New York Daily News

Sliwa to Blaz: ‘Fess up when you mess up’

- BY TIM BALK

Curtis Sliwa, the long-shot Republican nominee in the city’s mayoral race, piled on Mayor de Blasio on Friday over a report that Hizzoner misused his security detail, calling him a “weasel.”

As Sliwa laced into the mayor, he stood outside City Hall with a massive fake check for $320,000 — roughly the amount the city spent on travel expenses for de Blasio’s security detail during his doomed 2020 presidenti­al run, according to the report from the city’s Department of Investigat­ion. The mayor has not returned the costs.

“I say fess up when you mess up, Bill de Blasio,” said Sliwa (photo), the stunt-prone founder of the Guardian Angels. “Stop being pretentiou­s and omnipotent.”

After the release of the 47-page report on Thursday, the mayor defended himself and criticized the probe, saying that he was “entirely surprised by the inaccuraci­es in this report” and that he had followed the security guidance he received.

“I’m honored to be the mayor of the city, but my first responsibi­lity is as a father and a husband,” de Blasio said. “I think of the safety of my family all the time. The ultimate decisions when it comes to safety must be made by security experts.”

Eric Adams, the Democratic mayoral nominee who’s widely expected to succeed de Blasio, offered a qualified defense of the mayor on Thursday without criticizin­g the report, which he said he had not read in full.

“I’m very sensitive when it comes down to families,” said Adams, a private former NYPD captain who has long expressed a desire to go without a police detail if he wins. Adams added: “We must do everything that’s needed to ensure they are safe.”

As Sliwa spoke, a staffer and a supporter held up blown-up pictures of de Blasio and Adams together. The two Brooklyn Democrats are longtime political allies, and Sliwa has sought to tie them throughout the sleepy general election race.

Election Day is set for Nov. 2, and Sliwa has faced an uphill battle in a city where Democrats outnumber Republican­s by more than six to one.

Sliwa said Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, was wrong not to condemn de Blasio, accusing the mayor of “egregious misuse” of his NYPD security detail.

 ?? ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States