He started it.
The first televised debate between Rep. Michael Grimm and former City Councilman Domenic Recchia devolved into a playground shouting match Friday.
Within minutes after taping began at WABC/Channel 7, both candidates were talking over each other in a heated dispute over public health funding for Ebola.
Recchia, a Democrat, accused Grimm, a Republican, of voting to cut federal funds that could have been devoted to fighting the deadly disease, a charge the incumbent quickly denied. Recchia then pivoted to Grimm’s federal indictment on fraud charges, dating back to when Grimm owned a restaurant in Manhattan.
“You know what, you lied to the FBI, you lied to the US Attorney’s Office,” Recchia charged.
Grimm responded: “I’ve never even been interviewed by the FBI, I’ve never even been interviewed by the US attorney, so how could I have lied to them?”
Recchia swung right back.
“Listen, you were indicted for lying under oath,” he said. “You’re saying something that’s false . . . you were facing a 20-count criminal indictment. This is ridiculous.”
Recchia barely got the words out before the two began going at one another again, at which point moderator Diana Williams had had enough.
“OK, gentlemen, gentlemen!” Williams pleaded, trying to restore civility. She gave Grimm one more chance to address the indictment, an issue that in most races would be a political death knell.
In this one, however, Grimm is actually slightly ahead with 44 percent to Recchia’s 40 percent, according to a Siena College poll released last month.
“I don’t think my effectiveness has been called into question by any of my constituents,” Grimm boasted.
But Recchia kept returning to the indictment: “He should step down, the people of this district deserve better,” Recchia urged.
The Democrat stumbled, however, when the topic moved to Hurricane Sandy — a key issue in the shorefront communities of the Staten Island/Brooklyn congressional district he hopes to represent. When Grimm quizzed him on how much federal funding went toward Sandy aid, Recchia blanched.
“My opponent is a one-trick pony,” Grimm said later. “It’s the indictment and nothing else.”
The debate airs Sunday morning on Channel 7.
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