On his way to what he’s sure will be a resounding victory in the general election in two weeks, Assemblyman Jeffrey  Dinowitz, a trained lawyer who represents most of Norwood, as well as parts of Woodlawn and Riverdale, finds himself in an unfamiliar role — defendant.

Dinowitz, who received 95 percent of his 81st District’s vote two years ago, has spent the last couple of weeks defending himself from charges brought by his feisty Republican opponent, Joe McClaughlin.

“He was so personal,” Dinowitz said following a meet-the-candidates night hosted by the Woodlawn Taxpayers Association.
McClaughlin’s campaign literature and talking points take dead aim at Dinowitz in an attempt to portray the 16-year Assembly veteran as part of a dysfunctional Albany establishment and a tax-and-spend liberal Democrat.

On the flip side, Dinowitz questions McClaughlin’s community credentials — “I haven’t seen him do anything in the community,” Dinowitz said — and is quick to lump him in with other controversial Republicans. “It’s not surprising that he’s on the same ticket as [GOP gubernatorial candidate] Carl Paladino.”

So far, the two candidates have mostly been addressing the other in monologue without the exchange of much dialogue. Bill Murphy, the McClaughlin’s campaign director, says this isn’t for lack of effort on his candidate’s part. He says Dinowitz backed out of a debate at Manhattan College that was all but scheduled for the night of Oct. 26.

“Jeffrey Dinowitz’s policy of saying one thing and doing another has gone on for 16 years,” McClaughlin said in a press release.  “His cowardly actions today show the voters that their representative is too scared to defend his record in a public debate.”

Dinowitz called McClaughlin’s comments “childish” and said, “I’m a grownup and I assume Mr. McClaughlin is too.”

The Assemblyman said he originally told McClaughlin’s campaign that his schedule was open on Oct. 26, but then found out there was a candidate’s night scheduled at the Riverdale YMCA the night before and made family plans for the 26th. He said McClaughlin’s campaign called him about the Manhattan College debate after he had already made plans.

Regardless, next Wednesday, Oct. 27, the two will finally have a chance to debate when they meet on the set of Gary Axelbank’s Bronxnet talk show, BronxTalk. The show will be taped on Wednesday afternoon and then broadcast at 9:30 p.m. It will be replayed on Thursday and Friday nights at 9:30 p.m. as well. You can also watch it on the internet at www.bronxnet.org.