Giff stand on
stadium was fence

BY MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU

Where does City Council Speaker Gifford Miller stand on the West Side stadium?

The answer depends on when you asked him.

For most of last year, as fellow Council members and community activists vociferously fought the proposed stadium, Miller repeatedly said he was undecided on the issue.

In November, Miller told a construction trades group that he was not opposed to the stadium "in principle" but that he couldn't support the project because "the process that led to this proposal was not what it should have been." The News captured Miller's stance with the headline, "Giff takes stand on stadium - sort of."

In recent months, as the mayor's race began to heat up, Miller has evolved into one of the stadium's fiercest opponents, saying recently he is "implacably" opposed to the project. He is leading the charge to block the mayor's attempt to spend $300 million in city taxpayer money on the stadium - even entering the legal fray with a court brief filed last week.

"The record is the record," said Rep. Anthony Weiner, one of Miller's Democratic rivals for mayor. "It's very difficult for the speaker to make the argument that he's been consistently opposed to the stadium because those of us who have been know better."

Weiner announced his opposition to the stadium April 2004, seven months before Miller.

Miller called for moving the stadium to Queens after Weiner, and he called for a public referendum on the project after another Democratic rival, Fernando Ferrer, did.

In response, Steve Sigmund, Miller's spokesman, said the speaker advocated competitive bidding for the stadium site before all his Democratic rivals.

"No one is doing more to stop the mayor's $2 billion boondoggle stadium than Gifford Miller, and any political opponent who claims Gifford Miller isn't doing enough is just flapping their lips without taking action. Period," Sigmund said.

Joe Restuccia, a West Sider who has helped lead a grass-roots campaign against the stadium, described Miller's evolution on this issue as "gradual."

"Was I happy that he wasn't out front right away? Of course, I wasn't happy," Restuccia said. "Elected officials move at different speeds, but he got to the right place."

But John Fisher, who heads the Clinton Special District Coalition, a group opposed to the stadium, took aim at Miller's leadership abilities. "By the time he came out, he was basically trailing everybody else," Fisher said. "The question is - is it too little too late?"