Clockwise from top left: Green, Spitz, Hevesi, Ferrer, Bloomberg, Hewes, Badillo, and Vallone Photos: clockwise from top left: Friends of Mark Green; courtesy of George Spitz; courtesy of Hevesi 2001; courtesy of the of more news most popular most commented Liberty: A New Comic Strip Liberty by Aram Sinnreich Home Alone—With Medicaid Fraudsters by Tom Robbins Keeping Jazz Makers Alive by Nat Hentoff The Barely Legal Empire of Tony Alamo by Maria Luisa Tucker City Still Hassles '04 RNC Protesters Runnin' Scared by Graham Rayman Girls Love Gay Male Porn Pucker Up by Tristan Taormino My Boyfriend's Kink Is Getting Fat. What Do I Do? Savage Love by Dan Savage Sex and the City Spoilers: A Sneak Preview of What Really Happens to Carrie and the Girls by Lynn Yaeger The Barely Legal Empire of Tony Alamo by Maria Luisa Tucker Our Favorite Writers Pick Their Favorite Obscure Books Summer Guide by ALEXANDER NAZARYAN NYPD Inaction Over a Missing Black Woman Found Dead Sparks a Historic Racial-Bias Lawsuit (9) Sean Gardiner Devo-Inspired Art in East Williamsburg (8) Maro The Barely Legal Empire of Tony Alamo (5) Maria Luisa Tucker David Mamet: Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal' (4) David Mamet Runnin' Scared: Deep South of Houston: Is a Soul-Food Restaurant Too Black for Soho? (4) Runnin' Scared: Chloe A. Hilliard

Below, the candidates are listed from most club-friendly to least.

If a club employs an on-site ambulance, is it a sign of a drug orgy or an act of responsibility?

Mark Green (D) (www.markgreen.com):
I think nightclubs should be lauded rather than chastised for having an insurance policy that includes extra guards and ambulances in cases of crisis.

George Spitz (D) (www.georgespitz.com):
When you start harassing people, you open the door to the same kind of corruption we had during Prohibition.

Alan Hevesi (D) (www.mebq.org):
An ambulance by itself is not a sign of inappropriate or illegal behavior. It may be an appropriate caution. On the other hand, inappropriate behavior is not acceptable, either.

Fernando Ferrer (D) (www.ferrer2001.com):
It makes perfect sense for clubs to take actions to protect the health of their patrons. It is important, however, that owners not turn a blind eye to the practices of their patrons (and, in some cases, employees) that might put people at risk.

Peter Vallone (D) (www.vallone2001.org):
I believe it is only prudent for the proper officials to keep a close eye on [nightclubs] to ensure that they operate legally and safely.

Herman Badillo (R) (www.badillo2001.org):
There has to be some sort of control [of the private ambulances] so that there's no cover-up [of illegal activity].

Henry Hewes (R): I think most of these places are dangerous enough to need ambulances.

How would you feel about the Drug Enforcement Agency policing drug use in NYC clubs (as it has recently done in New Orleans and Panama City, Florida)?

Green: Barring extraordinary circumstances, the city's 41,000-member police department should be able to handle such problems.

Spitz: I am opposed to the drug war.

Hevesi: If the owners of a club have made a serious good-faith effort to keep drugs out of a club and obey the law, that should be considered. But if their efforts are superficial, I think using whatever methods exist is entirely appropriate.

Ferrer: New York City already has adequate tools that it can employ, such as police padlock and nuisance abatement laws, at premises where multiple arrests have occurred over a short period of time.

Vallone: I think that the U.S. Attorney's office does an excellent job, and I would defer to their judgment on legal strategies and tactics.

Badillo: The New York City Police Department is fully able to handle that issue.

Hewes: If a club owner is knowingly providing a place for people to come and use drugs, I don't think there's much issue to [the DEA policing New York clubs].