Ask The Candidate: Curtis Sliwa BLOG

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Welcome back to this episode of Power and Politics. Earlier this week, Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso joined us in studio to talk about a range of timely topics, starting with news of the ceasefire in the Middle East and its impact here at home. Brooklyn is home to the largest Jewish population out of all the boroughs here in the city. What does this moment mean for Brooklyn? Uh, look, one, I think a lot of people are, are. Side of breath of relief uh and we're finally at a place where we're seeing people united with their families, which is what we wanted on day one. the war has gone completely out of hand, um, I think at this point, uh, it split the world in two, it's, it's an unfortunate thing, but I think universally there's no one that didn't want this day. To come where all of the hostages are released, uh, but with that comes a lot of other things we need to, uh, come together and make sure that aid gets to Gaza now we know that there's, uh, hundreds of thousands or I'm sorry, 50 over 50,000 children that are now starving that need to get relief, uh, but also for the world, uh, it's been an ugly time. And anti-Semitism is extremely high in in Brooklyn and New York City because of people's sentiment over uh Israel's uh you know handling of the war uh so um I'm happy we're here uh I wanna, you know, in one of those cases where Donald Trump does a a job here that is meaningful, uh, and we gotta recognize that, uh, that it got done under him so I wanna give credit to a president that I would disagree with almost on everything, but in this one case I think we've all. All wanted this day to come and I'm happy it's here. Now let's hope we can keep it this way for as long as possible and that's the the next task, the next challenge. perfect segue to what I was gonna ask what do you think needs to happen to make sure what we're seeing happen right now is sustained, look, I, I, I have very little confidence in the Israeli government. Uh, and Netanyahu, uh, who I don't necessarily know if, uh, I think we could have gotten into this a lot sooner. I think with better leadership, uh, in the Israeli side, uh, by Netanyahu, uh, so now what I'm hoping to see is that, uh, they retreat and start the process of building out a two-state solution that is. Sustainable, you know, sometimes you have to get to the darkest moments to get to to see the light and we're here, uh, and I hope that there's an all out effort internationally to make sure that we can come to a sustained peace uh in Israel and Gaza. Yeah, you and many others across Brooklyn and across the world hopeful on that front. You mentioned President Donald Trump, and I want to touch on some other action he took that has impacts here at home last week. We learned that the feds are indicting our Attorney General Letitia James, a Brooklynite herself. What did you make of that announcement? Do you think that this is tit for tat going back to some of the charges that she filed against Trump as Attorney general? Yes, I want to be very careful with you know, tit for tat or both. Sides uh we saw Governor Cuomo just do that recently um look this is a political attack uh this is retribution uh for her, uh, not only bringing charges but winning several cases in in New York like I wanna be very clear that in the case of Donald Trump he was breaking the law and was held accountable. He was found guilty by a jury of his peers, was found guilty by a judge, was held accountable by the. Justice system, so everything she did had merit, uh, and it wasn't it they weren't small things. They were very egregious. What they did here is combed through her entire life to try to find the one time that she had a hiccup of which I don't necessarily know it's the case, but it's all he did, and they found one document in a purchase of a a grandniece's house in Virginia and thought they would make a case of it but look I. I went to I was organizing at Acorn when I was 22 years old and Letitia James's picture was on the wall at Acorn. I didn't know much about her, but even then she always had mentioned that justice prevails is one of those people that, um, being very mindful that, uh, she is deeply independent. She didn't get elected as a Democrat. She got elected as a working Families Party member, um, so. In the history that is Letitia James not only as an attorney general but in her entire life, um, she's believed in the justice system and I believe in it as well. We want this case to be dropped because it is frivolous. It's a nonsense it's political and I think a judge will see that right away, but even if it's not, uh, I feel confident that this country is gonna do right by its justice system and, and we'll we'll we'll be OK and then. Hopefully gets strengthened our justice system doesn't get to be used the way Donald Trump is using it and going after his political enemies. Yeah, there's one thing to come of this if it's anything to kind of reassure the American people that the justice system does work as it's intended and isn't used as something to throw things back and forth, you know, I think that's when everyone. Walks away a little bit rest assured and you have to understand Joe Biden never publicly said hey we should be going after Donald Trump we should be going after Donald Trump. Joe Biden never said, Hey, attacked my enemies. He was never a part of that. The DOJ went independently after Donald Trump, uh, uh, attorney General to James went independently. Remember that the Attorney General is, uh, somebody that is a Republican, uh, uh, in the time when Donald Trump was indicted, um, so everything that's happening didn't happen because Joe Biden verbally said it anywhere in the public. Through Twitter, through X, uh, through his, uh, Truth Social and him publicly has said we have to go after our enemies. He fired a person that wasn't willing to prosecute a Republican that wasn't willing to prosecute because they didn't think they had enough information. He fired them and said we need another person in there so we can indict Letitia James. It's very clear that this is political and any judge that holds this up would lose all credibility in their in their ability to be a judge. And all of this unfolding while the government remains. Shut down. We're about to enter two weeks of the government shutdown. How are we feeling those effects here in Brooklyn from people being out of work to assistance programs being at risk and what's being done right now to offset those impacts? Yeah, I don't think much, right? What we're seeing is that there's a significant amount of the people from New York City actually have jobs that are essential. The checks will start to not come in very soon, and I think that tension will start rising up. I think people will start fighting. Um, but I do think that there were in a time where this unusual situation is gonna take an unusual, uh, response from the Democratic Party to really solve for this long term. I think if they capitulate now, uh, we're gonna continue to see ourselves spiral into, you know, burning down democracy day by day whether it's going after. The political opponents where they're shutting down the government, uh, without, without any concern um for uh the folks that are in in America, I just think that we have to pick a moment to stop all the nonsense and I think for the Democrats this could this could be it so we just have to see if our leaders and Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries pull it off. More power in politics right after this.

