John Liu: Twice a liar

From the NY Post:

John Liu hasn’t officially announced, but he’s already recycling an old — and debunked — tale about working in a sweatshop while growing up in Queens.

In a video released for his recent birthday, Liu put it this way: “My mom worked for a long time in a garment factory, and when I was seven I got my first job working in the same garment factory, and I learned first-hand why they called the place a sweatshop.”

The last time he used this story was in his successful 2009 race for city comptroller. The recycling of this tear-jerker is a signal that he now has his eye on Gracie Mansion.

Don’t go reaching for the Kleenex, either. Liu’s own mom says the story is fiction.

After Liu began blanketing the airwaves with his startling claim four years ago (“By seven, I had to work in a sweatshop to make ends meet”), his mother corrected him.

“I never go to the factory,” she told a reporter. “I just go there and pick up some material and bring home, because I had to take care of my kids.” She says John used to help her with garment work back at home to earn a few extra dollars.

That was New York’s bizarre introduction to John Liu. Soon, voters will likely be asked to consider him as a candidate for mayor. What does it say that he’s repeating a tale his own mother says is a lie?

Maybe he hopes that if he tells a story often enough, voters will simply believe him.

Maybe he’s a bit confused in the head.

Whatever the case, Liu may want to figure out his own past before he asks New Yorkers to trust him with their future.