First Lady Hillary Clinton visits a Queens public school tomorrow to highlight her support of arts education – but Mayor Giuliani said his administration has beaten her to the punch.
During a stop at IS 25 in Flushing, Mrs. Clinton will join NBC-TV anchor Jane Pauley and NYU president emeritus John Brademus to single out School District 25 for its model arts curriculum.
The First Lady, who’s weighing a run for the U.S. Senate here next year, is honorary chairwoman of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, which Brademus chairs.
The committee is releasing a report tomorrow extolling the virtues of arts education – which is what Giuliani said he’s been doing since 1997.
The mayor may run for the same Senate seat Mrs. Clinton is eyeing.
“I assume she’s endorsing [the city’s] Project Arts, which is the leading program in the country for restoring arts education in the schools,” Giuliani told reporters. “It’s something I announced in my State of the City speech two years ago.”
Giuliani earmarked $25 million for arts education when he ran for re-election in 1997. The allocation has grown to $75 million this year, providing enough funds for art and music programs in each school district for the first time since the fiscal crisis of the 1970s.
An aide to the First Lady said her visit to New York, which includes a speech before the Women’s Leadership Forum of the Democratic National Committee, isn’t intended to score political points against the mayor.
“She’s not taking credit for anything,” the aide said. “She’s highlighting model districts.”
But Giuliani noted that none of the money being spent here on arts classes comes from Washington.
“Maybe the First Lady will come with a check from the federal government and they’ll contribute something so we can continue to enhance arts education in the schools,” he said.
In an odd bit of timing, Mrs. Clinton and Giuliani will be trading places tomorrow. While she’s in New York, he’ll be in Washington testifying before the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight.
Representing the city will be Deputy Mayor Ninfa Segarra, who’s certain to point out the mayor’s role in restoring arts programs.
“Either there’s political naivete or political genius at work here,” said one mayoral aide, puzzled that Mrs. Clinton had zeroed in on an issue where “everyone agrees Giuliani deserves credit.”
Mrs. Clinton’s speech at the DNC Women’s Leadership Forum is a sellout at $150 a head – and the Democrats say they already have a 300-person waiting list.