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Welcome back. A group of lawmakers is aiming to bring back outdoor dining in all its glory by allowing it year round. Let's get back to our conversation with Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso, who was among those supporting that push. I also want to look ahead to this push to bring back year-round outdoor dining. I know council member Lincoln Wrestler is really leading the charge. You have expressed your support for this. What's different about this version of the plan that makes it better, more sustainable than what we saw pandemic and post-pandemic? It's year round. I don't want to be very clear that the city council ruined it. We had a great program, uh, with, you know, the 5% of bad actors that exist in everything and instead of modifying it so we can get rid of the bad actors and keep this beautiful. System that has transformed New York for a two summers, um, instead they, they go and overreach and overregulate and then the city council passed laws that made it so that there are very few outdoor dining opportunities here. But one of the biggest mistakes they did was make it that it wasn't year round. So all of these folks have to tear down these things for 3 months. They gotta find storage for it as well, and then they gotta rebuild it. It's it's not practical for business owners and for the city council to think that they can do that. It was ridiculous. Lincoln Wrestler's bill is gonna solve for that. All right, back to vote 2025, because next weekend polls will open for early voting, and the race for New York City mayor is in its most critical phase. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo picked up support from voters after Mayor Eric Adams dropped out of the race last month, but it was still not enough to gain the lead. He's now polling at 33% of likely voters according to a Quinnipiac University poll that was released after Adams ended his re-election bid. The former governor is followed by Republican candidate Curtis. with 15%, he's hoping to gain substantial support in these final weeks of campaigning, and Zoran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist, continues to hold a double digit lead with 46%. Now since throwing her endorsement behind Mamdani, Governor Kathy Hochle made her first appearance alongside him this week in Queens as she made an economic investment announcement and addressed affordability, a key campaign promise that the assemblyman has vowed to focus on. And I want to thank assign member Zora Mandami for putting a special exclamation point on how hard it is for families struggling in this city and why affordability measures are so critically important. And a reminder that polls open next Saturday, October 25th for early voting. That's also the last day you can register to vote in this election. And then election day is a little more than two weeks away, Tuesday, November 4th. Well, that will do it for us this week on Power and Politics right here on News 12. Thanks so much for watching.

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A look back at Tara Rosenblum's interview with Andrew Cuomo on fighting crime. 

Power & Politics: NYC mayor's race - where the candidate's stand; 1:1 with Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso

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