Congressman Towns (Photo: Getty)
In City & State this morning, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries started to lay out negative arguments in his campaign to unseat Congressman Ed Towns. This evening, Mr. Towns defended himself against the various charges while not referring to Mr. Jeffries by name once. The third candidate in the race, Councilman Charles Barron, was unmentioned.
Mr. Towns believes he knows why Mr. Jeffries would go after his record though.
His press release specifically stated Mr. Towns "says he understands why his opponent—who vigorously supported him in his 2008 and 2010 primary—is now ready to tear him down."
“I understand that he is eager to ascend to a higher office and I have no problem with anybody being ambitious, but throwing out unsubstantiated charges is not the way to do it," Mr. Towns said. "It gets the media’s attention, but it will not make you an effective representative.”
In the release, Mr. Towns answered two of the charges Mr. Jeffries made in City & State. In response to Mr. Jeffries saying “seniority without action is like a race car with no engine,” Mr. Towns said his unnamed opponent “may denigrate the seniority process but he would soon learn if he ever becomes a member of the House of Representatives, that it takes time to prove your worth."
Secondly, Mr. Towns defended his record on the foreclosure crisis by saying "my opponent was not paying attention to my work" and "if he were to go back and review my record, he would learn that I took on some of the country’s top CEO’s and many of them resigned after coming before my committee. But I won’t take credit for that.”
The press release was sure to note the last statement was "said with a smile."