unlike an event last night, the former congressman offered no apologies for the scandal, but--as Mr. Albanese suggested--Mr. Weiner was rather glib in his answers.

Comparing himself to billionaire Republican candidate John Catsimatidis, he quipped he was speaking as a "thousandaire," for example, and he earned a New York Post headline by taking a crack at his beloved Mets.

“I would love to have major league soccer here in Queens," Mr. Weiner said about a proposal to build a soccer stadium in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. "Heck, I’d love to have major league baseball here in Queens first."

Anthony Weiner speaks at the first debate of his mayoral campaign.

During the first debate of Anthony Weiner’s once-improbable mayoral campaign, the former congressman openly wondered whether he had been sucked "into some kind of vortex" as he was asked to pelt questions against the absent front-runner candidate, Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

“So this is a question to Chris Quinn that I got the first shot at answering?” Mr. Weiner said to the moderator at an education debate this afternoon. “I feel like on the first day of the campaign, I’ve been sucked into some kind of vortex.”

Mr. Weiner seemed aware that every time he spoke and presented one of his relatively snarky answers, a horde of cameramen on the 10th floor of NYU's Kimmel Center would be snapping away, documenting every movement he made. Mr. Weiner, whose political career collapsed after a Twitter scandal two years ago, seemed to both revel and chafe in this role, standing to answer questions while his Democratic rivals sat and wise-cracking with the moderator as the crowd giggled along. (When questions didn't seem to suit him, he would rest a hand on his cheek or toy with a pen in front of him.)

At one moment in the debate, he openly resented a time limit that had kept him from bellowing out a three-point educational policy platform--reluctantly sitting down only after the moderator insisted he was out of time. Later in the debate, he ensured, after the bell had rung, that his other two points were heard.

"I said the three things you want to do in an open school ... There should be gifted and talented programs where they have space," he explained, speaking rapidly. "The second thing is they should have resources that most schools don't really have ... The third thing, we should let the charters come in and compete with the two others ideas, but I want them to compete on level footing."

Tacking to the right of his rivals, Mr. Weiner focused on his own centrist education policy that included merit pay for teachers and a sarcastic refusal to skewer charter school advocate Eva Moskowitz, once a member of the City Council and now a teachers union nemesis, in front of the anti-Bloomberg New Yorkers for Great Public Schools audience.

"I have no bloody idea," he answered a question about whether Ms. Moskowitz received "unfair special treatment" from the Bloomberg administration. "Sure, yes seems to be the answer of the day."

Mr. Weiner, not quite as fiery as he was in his congressional days, refused to criticize his opponents. However, he attacked Albany for how it chooses to fund city public schools. Staying in character, he even seemed to refer to an alleged joke Gov. Andrew Cuomo made about his candidacy while doing so.

"I may have to fight with Governor Cuomo on some things--honestly, he started it," Mr. Weiner said, again drawing laughter from the crowd. "My view is that every single day we should be chafing at the yoke of Albany control on everything. We're going to have a conversation here on charters--Albany is in charge. We have a conversation for the formula of how we're going to change the way school teachers are fired or laid off in times of crisis--Albany is in charge ... Every July 4th, we should have a declaration of independence from Albany."

There was little jousting among the five Democrats, which did not include Ms. Quinn because she skipped the debate, though long-shot Democrat Sal Albanese jabbed the hardest at "Tony Weiner" after he denounced Albany.

"First of all, it's great to see my old colleague Tony Weiner back in action and I notice his aggressive posturing, he's been in office forever but now he's taking on Albany which is great. Welcome to the fight," Mr. Albanese said sarcastically.

"Thank you?" Mr. Weiner retorted mockingly, drawing further laughs from the crowd.

But not everyone in the audience, many of them educators, were enthralled or amused by Mr. Weiner. The response seemed more hostile than Mr. Weiner has experienced so far during his short time on the campaign trail

"He did not take this seriously," Linda Patterson, a retired principal, said after the debate. "I did not want to hear his jokes ... I want a straight response, an adult response. I didn't appreciate his adolescent demeanor."

