Desperate to shift attention from his sexting scandals, Anthony Weiner issued a blizzard of campaign proposals Monday — but an enraged voter would not let him move on.
Weiner’s new ideas, 61 in all, were contained in a policy booklet, the second of his New York mayoral bid, which he unveiled with fanfare at a Queens park. They range from having beat cops wear tiny lapel cameras to adding 100,000 parking spaces on city streets.
But later in the day, a fuming former constituent barged into a campaign appearance to berate the shamed ex-congressman, saying he had “no right” to show his face in Brooklyn.
A man who reeked of booze then jumped in the fray and started making crude penis jokes about the candidate’s surname.
Weiner’s booklet, titled “Even More Keys to the City,” contained a mix of the meaty, the quirky and the vague.
He said requiring all beat cops to patrol with tiny lapel cameras would document cases of police abuse — and provide evidence for officers to defend themselves from false accusations.
Among his other ideas: allowing cars to park 10 feet from a fire hydrant instead of 15, a move that he said would create 100,000 parking spaces; exempting people who make less than $40,000 from paying the city income tax; reprogramming traffic lights to stop cars in all directions when pedestrians get the walk signal; and imposing an “oligarch tax” on ultra-luxury real estate.
Weiner attempted to use the new proposals not only to relaunch his campaign, but to differentiate himself from his Democratic rivals while casting himself as an idea machine.
Weiner has been shunned by organized labor and fellow politicians — but he sought to turn that to his advantage, too, charging that his opponents are waging “very old-fashioned” campaigns by touting endorsements of unions and pols.
Democrats “haven’t won for the last 24 years. Sometimes I think we haven’t deserved to win,” he said.
“I’m sure that people used to, and may still in some corners, stand up and say, I want to know what my tribe is doing or what my union is doing or what my neighbor is doing or what some famous person I saw on TV is doing. But I really think many many more people are saying, ‘What are his ideas?'”
Weiner could not provide a price tag for the package. “Priceless, it’s priceless,” he quipped.
Copies of Weiner’s new booklet were handed out by his communications director, Barbara Morgan, making her return to the campaign trail after her obscenity-filled rant last week about Olivia Nuzzi, the former campaign intern who wrote about her experience for the Daily News.
The enraged voter’s confrontation with Weiner occurred Monday evening outside the Atlantic Ave.-Barclays Center subway station in Brooklyn, just as Weiner had finished talking to a 6-year-old girl and her mother.
Jane Borock, 35, marched over to Weiner — who was surrounded by a dozen sign-toting voters and campaign volunteers — and screamed, “You are disgusting!”
She berated him about a lack of affordable housing and for a widely publicized sleepover in a housing project that other candidates also attended.
“F— you!” she said.
The crowd gasped.
After letting the woman rant, Weiner told her to stop because children were nearby.
“You have no right to talk about little kids,” she seethed.
Weiner tried to return talking the crowd when a man who reeked of alcohol joined in.
“Are you a Weiner or a frankfurter?” he said.
“He’s nothing!” Borock said. “F— you all for voting for him.”
The male heckler, who said he was homeless, proceeded to curse Weiner out. Weiner said, “I love how crazy I make some people.”
Borock later said she was buying sheets and spotted Weiner across the street, so she decided to confront him. She said she “grew up” voting for him but had “a million” reasons to be disappointed.
She said she was particularly angry that “the hoopla around his penis” has become the focus of the mayor’s race.
Weiner received a better reception later at the MLK Jr. Concert Series’ Caribbean Night at Wingate Field, Brooklyn. The crowd — quiet when rival Bill Thompson spoke — erupted in cheers when Weiner hit the stage.
But there might be more confrontations for Weiner.
His former sexting partner Sydney Leathers said she was planning to travel to New York soon and wanted to confront Weiner. She told the Daily News she might even try to crash one of the debates.
“But they might have ‘No Sydney’ signs up by that point. I might have to wear some terrible Amanda Bynes wig to get in,” she said.
