‘Disrespectful and appalling’: Democratic NYC mayoral candidates exchange digs in first televised debate
The past haunted the present for eight of the Democratic candidates running for mayor of New York City in the first televised debate ahead of the primary election next month.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Comptroller Scott Stringer had to answer for past actions and statements, alleged and otherwise.
Former Obama big Shaun Donovan and ex-Citigroup executive Ray McGuire tried to one-up each other on who performed better in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash.
And Maya Wiley, a former top legal aide to Mayor de Blasio, was asked if she took any responsibility for the incumbent’s past missteps.
Through it all, the top-tier candidates for the top elected office in the city grappled with major challenges facing the Big Apple — from job loss and school reopenings to an ongoing spike in violent crime.
“This has been a terrible, terrible year for so many New Yorkers. We’ve lost more than 30,000 of our neighbors and we still have more than half a million who are out of work,” said Donovan, who was head of the Office of Management and Budget under former President Barack Obama and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s housing commissioner.
“We do need a mayor who can on day one make sure that we’re helping this city recover,” Donovan added.
The remarks touched on the almost surreal mood pervading the city — where pandemic restrictions are being eased as a relatively low number of New Yorkers die of COVID every day — while a strange campaign season enters the home stretch.
As in dozens of forums held so far this year, Thursday night’s debate was conducted entirely online, with the candidates confined to screens showing them sitting in their homes.
They still found a way to get in plenty of jabs against one another.
Grilled by Wiley on his past comments in support of the controversial NYPD practice of stop, question and frisk, Adams fired back, “It really just shows your failure of understanding of law enforcement.”
Wiley insisted she was qualified to ask the candidate why he called stop-and-frisk “a great tool” last year, noting she headed the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board from 2016 to 2017.
“Once candidates start getting desperate, it’s going to get really nasty,” Adams said in a sing-song voice, explaining that he supports the judicious use of stop-and-frisk but opposes the abuse of the practice.
On public safety, businessman Andrew Yang reiterated his opposition to the effort to defund the NYPD — a rallying cry of last year’s nationwide anti-police-brutality protests — a position shared by Adams.
“Defund the police is the wrong approach for New York City,” Yang said. “We need to evolve to a 21st-century form of policing.”
Kathryn Garcia, former sanitation commissioner under de Blasio, also had no plans to drastically change the NYPD budget. She said she’d focus on cracking down on weapons, through steps like paying more for gun buybacks.
Donovan, Wiley and former nonprofit executive Dianne Morales voiced plans to cut NYPD funds while proposing new approaches to public safety.
Morales, who’s furthest to the left in the race, called for a “community first responders department” that would emphasize violence intervention and use of local service providers instead of handcuffs.
The candidates also outlined their biggest proposals to bring the local economy back, especially mom-and-pop shops hammered during the pandemic.
McGuire touted his plan for the city to cover half the pay of 50,000 employees at small businesses that lost more than 40% of their total revenue compared to 2019 levels. Wiley talked up her proposal to create 100,000 jobs over five years through infrastructure investment.
Adams said the city’s biggest problem with jobs was lack of skills, promising to partner with local businesses on providing training.
Yang touted his “People’s Bank” idea to provide basic services for the estimated 350,000 households that currently lack bank accounts. He didn’t talk much about his signature idea from his unsuccessful 2020 run for the Democratic presidential nomination — universal basic income — which he wants to establish on a pared-down basis for the city.
As expected, most of the candidates’ fire was directed at Adams and Yang, who have been leading in the polls.
Asked about past comments promising to carry a gun as mayor — a controversial proposition in a majority-Democrat city where weapons are strictly regulated — Adams, an ex-NYPD captain, explained that he’d only do so when there’s a serious threat if he’s elected.
In turn, Adams said Yang’s previous statements talking up his role flipping Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats blue was “disrespectful and appalling” to Stacey Abrams and other Black women who organized there.
“Full credit to Stacey and everyone else who’s been doing the work for years, but it’s OK for others to contribute to their success,” Yang said.
On schools, none of the candidates said they’d require teachers to be vaccinated before the fall semester. As for students, all but Adams, McGuire and Wiley said shots should be required.
Stringer’s campaign has been in free fall since a former campaign volunteer accused him of groping her and pressuring her to have sex years ago. He repeated his denials on Thursday.
About midway through the debate, Donovan and McGuire feuded over each other’s leadership in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
Wiley then offered a piquant observation.
“Men always claim that they have all the experience,” she said, going on to tout her proposal to get grants for the 100,000 neediest families in the city to take care of relatives.
Moderator Errol Louis of NY1 asked her if she took any blame for actions from de Blasio that gave him low approval ratings through most of his administration.
“I quit five years ago,” she replied before rattling off her accomplishments while working for Hizzoner.
“I have never hesitated to stand up and say what I thought,” Wiley added.
De Blasio leaves office at the end of the year due to term limits. The Democratic primary for mayor is scheduled for June 22.
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