Additional reporting by Jill Colvin

Anthony Weiner at a basketball game. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

After jumping late into a race they've been running in for months, ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner decided to break the ice with his now-Democratic rivals with a telephoned "hello" before they meet on the campaign trail.

“I've done a round of courtesy calls," Mr. Weiner told Politicker during a telephone interview Wednesday--hours after formally launching his campaign for mayor.

Mr. Weiner said he'd reached out to all of his fellow Democratic contenders, from current front-runner and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to longer-shots, including former Councilman Sal Albanese and conservative Rev. Erick Salgado.

But not everyone has been eager to call him back.

While he has spoken to the above trio, along with former Comptroller Bill Thompson, he said that Public Advocate Bill de Blasio had yet to return his message. It was furthermore unclear what Comptroller John Liu's callback status was. Representatives for Mr. Liu and Mr. de Blasio did not immediately return Politicker's own outreaches.

Mr. Weiner is expected to court some of the same outer-borough, progressive voters that Mr. de Blasio has been counting on, making the rivalry between the men especially strong. For his part, Mr. Liu flatly dismissed Mr. Weiner at a mayoral forum this morning, telling the audience, "Honestly, I won't be voting for him."

A spokesman for Mr. Albanese described his conversation with Mr. Weiner, which took place this morning, as "quick and cordial." Mr. Salgado described his own call as "friendly" on Twitter. Mr. Thompson's spokeswoman confirmed they spoke but did not have additional details. Ms. Quinn's spokesman did not return a request for comment.

Mr. Weiner also revealed to Politicker that he hasn't spoken with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi since his resignation following the sexting scandal that forced him out nearly two years ago. Ms. Pelosi had called for Mr. Weiner's resignation after he tried to seek treatment during a leave of absence.

“I don’t believe so," Mr, Weiner said when we inquired about Ms. Pelosi.

When it came to President Barack Obama, he said he'd have to check with his wife to make sure they hadn't attended a same event, but couldn't recall speaking to the nation's top executive. Mr. Obama said at the time that he would resign if he were in Mr. Weiner's shoes.

Of course, much has changed in the two years since the resignation; Mr. Weiner has become a father, and he and his wife, Huma Abedin, traded in their modest Forest Hills co-op for a swanky Park Avenue condo.

But at least one thing, Mr. Weiner said, would never change: his home team.

“Is there any chance I’d be a Yankee fan? I think my left and right arms might fall off,” he said when pushed on the subject. “I’m a Mets fan. And I know that doesn’t poll well, but it’s deep in my veins."

Additional reporting by Colin Campbell.

Sal Albanese. (Photo: Facebook)

There are two Italian-American, relatively liberal men from Brooklyn in this year's race for mayor. One, both literally and figuratively, looms as one of the front-runners in a packed Democratic field. The other is Sal Albanese, an indefatigable former Bay Ridge councilman who delights in taking shots at his better-known, Park Slope-dwelling rival, Bill de Blasio.

"You listen to him on the campaign trail and you'd think he was the third coming of Martin Luther King Jr.," Mr. Albanese told Politicker yesterday when asked why the city's public advocate has earned his ire.

Mr. Albanese had just held a press conference denouncing Mr. de Blasio and the other mayoral candidates for hiring former political operatives to work in their government offices. Mr. Albanese held this event at the same location that Mr. de Blasio was holding his own press conference just 30 minutes later, creating an opportunity for awkwardness as the public advocate was setting up his union endorsement announcement. This was the second such Albanese press conference on the topic--the first one was held directly outside Mr. de Blasio's office.

And it's not only at press conferences. At a televised mayoral debate in early April, Mr. Albanese continued his pattern of clashing with Mr. de Blasio at public forums by needling him about his staffer's racy use of Twitter. It was one of the most direct confrontations at a debate so far.

