Local Pols Sound Off On Civility In Wake Of Deadly Ariz. Shooting

In the days after last week's deadly shooting in Arizona which claimed the lives of six and gravely injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at a constituent event, in certain quarters there has been much soul-searching about the state of American political discourse — including right here in northeastern Queens.

So we decided to ask local community leaders — the ones usually on the receiving end of complaints, accusations and plain-old disagreements — on whether they felt the level of civility in our politics had fallen, risen or stayed the same in recent years.

Here are their responses, in no particular order:

Jerry Iannece, chairman, Community Board 11: "It's gotten substantially worse. Politics by its very nature tends to be dirty, but it used to be a gentlemen's game ... But all bets are off now. Today anyone can call someone 'un-American' or unpatriotic. But that kind of talk has no place in our politics. We need to take a step back."

Dan Halloran, Council member, District 19: "It's definitely fallen. There's always a willingness to make fun of politicians, to deride them and call them names. But today it's been taken to a whole other level. Today, it's personal. And it happened in my race [Halloran's successful bid for City Council in 2009]. There's something to be said about dialing back the discourse and sticking to the issues."

Steve Behar, former City Council and Assembly candidate (via Twitter): "There has been a marked decline in the civility in politics since Clinton took office in 1993."

Ed Braunstein, newly-elected Assemblyman, District 26: "I've seen a decline in civility nationally. There definitely seems to be anger there. But in northeast Queens it doesn't seem to be an issue. Even people who disagreed with me while I was campaigning last summer — not Tea Party-types, just regular New York Republicans — they were able to do so in a civil manner. People can disagree without becoming angry or violent about it."