Assembly Member Nicole Malliotakis (photo: Samar Khurshid/Gotham Gazette)
Assembly Member Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican who represents parts of Staten Island and Brooklyn, officially launched her mayoral campaign on a rainy Friday morning at the steps of City Hall, criticizing Mayor Bill de Blasio’s record on crime and what she called the city’s out-of-control spending under the heavily progressive partnership between the mayor and the City Council.
“City Hall has been taken from us,” Malliotakis said. “Over the past four years, the people of New York City have seen a City Council hijacked by an out-of-touch progressive caucus and a mayoralty wasted on an incompetent politician more concerned with raising taxes so he can throw money at problems instead of finding solutions to actually fix those problems.”
She criticized the massive increase in the city’s budget over the last three years, claiming it had gone up by 20 percent since the last budget under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In fact, de Blasio’s proposed $84.86 billion executive budget, if passed, would be a 17 percent or $12.2 billion increase, from the last budget modification under Bloomberg in November 2013.
Malliotakis also took issue with the city’s homelessness crisis, which has arguably been de Blasio’s biggest challenge, and one that he is still struggling to bring under control. Malliotakis opposes the mayor’s recently announced plan to put 90 new homeless shelters across the city, although she did not note that the plan ultimately will reduce the city’s shelter footprint by 45 percent through closures of emergency hotel shelters and cluster sites, per city plans.
The most significant issue Malliotakis focused on during Friday’s news conference was the mayor’s policies on crime and quality-of-life, particularly the decriminalization of low-level offenses such as public urination. “New York City has become a total free-for-all,” she said. “Quality of life no longer seems to matter, unless that life belongs to the offender.”
She said de Blasio was taking credit for crime reductions under Mayor Bloomberg, and using selective statistics that show a much rosier picture of public safety. The mayor and Police Commissioner James O’Neill tout statistics that show felony crime is at historic lows, almost consistently each month, and that the city has never been safer. These numbers, Malliotakis argued, aren’t presented fairly and certain crimes, particularly sex crimes, have increased significantly.
Malliotakis also said the mayor’s policies toward the NYPD had made the police’s jobs more difficult, forcing them to operate with restraint and putting them in danger. On the NYPD’s use of the controversial stop-and-frisk policing tactic, which de Blasio ran in opposition to in 2013 and which a federal judge ruled was being practiced under Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a racially biased fashion, Malliotakis said she would give the NYPD discretion.
“As long as it’s used properly as a tool and appropriately, then I think it should be a tool that a police officer are still allowed to use because it did take a number of drugs and guns off the street,” she told reporters. Notably, her position doesn’t differ drastically from de Blasio’s, who has not sought to eliminate the use of stop-and-frisk, but Malliotakis insisted that he has not publicly shown that support to the NYPD and pointed out that he dropped the city’s appeal of a lawsuit over the discriminatory use of stop-and-frisk. She also called out the mayor for pushing a proposal that would make disciplinary records of officers available to the public.
“He turned his back on all of us and Bill de Blasio has made us less safe,” she said, referencing an incident when rank-and-file NYPD officers turned their backs on the mayor following the shooting deaths of two officers in December 2014.
“This mayor’s strategy of decriminalization and the hindrance of law enforcement have made all New Yorkers less safe,” she added. “On the most basic of responsibilities, the most fundamental of mayoral duties, Bill de Blasio has failed.”
Promising that as mayor she would ensure that “crimes on every level will be prosecuted,” she took a swipe at the administration’s promise to defend undocumented immigrants facing deportation. The mayor recently announced a $16 million investment in legal assistance for undocumented immigrants, although not for those convicted of certain crimes. City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito took issue with that distinction, disagreeing with the mayor and insisting that even those immigrants deserve legal aid. Malliotakis, referencing the speaker’s position, was not pleased. “Am I missing something here? Have our officials lost their minds?” she wondered, saying that city funds were being used to protect “illegal” immigrants who commit violent crimes like murders and rapes from deportation.
Malliotakis also struck out at de Blasio’s policies and proposals on Rikers Island. She opposes closure of the jails there and said that putting jails in communities was “off the table,” insisting instead that the jail complex must be reformed under a new corrections commissioner. She would also allow cooperation with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, rebuking the mayor and City Council’s policy that removed those officials from Rikers Island and ended cooperation on ICE detainer requests in most instances.