In the interview yesterday, Mr. Albanese further labeled his Brooklyn rival "Broadway Bill" because of his celebrity endorsements, including Sex and the City's Cynthia Nixon and actor Steve Buscemi.

"He's more interested in having movie stars support him than being in touch with the grassroots," argued Mr. Albanese. "He comes across as this major leader of grassroots people in New York City when in fact he's just a career politician that machinates all day long ... He's a behind-the-scenes guy and we're going to expose that."

Mr. Albanese's distaste for Mr. de Blasio even extends to his campaign staff. “How any reformer can support this guy is beyond me," his campaign manager Chris McCreight wrote on Facebook in March.

While Mr. Albanese rejects the idea that he and Mr. de Blasio are targeting overlapping subsection of voters--white, liberal, outer-borough residents disenchanted with Mayor Michael Bloomberg--political observers believe Mr. Albanese could end up with voters who would have otherwise chosen Mr. de Blasio, particularly Italian-Americans and residents of Mr. Albanese's old southwestern Brooklyn district.

When asked for a response to Mr. Albanese's aggression, a de Blasio campaign spokesman emailed a one-word reply: "Pass."

A passerby and Speaker Quinn had a spirited discussion about term limits during her campaign launch. (Photo: Hunter Walker)

Christine Quinn's mayoral campaign scheduling arrives with a caveat that her rivals rarely, if ever, employ: "NOT FOR PRINT OR BROADCAST" and "ALL ITEMS EMBARGOED UNTIL DATE AND TIME OF EVENT."

Beginning with her bid's launch last month, the Quinn campaign has told reporters they cannot reveal Ms. Quinn's whereabouts until the event she is attending is underway. In contrast, all but one of Ms. Quinn's competitors have no stipulations whatsoever, oftentimes simply stating "Media Advisory" or "For Immediate Release." Only Public Advocate Bill de Blasio's campaign says, "For Planning Purposes Only," but there is no specific order to avoid publishing the details.

But Ms. Quinn’s spokesman Mike Morey insisted the “embargoed” directive was “standard practice.”

“It’s a template that we use on the public schedule,” he said, noting that her appearances at many public forums are reported elsewhere anyway, including yesterday's. “In any campaign, there are times in which you embargo a news event that you plan to hold that day. But in this case, obviously this was a public event.”

Mr. de Blasio's campaign declined to comment, but Jonathan Prince, the campaign manager for another contender, former Comptroller Bill Thompson, said he couldn't understand why Ms. Quinn wouldn't inform the public of her whereabouts beforehand.

“Our schedule is public, because Bill believes that when you're asking for public trust and support you need to be accessible to the public, to answer their questions and hear their concerns," Mr. Prince said in a statement. "Personally, I can't understand why any candidate for Mayor would want to hide from the public, but I can't explain the strategy of the Quinn campaign.”

Another campaign was much harsher.

"That’s a poor reflection of what kind of mayor she'd be, transparency is an important quality in a mayor," said Todd Brogan, a spokesman for former Councilman Sal Albanese. "It doesn't reflect well on Christine Quinn that she wants to keep the public from knowing what she's doing."

Some operatives speculated the schedule strategy was to help Ms. Quinn avoid the clusters of dedicated protesters that seem to shadow her at many events, something Mr. Morey said was not the case. But one leading Quinn gadfly, documentary filmmaker Donny Moss, believes otherwise.

"Of course Quinn wants to keep her schedule private. She doesn't want to have to explain why she's greeted by protesters day after day," he explained. "Our presence reflects poorly on Quinn, and it begs the question among the thousands of people who pass us, 'What has Quinn done to stir up so much anger that people have taken to the streets to protest her?'"

Mr. Moss added, "We've watched her and her entourage navigate around piles of garbage to avoid passing by us."

Additional reporting by Jill Colvin.

StreetPAC formally launched its efforts Thursday. (Photo: Jill Colvin)

After more than 11 years of new bike lanes and public plazas, pedestrian advocates are getting nervous.

