MLK Day has become key day for politicians

Parades and church services have long been staples of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and more and more, so has the annual trek of office holders into African-American neighborhoods for a few hours of politicking.

While some politicians and communities have honored the slain civil rights leader on his birthday for decades, as the number of King celebrations has increased, so too has the difficulty politicians face in deciding what events to attend and which to avoid."It has been growing, and like other major 'identity' days, if you are a politician, you skip it at your own political peril, given the size of the voting bloc," said Lee Miringoff, director of polling for the Marist Institute for Public Opinion. "When the evening news comes on, that's where you want to be."

In New York City, competing King events have made for fascinating spectator sport in recent years. But the onset of the 2001 mayoral race to succeed Rudolph Giuliani, coupled with rival events organized by controversial figures, has added to the intrigue.The past few King Days in the city have brought together some strange bedfellows. Take, for instance, the Rev. Al Sharpton and mainstream Democratic Party candidates such as Hillary Rodham Clinton.

So are the politicians pandering or paying genuine attention?"These events are a good thing as long they aren't just one day activities," New York Urban League president Dennis Walcott said. "If it is used as a photo opportunity, then it really disrespects the memory of Dr. King."

Giuliani, whose relationship with the city's African American community has stalled in mutual mistrust, has had a particular problem finding suitable events for King Day.

Four years ago, for instance, Giuliani was booed and heckled throughout his speech at the city's biggest tribute to King, at the Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem. The mayor was not invited back.And last year, Giuliani canceled a scheduled appearance at a King Day event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music after organizers also invited the first lady. Giuliani said the invitation to Clinton , who was running against him for the U.S. Senate at the time had "politicized" the event.

With few other options, Giuliani hosted a prayer breakfast of his own last year at Gracie Mansion, and in the evening, attended a dinner put on by the Congress of Racial Equality. He has the same plans this year.

The CORE dinner, however, presents its own problems for the mayor and other politicians.CORE's leader, Roy Innis, has refigured the organization from a mainline civil rights group to a conservative organ. For the past several years, Innis has invited or honored a series of conservative leaders not known for their commitment to civil rights, among them radio host Bob Grant, who opposed a national holiday for King. Indeed, during a 1993 radio broadcast, Grant lambasted King as "this bum, this womanizer, this liar, this fake, this phony," and later, as "that slimeball."

And last January, right-wing Austrian leader Joerg Haider, who has expressed sympathy for Nazis, shared the dais with the mayor, although Giuliani said he was unaware that Haider was there. "We try to be consistent with Dr. King's principles of reaching out and seeking conciliation," Innis said. "I think Dr. King would be proud of us."

But some of the politicians invited to this year's dinner, including mayoral candidate and City Council Speaker Peter Vallone, plan on staying away, and are instead turning to an event deemed safer _ a King memorial hosted by Sharpton at his Harlem headquarters. Among those who plan to go is city Comptroller Alan Hevesi, a cautious politician who has blasted Sharpton in the past for being irresponsible and divisive.

But with Hevesi running for mayor, the comptroller has changed his mind sort of, according to his political director, Hank Morris."He has changed, he has grown," said Morris about Sharpton. Hevesi will be joined at Sharpton's National Action Network on Monday by the other major mayoral candidates Vallone, Public Advocate Mark Green and Bronx borough President Fernando Ferrer.All of which goes to show the new political reality, said Miringoff, the pollster."No matter who you are," he said, "if you are in office or running for office, you have to do something on King Day."