In response to Malliotakis' comments, de Blasio's campaign spokesperson Monica Klein, said in a statement to Gotham Gazette, “Mayor de Blasio has driven crime to record lows while dramatically reducing stop-and-frisk and reducing the City’s jail population by nearly 20%. Expanded neighborhood policing, renewed trust between immigrant communities and the NYPD, and body cameras on all patrol officers by 2019 are bringing the police and the communities they serve closer together. That is the Mayor’s record on criminal justice, and one that New Yorkers are rallying around.”
On Friday Malliotakis acknowledged that defeating de Blasio is not an easy task. “The fight will not be easy but I’ve never had a problem with that,” she said, in apparent reference to the uphill climb for a Republican to defeat an incumbent Democrat in New York City. Malliotakis must first get through the Republican primary, of course. “I’ve defeated one incumbent already and I will defeat another one,” she said.
Malliotakis faces two main opponents in the primary - millionaire real estate executive Paul Massey, who has raised and spent significant funds already; and Michel Faulkner, an energetic Harlem pastor and former professional football player, whose campaign is in the red. Malliotakis took the opportunity to criticize Massey, who has been seen as the de facto Republican frontrunner given his fundraising, by knocking his “maxed out” donation to de Blasio’s 2013 campaign, his lackluster personal voting history, and the fact the he only recently moved from Westchester County to New York City to run for mayor (while that’s true, Massey points to decades running a real estate business across the five boroughs).
Billionaire businessman John Catsimatidis, who sought the Republican mayoral nomination in 2013 and has been considering another run this year, recently announced he would not run and lauded Malliotakis’ candidacy on Friday, although he did not overtly endorse her. Catsimatidis and Malliotakis, who share Greek heritage, are close, and she had said she would drop out of the race if he decided to run.
“Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis is a talented and strong Republican woman,” Catsimatidis said in a public statement Friday. “With her immigrant roots and her Cuban and Greek heritage she can relate to so many New Yorkers who are reaching for the American dream. Her experience in the state legislature, her energy and her understanding of the issues make her a great candidate for Mayor.”
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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid @GothamGazette
De Blasio and Sharpton (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)
Reverend Al Sharpton, the national civil rights leader, radio and television host, and founder and president of the National Action Network (NAN), is emphatically disinterested in the nitty-gritty of local politics and says that his support for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is not unconditional.
Gotham Gazette sought comment from Sharpton on his relationship with de Blasio, a first-term Democrat who is running for reelection this year, and how he gauges the mayor’s leadership and record on police reform, a focus issue for the reverend. When de Blasio came into office in 2014, the two appeared especially close, but while de Blasio continues to make appearances at NAN, there has been evidence of distancing in recent years. Indeed, greater distance is something Sharpton reinforced in a Tuesday interview with Gotham Gazette.
In an energetic 16-minute phone conversation, as he took a break from recording his radio show, Sharpton explained his past support for the mayor and the current dynamic between the two, while also refuting analysis by political observers relayed to him by Gotham Gazette. Those observers, long-time chroniclers of city politics, said Sharpton and de Blasio’s relationship was one of mutual benefit, with Sharpton maintaining both access to the mayor and distance enough from which to criticize him. Meanwhile, Sharpton’s support for the mayor, multiple experts argued, provides cover for the mayor’s record on police reform, which many say has been less than satisfactory, while bolstering support in the African-American community. At the same time, the perceived daylight between the two allows de Blasio to maintain a better relationship with the NYPD, many members, union leaders, and supporters of which see Sharpton as an antagonist.
“I’m not interested in local New York politics,” Sharpton said, calling it a “laughable” theory that he seeks access to the mayor. “I run a national organization in 102 cities. I have to deal with 102 mayors and 50 governors...So I think a lot of them don’t understand, my focus is national.”
He added, “I mean, the things that I supported Mayor de Blasio for is because he supported our drive against stop-and-frisk. Had he not done that, I would’ve went with Bill Thompson...And I wanted to use our hometown as a national model for these issues. Other than that I have no interest...I don’t get city funds, I don’t ask for patrons, I don’t need access to him. Access for what?”
Sharpton and de Blasio have had an at times fraught alliance over the last several years, sharing common ground on certain issues while also diverging sharply on others. De Blasio has courted the civil rights leader for years, as far back as his 2009 run for public advocate, and Sharpton in turn has been a prominent supporter for de Blasio’s progressive policies. The two have almost exclusively had praise for one another, and Sharpton publicly celebrated when de Blasio and his associates were recently cleared of any charges in two criminal investigations. But there have been several bumps in the road.
As Sharpton said, his support for the mayor in 2013 was predicated on de Blasio’s strong criticism of the NYPD’s use of stop-and-frisk policing, which a judge ruled was racially biased. In the months following de Blasio’s victory, the two were seen as close allies, with de Blasio making regular appearances to speak at NAN’s House of Justice and referring to Sharpton as a “good friend” to him and his wife.
