Barkan, Gounardes battle over campaign financing
Democrats Ross Barkan and Andrew Gounardes sparred over campaign financing and other issues at a Bensonhurst debate as each man sought to portray himself as the candidate with the strongest grassroots support heading into the Sept. 13 primary that will determine which of the two will be the party’s standard bearer against Republican incumbent Marty Golden in the 22nd State Senate District in November.
Barkan, a political journalist making his first run at public office, charged that Gounardes has accepted campaign contributions from fat cats, something that Barkan said he has refused to do.
“You take money from the kind of people who profit from a broken system,” he told Gounardes during the debate, which took place at the United Chinese Association of Brooklyn at 1787 Stillwell Ave. on Aug. 28.