You can say this for Republican Joe Nardiello — at least he walks the walk.
The walk, on one recent weeknight, was not some political rally or a community board meeting, but escorting home members of the Park Slope Food Co-op, that august (and extremely liberal) institution of which Nardiello is actually a member.
A Republican? In the Food Co-op? Is that a safety vest he wears or a target?
The other night, Nardiello invited The Politicrasher to join him as he did his regular monthly co-op shift, donning that reflective vest to walk home his fellow members and then bring the shopping cart back to the Mother Ship on Union Street.
Nardiello isn’t the only Co-op member running against heavily favored Democrat Brad Lander to represent Park Slope in the City Council. Green Party member David Pechefsky is also a Co-op member — prompting some in the members-only supermarket to joke that Nardiello and Pechefsky will split the all-important Park Slope Food Co-op vote, allowing Lander to cruise to an easy victory.
On this night, Nardiello hoped to take advantage of his long walks with his would-be constituents, a fringe benefit of his job as a “walker.” It was a tough night.
His first customer complained about President Bush (he’s not on the ballot).
His second customer, a woman from Bay Ridge, nearly capsized her shopping cart when Nardiello revealed his party affiliation.
“A Republican? We seriously considered moving to Canada if McCain had won,” she said.
His third customer said from the outset, “I don’t vote for Republicans, but I’ll listen to you,” before spending the entire 15 minutes never letting Nardiello get a word in.
His fourth customer also didn’t care about Nardiello’s positions.
“The older I get, the more liberal I get,” he said.
So if the voters wouldn’t really give Nardiello a fair hearing, I would use the long walks back to the Co-op to determine if Nardiello is a “bad Republican” or a “good Republican” by giving him the Politicrasher Quiz:
• Who did he vote for in 2008? McCain. “I did think Obama was something special, but I voted for McCain because my number one issue was protecting New York,” he said. Verdict: Bad Republican.
• What are your priorities? “Low taxes and helping small business — anything to avoid slowing commerce,” he said. “That’s why I hate this residential permit parking idea. I call it a street parking fee. More than any issue, that’s what got me into this race. Also, cars need to be slowed down.” Verdict: Good Republican.
• What kind of councilman would you be? “I want to break the old status quo. People in public service should feel it in their heart and do nothing but public service.” Verdict: Good Republican.
• What’s in your background? Nardiello worked in city government under Mayors Koch and Dinkins, including a stint in making sure that the city complied with the federal Clean Air Act. Verdict: Good Republican.
• Why did you become a Republican? “I was a teenager under Carter and the hostage crisis and the gas crisis really got to me. So I was attracted to Reagan.” Then again, it was RFK, not Reagan whom Nardiello quoted most. “I want to moderate the Republican party.” Verdict: Mixed.
• Give us one key labor initiative? “We’ve lost too many dockworker jobs on the waterfront in Brooklyn.” Verdict: Loyal machine Democrat.
• Where are you on gay marriage? It was a simple question, especially for a candidate who spent the previous hour saying he was a champion of civil rights for all. But on gay marriage, Nardiello danced like Tom DeLay! It was uncanny. He couldn’t give a position!
“If it becomes law in New York State, I will support it,” he said.
Big deal; if Nardiello becomes a councilman, his first act as a lawmaker is to swear to uphold the laws of New York State. So I tried again.
“It’s a simple question, Joe: Should people be allowed to marry whomever they want to marry?”
“Right now, they can’t,” he said.
“Yes, Joe, but should they be able to?”
“I do believe that it is bad that people have to go to Iowa or Canada to do that,” he said.
He hemmed and hawed some more about his support for this central civil right — because the bottom line is that he does not support it.
Verdict: Bad Republican.
Good Co-op member, but bad Republican.