On January 20, 2014, just three weeks into his mayoralty, de Blasio praised Sharpton in a speech at NAN. That same day, Rachel Noerdlinger, a Sharpton aide, was appointed chief of staff to First Lady Chirlane McCray. “I think Reverend Sharpton is a very important leader of this city and this country,” de Blasio told reporters after the speech. “And I think he’s someone who’s often been right about the kind of changes we need to make for a more equal society. And certainly a lot of the talent he’s developed over the years have contributed greatly.” De Blasio referenced Kirsten John Foy, another Sharpton protege who served as the head of intergovernmental affairs to de Blasio when he was public advocate. Foy now leads NAN’s local efforts, something Sharpton reminded Gotham Gazette multiple times in explaining his own focus on national issues.
Noerdlinger’s employment by the First Lady became a source of controversy over the course of 2014, leading to her eventual departure in November. She faced criticism for failing to disclose that she lived with her boyfriend, who had a criminal history and had made inflammatory and disparaging comments about the police on social media. She eventually returned to Sharpton’s fold, now representing him as a media consultant at Mercury Public Affairs. The mayor received a lot of flack at the time for defending Noerdlinger, especially from those who felt de Blasio himself was anti-police.
Sharpton, for his part, has consistently been in de Blasio’s corner. Last year in May, when the mayor faced the cloud of two parallel investigations into this fundraising practices, Sharpton showed support at a NAN rally. “Whether you’re Republican or Democrat, whatever is going on – I’m not a lawyer or an investigator – but I am telling you, I’ve known Bill de Blasio for 25 years,” he said. “And he’s operated with integrity. And we are not going to react to nothing – to rumors and innuendos – we’re going to see where things go.”
When both investigations were simultaneously shut down in March -- de Blasio had never been formally accused of wrongdoing and no charges were brought against any of his aides -- Sharpton seemed ecstatic. He tweeted, “Congratulations to Mayor de Blasio, now that the clouds have been lifted and the skies are clear LET'S FINISH THE FLIGHT. Work to be done.”
He also wrote, “We are glad to see our trust of NYC Mayor @BilldeBlasio was vindicated by the prosecutor.” He also said, “We congratulate @NYCMayor & his staff for being cleared of all charges 2day & we were glad to stand by them during a period of such scrutiny.”
Sharpton struck a different chord in the Tuesday interview. “When have I shown general support?,” he wondered aloud, of his apparent backing of the mayor. “He supported us on stop-and-frisk and we agreed on that, and pre-K and we agreed on that. You haven’t seen me at City Hall...I think these people have an imagination that is boundless. Supported him on what?”
Asked specifically about his public proclamations after the mayor was cleared in the investigations, he said, “When I said that we can move on, I didn’t say we can move on and reelect him. We can move on and deal with the issues, that’s what I said, because I felt the issues were important and I still do.”
While many police reformers, including Foy, have been critical of de Blasio as not going far enough, de Blasio has hung his hat in part on changes at the NYPD: he’s instituted a new training program that focuses on de-escalation, he’s implementing a neighborhood policing program that stresses positive police-community relationships, and he’s putting body cameras on all patrol officers by 2019.
While Sharpton is right that he has not been at City Hall, it is unclear why that’s been the case. Early in de Blasio’s tenure, not only was Noerdlinger working for the administration, but Sharpton was invited to a public roundtable with de Blasio, then-Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, and several other officials. At that event -- which came a short time after the death of Eric Garner, who was killed during an attempted arrest after an NYPD officer placed him in a chokehold -- Sharpton criticized broken windows policing, the strategy favored by Bratton and de Blasio, and defiantly said that de Blasio’s son, Dante, whose mother is black, would be “a candidate for a chokehold,” if he wasn’t the mayor’s son.
The fallout from the event, which reports indicated irked Bratton, may have led to some distancing between Sharpton and de Blasio. Still, the mayor has regularly appeared at NAN, where he and Sharpton exchange compliments.
On Tuesday, Sharpton insisted, albeit with a little contradiction, that he isn’t ready to endorse de Blasio, or any candidate, in the 2017 mayoral election. “I have said that, right now, until we see the candidates, that I have not made any support,” Sharpton said. “I have not seen anything glaring that would stop the support but I haven’t made a decision. I certainly would support him over what I’ve seen out there,” he said of de Blasio.