Few of the mayoral front-runners, they fear, have openly embraced the issues they care about: more traffic-calming speed bumps, neighborhood slow zones, plazas, bike lanes and more thorough crash investigations.

"I think a lot of the candidates have sort of danced around the question of complete streets and plazas and bike lanes and things like that," said Park Slope community activist Eric McClure, one of the board members of the newly-registered political committee StreetsPAC,  which officially marked its launch Thursday with an event on the Flatiron Plaza.

He pointed to a recent debate hosted by the League of Conservation Voters, where he said transportation issues were largely absent from the conversation. In fact, he thought former City Councilman Sal Albanese, a long-shot Democratic candidate, had been the "most outspoken" of the field.

"We need to make sure that these issues are at the forefront of the agenda," he said.

(Representatives from several of the other campaigns disputed that notion, pointing to policy plans they've outlined in recent weeks that promise more buses and support for bike lanes, among other ideas. But City Comptroller John Liu was more blunt about the topic: "When it comes up for discussion, John has very clear answers and does not dance around this or any other issues. But admittedly, it is not a topic that carries weight on the same level as education, housing, public safety and job creation," his campaign said.)

The group hopes to harness the growing community of cycling and pedestrian advocates, whom they argued represent a significant voting block in many of the city's highest-turnout neighborhoods. The group already has $30,000 pledged, and expects to collect around "six-figures" to promote their cause, they said.

The group plans to focus on local city council and borough president races, where transportation policy is often shaped--and where their dollars can make a more significant impact.

While they won't endorse specific candidates until after they've reviewed questionnaires and conducted interviews, member Doug Gordon, a TV writer and producer who serves on Brooklyn's Community Board 6,  identified several key races where he thought they might be able to play a powerful role: perhaps supporting Costa Constantinides in his Queens City Council race, or backing contenders in the crowded races to succeed City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in Chelsea and Councilwoman Gale Brewer on the Upper West Side.

Attorney Steve Vaccaro, another board member who often represents pedestrians and cyclists injured by motorists, said they are also looking at the District Attorney contests and want to support candidates who will aggressively prosecute drivers involved in fatal crashes.

"I think the DA's offices can't be gun shy," he said, singling out incumbent Brooklyn D.A. Charles Hynes. "There needs to be a more proactive and aggressive approach," he said.

Hynes' spokesman responded in a statement saying: “Not every vehicular or pedestrian fatality rises to the level warranting a criminal prosecution. We aggressively pursue all viable homicide cases and seek substantial jail sentences, unless persuaded by the victim’s family to give a defendant a second chance."

The Democratic candidates sparred during their first televised debate. (Photo: NY1)

Longshot mayoral candidate Erick Salgado wants to bring Mayor Rudy Giuliani back to City Hall-- this time as the new police commissioner.

Mr. Salgado, a socially conservative reverend, said he’d love to keep current Police Commissioner Ray Kelly on as the city’s top cop, but has at least one back-up choice in mind.

“I would consider Ray Kelly if he’s available. If he’s not interested, maybe I ask Rudy Giuliani to come and serve as police commissioner,” he said during the campaign’s first televised debate, which was held at John Jay College and sponsored by NY1.

The mayoral hopefuls have been asked repeatedly about their thoughts on Mr. Kelly, who remains one of the city’s most popular officials, despite criticism over many controversial policies, including stop-and-frisk.

The idea got a thumbs-down from at least one of the other candidates.

“I oppose Rudy Giuliani as the Police Commissioner for the City of New York,” said Bill Thompson, eliciting the first loud applause of the night and a round of laughs from his fellow candidates.

After the debate, Mr. Salgado explained that he wanted to see the best person in the job to keep the city safe, and had a lot of respect for the former mayor.

“Maybe if he doesn’t want to be a mayor any more, maybe you want to come and do a tremendous job,” he explained..

“It would be Salgado and Rudy Giuliani. That would be a good team.”