On the same day Democrat Kathleen Rice received the endorsement of two pro-choice organizations in her campaign for the 4th Congressional District, she called upon Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman to declare his stance on abortion and other reproductive rights.
“It’s time for my opponent to speak up and tell the women of our district if their constitutional rights will have an ally in Congress, or whether he plans to represent us as an extremist who believes we are second-class citizens,” said Rice, the Nassau County district attorney, during a news conference Monday at her campaign office in Garden City.
Rice, of Garden City, on Monday received the endorsements of NARAL Pro-Choice New York and the Nassau County chapter of Planned Parenthood and questioned whether Blakeman, a Long Beach resident and former presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature, would support what she called “his Conservative Party’s stance that women shouldn’t ever have a right to choose.”
Blakeman campaign spokesman Matt Coleman called Rice “a hypocrite” in a statement on Tuesday for “stonewall[ing] everyone about her involvement” as a former co-chair of the Moreland Commission, whose shutdown in March is currently under investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office.
“By the way,” Coleman added. “Bruce supports a woman’s right to choose.”
Blakeman, the former presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature, has held two press conferences in the last two weeks calling on Rice to release e-mail correspondences from her time as Moreland co-chair and to disclose the nature of her relationships with two firms that contributed to her political campaigns and were later investigated by the commission.
Rice has declined to speak publicly about her involvement with Moreland, saying it would interfere with the U.S. attorney’s investigation.
In a statement Tuesday, Rice campaign spokesman Coleman Lamb said “voters don’t want Kathleen Rice to compromise the integrity of a federal probe,” but that “we have a right to hear is Bruce Blakeman and his extreme makeover campaign tell us the truth about his views on women’s access to reproductive health care.”
Rice and Blakeman are each vying to succeed Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola) in representing the 4th Congressional District, which covers Baldwin, Bellmore, East Meadow, the Five Towns, Lynbrook, Floral Park, Franklin Square, Garden City, Hempstead, Long Beach, Malverne, Merrick, Mineola, Carle Place, New Hyde Park, Oceanside, Rockville Centre, Roosevelt, Uniondale, West Hempstead and Westbury.
Reach reporter Bill San Antonio by e-mail at bsanantonio@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516.307.1045 x215 or on Twitter @b_sanantonio. Also follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
