Manhattan Leader to Run for Mayor

Manhattan Borough President David N. Dinkins announced Tuesday that he is a candidate for mayor of New York, charging that three-term incumbent Mayor Edward I. Koch had sharply polarized the city.

Dinkins, who would become New York’s first black mayor, told a crowded news conference: “I am running because New Yorkers deserve leadership that can set a new tone, offer a renewed spirit of hope and optimism, re-awaken citizen participation and restore civility to the governmental process.”

” . . . We need a mayor who can transcend differences so we can work together to solve our problems,” Dinkins said at a crowded news conference in his offices just across the street from City Hall.

Seeks Unprecedented Fourth Term

Dinkins, 61, is a lawyer and 1988 New York state chairman for the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign. He became the first prominent politician to announce he would enter September’s Democratic primary against Koch, who is seeking an unprecedented fourth term in office.

Koch, 64, is considered vulnerable. He was easily reelected to City Hall twice, but has had a stormy third term. He angered a sizable number of voters by vehemently attacking Jackson in the presidential primary. A series of corruption scandals involving officials of his administration and others also cast a cloud. All of this has come atop a series of intractable problems, among them AIDS, drugs, crime, and overcrowded city hospitals.

In the weeks ahead, the field is expected to grow with the possible entrance of city Comptroller Harrison J. Goldin, builder Richard Ravitch and former Congressman Herman Badillo.

Koch responded to Dinkins’ candidacy with praise and with a quip. The mayor said he considered the Manhattan Borough president to be a “very formidable candidate” and he perceived himself to be the underdog.

“I wish him well--up until the primary in September,” the mayor said.

At his news conference, Dinkins urged Badillo, who could divide the minority vote, to support his candidacy. Badillo issued a statement Tuesday that it was too early to decide whether to run.

Polls show both Dinkins and former U.S. Atty. Rudolph W. Giuliani, who is considering running as a Republican, defeating Koch in the November election. But they also show the mayor with the support of roughly one-third of Democratic voters, probably enough to force a runoff in the Democratic primary.

Dinkins is a careful, low-key office holder who has been a lackluster campaigner in the past. He was elected borough president in 1985 on his third attempt.

‘Contributed to Polarization’

“The leadership the mayor has provided has not been sufficient,” Dinkins charged. “The mayor has on occasion contributed to the polarization of the city.”

At the press conference, reporters questioned whether Dinkins was combative enough to take on the mayor. Dinkins, a former Board of Elections president and city clerk, cited his own military service. “I have been described as a nice guy and a gentleman,” he said. “I am also an ex-Marine. I don’t intend for a second to get shoved around.”

Advisers to the mayor pointed out Tuesday that Koch faces a somewhat opposite problem. In the past, Koch has antagonized voting groups in the city, and Jackson in particular during last year’s presidential primary, with his caustic comments.

“To win this race, it will be a question of restraint and control,” a Koch adviser said.