Sliwa paid $11K for Proud Boys-backing political consultant
Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa has paid more than $11,000 to a campaign consultant who’s made statements supporting the far-right Proud Boys, one of the groups that played a central role in the Capital insurrection that left five dead.
Gavin Wax, who in 2018 wrote an article entitled “We are all Proud Boys Now,” has so far raked in $11,041 from Sliwa’s mayoral campaign for his work as a political consultant and for consultant services, records from the city Campaign Finance Board show.
Wax, who also serves as president of the New York Young Republican Club, received two payments in July and one in August, according to the records.
Sliwa is no stranger to controversy and political theater. He’s the founder of the Guardian Angels, a vigilante/neighborhood watch group, and admitted in 1992 to staging hoaxes to gain publicity for it.
And while he’s considered a long shot in his run for mayor, given that New York City Democrats outnumber Republicans almost seven to one, he’s kept up a formidable campaign schedule and recently won praise for comforting a homeless man at a press conference.
But taking on Wax may represent uncharted territory for Sliwa, who’s been critical of Trump, and unlike many Republicans, believes President Biden won the 2020 election fair and square.
In his 2018 article for American Thinker, Wax railed against “ivory tower Republicans,” showered then-President Donald Trump with praise and suggested America’s political future would be a violent one.
“I used to consider myself a live-and-let-live libertarian who thought that nonviolence and understanding would solve our laundry list of societal problems,” he wrote at the time. “Attempting to organize peaceably has shown me that this is no longer tenable.”
Those words appear to serve as a prelude to a cryptic tweet he put out on the Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill that, aside from those who perished, resulted in dozens of arrests and accusations that Trump encouraged groups like the Proud Boys and others to take part in the frenzy.
As the scene was unfolding in Washington, Wax appears to have likened the insurrection to America’s Revolutionary War against the British, posting on Twitter: “1776.” Wax did not respond to a request from the Daily News to explain what he meant by the tweet.
In a statement to The News, he denied ever being a member or supporter of the Proud Boys.
“I categorically deny currently being or ever having been a member of the Proud Boys,” he said. “I have no relationship to the Proud Boys whatsoever and deny being a supporter. I have never attended an event or meeting of the Proud Boys.”
An article published by Buzzfeed in 2018 appears to contradict at least part of Wax’s denial, though.
The website reported that Wax “attended” a Proud Boys-related event in October 2018 that erupted in violence and that he witnessed two people in masks approach someone “who was backpedaling with his fists up.”
His article in American Thinker focused on those skirmishes and how anti-fascist protesters hoped the Metropolitan Republican Club would cancel the event hosting Proud Boys’ founder Gavin McInnes, who Wax described as running a “patriotic fraternal group who like America and beer.”
“They hoped we would cancel a scheduled event the next night with founder of the Proud Boys Gavin McInnes as a result of their violent outburst. They were wrong,” he said. “We stood defiantly in the face of those anti-American terrorists in the street, and welcomed Gavin McInnes to our event as he held a rubber sword to honor legendary Japanese anti-socialist Otoya Yamaguchi.”
He has also praised McInnes as “one of my favorite political commentators.”
Sliwa’s campaign defended Wax, but in a statement, a spokesperson noted that the campaign is “reviewing” the matter.
“He has denied on numerous occasions having anything to do with the Proud Boys,” the statement said. “He has said that he does not support the Proud Boys. We are still reviewing the accusations and are continuing to have conversations with him about them.”
Sliwa is facing off against Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams in his run for mayor. Adams’ spokesman Evan Thies said Wax’s job with the campaign “is just the latest proof that Curtis Sliwa and his racist, divisive politics disqualify him from being mayor of New York.”
