HIZZONER WHINES: I DON'T GET ENOUGH PRAISE!
Defends his progressive cred against ‘left’ jabs in radio rant
Mayor de Blasio went on a drawn-out rant against his critics on the left on Friday, claiming his progressive administration wasn’t getting enough credit and insisting his values hadn’t changed since entering City Hall.
“I don’t resemble Michael Bloomberg or Rudy Giuliani in criminal justice. We’ve taken the city in an entirely different direction — and it’s working. And crime is down,” the mayor bellowed on WNYC radio, contrasting himself with his two predecessors.
“Can someone tell me when more criminal-justice reform happened in New York City? I just think it’s absolutely unfair to miss the changes.”
De Blasio teed off after host Brian Lehrer asked him about a string of criticisms from his leftist allies, including for bringing Amazon to Queens without a public-review process and for not criticizing cops in the arrest of a mother clutching her baby at a city social-services center.
“I didn’t change,” de Blasio said, defending the progressive credentials that got him elected to City Hall.
He dismissed suggestions he became reluctant to criticize the NYPD after hundreds of police officers turned their backs on him at the funerals for two slain cops in late 2014.
Officers had been angry over the mayor’s rhetoric after the killing of Eric Garner at the hands of police, with policeunion officials blaming his remarks for creating an anti-cop atmosphere ahead of the assassinations of Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in Brooklyn on Dec. 20, 2014.
“One of the things I really disagree with is some people have said, ‘Oh, you know the police, certain officers — it was a small number of officers — turned their back a few years ago and that changed your attitude,’ ” de Blasio said on WNYC Friday.
“It hasn’t changed my attitude one bit. Does anyone re-
member all the other protests that have happened outside my house, City Hall, my gym for years and years? It hasn’t changed my approach one bit.”
He pointed to his immediate criticism of the NYPD’s shooting of a 66-year-old schizophrenic woman in her Bronx home in October 2016 as proof that he’s willing to call out mistakes by officers.
But he rejected complaints about his slow response this week to video of NYPD and social-service officers arresting Jazmine Headley at a publicbenefits office while trying to rip her 1-year-old from her arms. He also blasted a New York Times editorial on the matter as “wildly inaccurate.”
The video went viral on Sunday, but the mayor wouldn’t speak to reporters about it the next day at 1 p.m., and only tweeted hours later that it was “disturbing.”
Later in the week, he singled out the peace officers of the Human Resources Administration for criticism, but refused to address the response of two NYPD officers — including one who pointed a Taser at clients in the public-benefits office.
“I heard about it on Sunday night. By early Monday afternoon, after consulting with the agencies, I said it was ‘disturbing,’ we’re going to figure out what happened, we’re going to fix it,” the mayor said.
“As I got more information — and the difference between me and other elected officials, Brian, bluntly, is I’m in charge. It’s very easy to critique when you’re not in charge. When you’re in charge, you better get your facts straight,” he continued.
“So that’s why I don’t jump in the first hour all the time to say what might be convenient or populist. I say what is the truth when I know the truth.”
As he often does, the mayor criticized the news media for not highlighting his administration’s accomplishments, including a decrease of 100,000 arrests between 2013 and 2017. He said it should have been front-page news.
But he also said activists and advocates on the left — a major base of support when he ran for mayor in 2013 — would never be satisfied “by definition.”
At one point, Hizzoner even called the hush-hush deal to bring Amazon to Long Island City “progressive.”
The agreement, including nearly $3 billion in state and city benefits to the company, has been widely criticized by the left, including de Blasio pal Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep.-elect Alexandria OcasioCortez.
“If we get 25,000 to 40,000 jobs for people who need jobs, including public housing residents and CUNY students, that is progressive!” the mayor argued. “That’s progressive!”
"Can someone tell me when more criminal-justice reform happened in New York City? I just think it's absolutely unfair to miss the changes." Mayor de Blasio, griping about his overlooked accomplishments
"The difference between me and other elected officials... is I'm in charge. It's very easy to critique when you're not in charge." De Blasio, dismissing critism of his response to disturbing video of a mother's arrest
"If we get 25,000 to 40,000 jobs for people who need jobs... that is progressive! That's progressive! De Blasio, defending his progressiveness