Republican NYC mayoral candidate Sliwa visits Albany to wish Hochul good luck, offers to ‘rescue’ Cuomo’s dog
Curtis Sliwa, the long-shot Republican candidate in the New York City mayoral race, visited Albany on Monday to hound resigning Gov. Andrew Cuomo and ask for a sitdown with his replacement.
Standing in the rain outside the Executive Mansion, Sliwa said that he wished Lt. Gov Kathy Hochul well and wanted to “rescue” Cuomo’s reportedly spurned dog, Captain.
The stunt-prone founder of the Guardian Angels patrol group carried an envelope addressed to Hochul.
“Rather than depend on the U.S. Postal Service, I’m sort of like Paul Revere,” he said in a news conference that he streamed on Facebook. “I came up the New York State Thruway in the rain and will personally deliver the letter wishing Gov. Hochul the best of luck.”
Sliwa, a law-and-order candidate who faces seemingly impossible odds in the city’s November election, said he wants to meet and discuss bail reform with Hochul, a Democrat from Buffalo.
But he also said he was on a “humanitarian mission” to offer to adopt Captain, a Siberian-shepherd mix.
The Albany Times Union reported Monday that Cuomo had asked staffers if anyone wanted to take Captain off his hands. The governor’s office disputed the report, saying that someone had simply offered to watch the woofer for a few days.
“Apparently he’s been abandoned — Captain has been abandoned,” Sliwa said. “I’m here to rescue him.”
Sliwa lives with more than a dozen rescue cats in a 325-square-foot apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
The former radio host has long been a vocal critic of Cuomo, who was due to formally leave office at midnight after a sexual harassment scandal engulfed his administration.
Sliwa made calls for Cuomo’s resignation a central component of his campaign launch event in March.
Cuomo released a farewell speech on Monday. And with the disgraced Democrat on the way out, Sliwa said he was in a sunny mood despite the weather.
“Good riddance,” Sliwa said of Cuomo in a phone call with the Daily News after visiting the state Capitol. “This is the ultimate joy.”
He said he had not spoken with Hochul. Her office declined to comment on his request for a meeting.
On Monday, Sliwa split his focus between Hochul and Captain.
Speaking with a guard at the gate of the Executive Mansion, he said: “I’m really here, if at all possible, to have Captain come with me.”
Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, said it wasn’t happening.
“They’re not giving away the dog,” Azzopardi told The News.
