NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Yang takes shots at Kathryn Garcia, blaming her for garbage woes
Frenemies on the campaign trail!
New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang on Wednesday made some digs at rival Kathryn Garcia, who’s been rising in the polls following big newspaper endorsements.
“We need someone very different than Mayor de Blasio and Kathryn, despite her service to the city, is part of an administration that a lot of New Yorkers know has not worked,” Yang said of Garcia, who resigned as de Blasio’s sanitation commissioner last year.
Around that time, Garcia said budget cuts and reductions to trash pickup were among her reasons for quitting her post. Some of the cuts were eventually restored.
Still, Yang tried to link Garcia to complaints he’s heard about garbage on the streets.
“We talk about her experience as the head of the Department of Sanitation,” he said on WNYC. “Right now, New Yorkers complain to me just about every day about the piles of trash that we’re seeing around us that get higher and higher.”
After months of leading the polls, Yang has been losing ground to rivals including Garcia. Following endorsements from the Daily News and the New York Times, one recent survey found her coming in first in the crowded field of candidates.
Among other enthusiastic praise, Yang previously said he’d rank Garcia as his second choice in the June 22 Democratic primary — in which voters will get to list candidates in order of preference, instead of picking just one.
“It looks like Andrew Yang considered Kathryn Garcia the best person to run New York City … until the voters started to agree with him,” Garcia spokeswoman Lindsey Green told The News. “He’s clearly watching the polls.”
She also defended Garcia’s record as sanitation commissioner, saying, “The scorecard shows the streets were cleanest under Garcia.”
Yang has also said he’d hire Garcia, who handled emergency food assistance and other tough jobs under de Blasio, if he becomes mayor — comments that have irked the ex-sanitation commissioner.
At an unrelated press conference on Wednesday, Yang, who rose to national prominence during his unsuccessful 2020 run for president, indicated he’d still hire Garcia if he becomes mayor.
“I like and admire Kathryn a great deal and appreciate everything she’s done for the city and I think she’d be an awesome part of any administration,” he said.
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