Last week I reported on an event I was alerted to by two sources where Brad Lander was caught at a pro-Bloomberg event alongside Brad's homophobic ally Dov Hikind and Bush supporter Rudy Giuliani. Brad was literally on film sitting next to Giuliani. This was an event widely reported to include racist remarks aimed at Thompson and an observer of the event wrote into the Boro Park news paper Hamodia describing racist comments made after the event (as well as considerable dissatisfaction among Hasids about Bloomberg).

I had the chance last night (at CBID) to confront Brad with this, but was better occupied playing with my son. Honestly, Brad has been caught at too many things and has never been up front about it I didn't want to hear more excuses. However, Courier-Life reports that the Boro Park event may have placed Brad in a situation he did not want. It seems he was out of his depth (perhaps not something to be proud of) but at least not in agreement with the pro-Bloomberg tone. From Courier-Life:

Lander, who is supporting Bill Thompson for Mayor, said that he went to the event because it was billed as a breakfast honoring Holocaust survivors...

When Bloomberg got up to speak, Giuliani strutted in and took the seat that the Mayor just vacated -- leaving Lander caught between a Republican rock -- the former Mayor -- and, well, Nadler.

“The Mayor and I end up sitting next to each other and it’s slowly becoming a campaign rally,,, then comes in Giuliani,” Lander told members of the Lambda Independent Democrats, the borough’s largest LGBT political club (none of which apparently got the invite to go to the event). “The Mayor goes up and gives an inoffensive campaign speech, but as soon as he’s done, I run..."

“I was not in the room to hear his racially-tinged, fear-mongering statements,” he said in his blog. “It is no surprise, sadly, that Giuliani still thinks the way to score political points is to play on fears of race and crime.”

Bloomberg backed Giuliani’s statements later in the day, inferring that New York could end up like Detroit if Thompson was elected.

“Since the question was already about race, it sure seems like the reference to Detroit was meant to further underscore questions about African-American mayors,” Lander wrote. “Bloomberg should not only renounce Rudy’s remarks, but also clarify his own.”

Again, this happens all too often to Brad. He was caught taking developer money despite a pledge not to. Once caught he gave most of it back. He was criticized for his close alliance with Dov Hikind, whose intolerance, support of racial profiling, and anti-gay beliefs are well known. He has basically said they agree to disagree. Not really a proper response in my book. Lander was caught up in the WFP campaign finance scandal. He has failed to admit wrongdoing by himself or WFP even though it was determined by the campaign finance board that they had violated its rules. Then there was the anti-gay ad in another Boro Park news paper that Lander's campaign ordered, then Brad, when caught, expressed probably genuine horror, but never held anyone on his campaign responsible for it. Now he winds up stumbling into a pro-Bloomberg event where racist comments are made.

There is a pattern here. Perhaps it is a pattern of deception where he is trying to play two sides off one another and failing. Or it is a pattern of stumbling from one embarrassing situation to the next and never accepting responsibility, merely blaming others. As with the anti-gay ad, I consider the current embarrassment to be probably something he never intended, since he is pro-gay rights and supports Bill Thompson. But both are part of a pattern of either carelessness or actual failed attempts to play both sides. Either way, this is not the "experienced" candidate we were promised.