Asked about Sharpton’s apparent reluctance to energetically support the mayor’s reelection, Dan Levitan, a spokesperson for de Blasio’s campaign, emailed, “The Mayor has a great deal of respect for Rev. Sharpton, and they have worked together to dramatically reduce stop-and-frisk and improve police-community relations, expand universal Pre-K, and stand up to the Trump Administration in Washington. He looks forward to continuing to work together to make New York City stronger and fairer.”
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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid @GothamGazette
Speaker Mark-Viverito (all photos: John McCarten/City Council)
The City Council held its first hearing on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s $84.86 billion executive budget for fiscal year 2018 on Thursday, and Council members gave the mayor a mixed review for his updated spending plan. They praised de Blasio for increasing funding for a number of recommendations made by the Council and for taking steps to control the capital budget. But, Council members expressed concern that crucial priorities remained unfunded, or underfunded, even as the latest budget plan increased projected spending by $700 million over the preliminary budget released in February.
The hearing kicks off the final weeks of public Council hearings, private negotiations, and lobbying by interest groups and advocates, with the mayor and Council due to agree on an adopted 2018 budget by July 1, the first day of the new fiscal year.
At Thursday’s hearing, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito commended the administration for increasing funding for the Administration of Children Services, for including funds for borough-based jails and an adolescent facility -- measures that are key to the closure of the Rikers Island jail complex -- and for reducing excess capital appropriations by $3.2 billion. The speaker noted that it was a “bittersweet day” for her, since this is the last executive budget process she will participate in (she is term-limited out of office at the end of the year).
Mark-Viverito said she is disappointed that the budget did not expand the Summer Youth Employment Program, a six-week paid jobs program for youth 14-24 years old, from the current baselined 65,000 slots to 80,000 slots for fiscal year 2018. She is “dismayed” that the budget did not eliminate all school lunch fees, which would have done away with the stigma associated with free lunches available to low-income students, she said.
The speaker also said that though the budget deals with excess capital appropriations, it does not include a comprehensive plan to reform the capital planning process, which is home to faulty projections and consistently over budget and late building projects. “My colleagues and I remain worried that this budget continues the practice of committing funds that significantly exceed the city’s ability to actually execute projects,” she said.
Mark-Viverito, Council Member Julissa Ferreras-Copeland, who chairs the finance committee and is a key player in budget negotiations, and other Council members also pushed the administration to increase the city’s reserve funds to prepare for the threat of funding cuts under the Trump Administration and the Republican-led Congress.
Ferreras-Copeland similarly expressed approval of several of the administration’s funding commitments, including for air conditioning in school classrooms, repairs at NYCHA buildings, and construction and renovation of animal care centers. She also applauded the mayor’s “3-K” initiative, to expand pre-kindergarten to all 3-year-olds in the city. But, she maintained that the budget “clearly falls short in a number of critical areas,” and fails to fund several Council priorities.
“This cannot simply be explained as a matter of budgetary caution,” she said, citing the city’s pattern of budget growth and the $700 million in new funding from de Blasio’s preliminary budget. Ferreras-Copeland (pictured, left) criticized the lack of funding for senior services and the SYEP program, the failure to fund the Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP), and the $6.25 billion increase in the ten-year capital budget without accompanying efficiency measures.
She said the mayor’s executive budget does not adequately account for the dangers from Washington D.C. and that spending was growing faster than revenues in a time when the city is facing signs of a predicted economic slowdown. “The executive budget does not go far enough to truly display a commitment to fiscal prudence pledged by the administration,” she said.
[Related: De Blasio Increases Spending and Savings in $84.86 Billion Executive Budget]
Representing the administration, Dean Fuleihan, director of the Office of Management and Budget, offered little in the way of pushback, defending the administration’s budget outlay plans but promising to continue working closely with the Council on their concerns. The executive budget, he said, “funds New Yorkers’ priorities, and it does so responsibly.”
Fuleihan stressed, as he has in the past, that the budget maintains historic levels of reserve funds - with $1 billion annually in the general reserve, $4 billion in the Retiree Health Benefits Trust Fund, and $250 million each year for four years in the Capital Stabilization Reserve.
Fuleihan (pictured, right) also pointed out that the city has found $2.8 billion in savings since the November modification of the current budget, including $700 million in the executive budget alone. By the final adoption of the budget, Fuleihan promised, the city will find more savings, particularly from a partial hiring freeze at administrative and managerial levels at some city agencies. Noting the risks from federal funding cuts, he said, “Mindful of these risks, we will continue to make strategic investments and approach our budget process with caution.”
