Quit pedestalling!
Nic’s statue challenge
Mayor de Blasio should reveal which city monuments he plans to boot before the general election so voters can hold him accountable, his likely GOP challenger, Nicole Malliotakis, said on Wednesday.
The Staten Island/ Brooklyn assemblywoman said the mayor goofed when he tried to score political points by announcing a commission to review all “offensive” monuments on city land.
“I believe the mayor issued a press release to help himself politically, just wanted to get himself in the conversation, and he didn’t really think this through. Because what he has done now is cause tremendous division in our city,” Malliotakis said following an unrelated press conference to highlight Hizzoner’s close ties to lobbyist James Capalino.
The mayor tweeted earlier this month that he’d be forming a task force to review all monuments on city property following the deadly violence sparked by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Va., angry over the pending removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The task-force members have yet to be named.
Malliotakis noted that the mayor was giving the panel 90 days to come up with recommendations — which would take it past the Nov. 7 mayoral election.
“Do not use this for political gain and then don’t tell people where you stand,” Malliotakis said.
At one point, the GOP hopeful goofed when she referred to Christopher Columbus as the “founder of our nation.” She later said via Twitter she had misspoken.
Some elected officials want statues of the 15th-century explorer, credited with discovering the New World, yanked over his treatment of native populations.
The Mayor’s Office said the timetable won’t be changed.
“This 90-day review process will be guided by the need for sensible, thoughtful solutions, not by the election calendar,” said City Hall rep Natalie Grybauskas.
Malliotakis’ press conference highlighted a half-dozen city decisions that allegedly benefited clients of Capalino — who bundled $45,000 for de Blasio’s 2013 run for City Hall and donated $10,000 to the mayor’s now-defunct Campaign for One New York nonprofit.
One case she mentioned was that of RAL Development, whose owner gave $10,000 to CONY a month before it was announced that RAL had been awarded a massive project in Brooklyn Bridge Park by a city-controlled board. Capalino & Co. represented the firm at the time.