Hort Sets Out
to Oust Nadler

He aims for House seat
By Christopher Moore

A Tribeca Republican is waging an underdog bid to unseat Rep. Jerrold Nadler.

First elected in 1992 to represent the Upper West Side, Nadler has become a fixture in the House, always winning overwhelming re-election in his liberal district, but Peter Hort, 32, insisted in a Feb. 13 interview that he's a social moderate and fiscal conservative bent on beating the incumbent.

Arguing his odds of success were "better than John Kerry's chances of getting me nomination a month ago," Hort said, "We're putting ourselves in a position to get lucky."

Hort said he's already raised $73,000 for a general-election battle against Nadler.

The incumbent, a stalwart liberal who won prominence in an increasingly conservative House of Representatives by defending President Clinton during his impeachment hearings, had more than $800,000 in his war chest as of Jan. 1.

"We're not going to be able to outspend Jerrold Nadler," Hort said. "But we're going to have what we need to get our message out." He said he would have much more money than others who have challenged the incumbent Democrat.

The Nadler campaign doesn't sound scared.
Amy Rutkin, Nadler's chief of staff, said, "Obviously the congressman is working very hard on behalf of his constituents. As a result, he's quite popular and was re-elected with a resounding 75 percent."

Still, Rutkin said, "We take all of our opponents seriously and believe in the democratic process."

Aware that he's running in an overwhelmingly Democratic district, Hort is positioning himself as someone who could appeal to various kinds of voters. His Web site has separate appeals, with sections for Democrats, Republicans and independents.

"I think people in New York are tired of political labels," he said.

A "lawyer by education," Hort worked from 1996 to 2003 in his family's Brooklyn-based printing and publishing house. Last year he quit to work full-time as a congressional candidate.

He plans to press four key issues in his campaign: education, the economy, health care and security. Endorsing President Bush's No Child Left Behind initiative, Hort called for more funds for schools, but added, "Throwing money at any problem is not necessarily the answer."

He's an advocate of charter schools, money for capital improvements, tax deductions for education-related expenses, and block grants to states for hiring new teachers.

"Poverty should not be a bar to education," Hort said, adding that schooling can be a ladder out of poverty, too.

On economic issues, Hort said the key is creating jobs. He endorsed more targeted tax cuts but decried the increased deficit.

"No moral society would leave its children these deficits," he said.

There's extensive waste and patronage in the federal government, which is why there should be a thorough review of each department's budget, he said.

Nadler, like most House incumbents, enjoys a tremendous advantage. That advantage, Hort said, is built in, because congressional districts are drawn for specific incumbents.

"This inhibits democracy," he said. "It is time to not accept this."

Hort has longtime ties to the city. Born at NYU Hospital, he was raised in Edgemont, N.Y., attending Edgemont High School before attending the George Washington University, from which he graduated in 1993. In 1996, he got his law degree from Fordham University Law School at Lincoln Center.

Hort and his wife, Jamie, have a 3-year-old daughter and a 1 -year-old son.

This year's effort marks Hort's first political campaign.

"I have two young children," he said. "I am concerned about their future."