Fuleihan’s assurances didn’t seem to set the speaker’s mind at ease. Mark-Viverito expressed worry that the city’s spending growth could eventually be a problem. “While in the short term, what we’re seeing seems to be OK, in the long term there are concerns that this could be unsustainable,” she said. The city budget has increased dramatically under de Blasio and Mark-Viverito -- given the mayor’s executive budget, it would be up $12.2 billion since the last modification under Mayor Bloomberg in November 2013.
Fuleihan, however, sought to allay those fears, pointing out that the city adjusts and reevaluates the budget continually through the year and would be able to respond as needed. “Your point that we constantly need to be cautious and concerned and find additional ways of savings and maintaining our high levels of reserves, we should be working with you to that goal,” he said.
Mark-Viverito also raised the question of whether the city should return to instituting a Program to Eliminate the Gap or PEG, a Bloomberg-era mechanism that set targeted goals for reducing spending at city agencies. De Blasio did away with the PEG, instead opting for a voluntary Citywide Savings Program that he insists is more effective. Fuleihan echoed that point at the hearing, insisting that this administration’s process had been more collaborative. “We have achieved more savings that way,” he said.
The speaker also asked for estimates, that the budget currently doesn’t include, of how the recently announced plan to close Rikers Island jails over ten years would affect the city budget. Fuleihan had few answers, pointing out that the plan -- which there is currently almost no details for -- affects multiple agencies and also relies on the Raise the Age legislation just passed by the state that will be phased in over the next few years and will transfer 16- and 17-year-olds off the island.
Ferreras-Copeland later brought up the SYEP program, stressing that the administration’s commitment to youth jobs seemed lacking. “Essentially this agency is saying “no” to far more young people than we are saying “yes” to,” she said.
Fuleihan insisted that the city has baselined 65,000 slots for the program, showing that the administration is indeed committed to SYEP. He also noted that a joint youth jobs task force created by the Council and the administration to study the issue only recently released its recommendations and that those would be incorporated before the adopted budget. “I had no doubt that this was going to be another priority that we’re going to be working together on adoption now that we have the task force recommendations,” Fuleihan said.
The hearing touched on a number of other budget items, small and large, and many related to individual Council members’ purviews as chairs of Council committees. For instance, Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, chair of the cultural affairs committee, brought up funding for the arts; transportation committee chair Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez questioned the administration’s refusal to back discounted Metrocards for low-income New Yorkers; and Council Member Ben Kallos, chair of governmental operations, pushed for budgeting to be linked with agency performance. In his typical refrain, Fuleihan repeatedly said OMB would work with the Council members on their individual concerns.
One of the larger issues addressed at the budget hearing was the city’s capital plan -- not the level of funding, but rather the process of allocation. Council members said the city has often allocated excessive funds for projects that are often delayed and that no plans exists to account for cost overruns.
The ten-year capital plan, which funds the city’s infrastructure needs and is paid for by issuing bonds to borrow money, increased to $95.85 billion in the executive budget, a $6.25 billion or 7 percent increase from the February preliminary budget. Fuleihan insisted that the increase was necessary, with much of it going to creating affordable housing and to repair and maintain public housing infrastructure, and that the city’s level of debt was under the longstanding benchmark of 15 percent of tax revenue. “We look at the capital plan as affordable given any standard that the city has used for decades,” he said. “Can we make improvements on the timing? Yes. Will we work together to do that? Absolutely.”
Council Member Brad Lander pushed Fuleihan to go further, insisting that there’s “a need for systemic reform” of capital project management. “Will you form with the Council a task force to look systemically at capital projects management reform?” Lander asked. Fuleihan seemed open to the idea of resolving issues before the adopted budget but did not commit directly to the idea of a task force. “We should discuss what’s the best way to do that,” he said.
Another prominent issue discussed Thursday was funding for the Emergency Food Assistance Program. The entire Council signed on to a letter to the mayor released Thursday, calling on him to include $22 million in baseline funding for the program, up from $8 million currently outlined. “The epidemic of hunger in our city disproportionately affects women, children, seniors, and communities of color and it’s critical that we can guarantee that no New Yorker is turned away from a pantry or soup kitchen,” the letter reads.
Council Member Stephen Levin, chair of the general welfare committee, who has oversight of the program, said the executive budget doesn’t build on last year’s adopted budget, but rather cuts back on funding. Fuleihan refuted that notion but assured Levin that the administration would collaborate with the Council on allocating adequate funding. “We would work with you and we would work with the agency,” Fuleihan responded. “I think that’s fair.”
For the next few weeks, the Council will hold individual hearings to examine agency budgets and then issue an official response to the administration. The two sides will then move to closed-door negotiations before coming to a final agreement on an adopted budget for the next fiscal year that begins July 1.
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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid @GothamGazette