Doctored picture embarrasses Virginia Fields campaign

David Saltonstall:

A picture isn't always what it seems - especially in politics.
Democratic mayoral wanna-be Virginia Fields - whose campaign slogan is "A Mayor for All New Yorkers" - cut-and-pasted a diverse group of citizens into a campaign flyer in a bid to make it look like she has broad support.

The photo shows the Manhattan borough president standing in front of a TV microphone surrounded by a multiethnic group - black, Asian, Latino and white.

Anyone looking at the picture might be forgiven for thinking it was a real scene from the campaign trail.

But Fields' campaign guru Joe Mercurio acknowledged yesterday that the picture was actually a "collage" created from at least four different photos - and that an Asian couple, a woman who appears to be white or Hispanic and men of different races were all pasted into the image.

"It's actually four photographs," Mercurio told the Daily News. "We were putting together a representation of the kind of support she has and the kinds of people she is reaching out to."

Mercurio insisted that such "composite" pictures are not unusual in campaigns and that there was no attempt to mislead anyone with the flyer, which includes the "A Mayor for All New Yorkers" slogan.

"It is not supposed to imply a specific event," added Mercurio of the picture, which was first reported by the New York Press. "I think it does imply the kind of support she has."

Her mayoral rivals declined to comment. But the cut-and-paste job came as a surprise to several political operatives.

"It's something that is embarrassing, and you shouldn't do it," said one campaign veteran.

Others were astounded that Fields' campaign aides didn't simply assemble a real group of diverse New Yorkers.

"Candidates should always strive for accuracy," said Rachel Leon, executive director of the political watchdog group Common Cause New York. "I think she should go out tomorrow and find a group of diverse supporters and take a real picture. In New York, that shouldn't be hard."

"It's kind of the easy way out," said Ken Sherrill, a political science professor at Hunter College. "Does it mean they have someone in the office who is adept at Photoshop, but not the political people to round up a group like that? I don't know."

The bogus picture will put Field in a corner, said GOP political consultant Roger Stone.

"It's now incumbent on C. Virginia Fields to prove she does have diverse support," he said.

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