Caban barely lost race for DA, now runs for seat on Council
Last year, Tiffany Caban seemingly came out of nowhere to nearly win the Democratic primary for Queens district attorney.
The former public defender jolted the race with rhetoric about decriminalizing sex work and ending mass incarceration, among other criminal justice reforms.
A lot has changed in the city since Caban lost that contest by fewer than 100 votes, but she said her vision remains the same as she announced a run for City Council on Thursday.
“Whether it was as a public defender or my campaign for district attorney, the work I’m doing now within my community and beyond — it is about getting the best public health and public safety outcomes that we possibly can,” she said at a press conference at an Astoria restaurant’s back patio.
“And that’s not limited to our criminal legal system,” added Caban, who is running to represent the 22nd Council District, which covers Astoria, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and Woodside. “It has everything to do with housing, health care, education, transportation access … all of these things that build safe and healthy communities.”
She assailed the City Council’s handling of the defining challenges of the time — the coronavirus outbreak and
calls for police reform that were renewedinthewakeofBlackMinnesota man George Floyd’s May 25 death at the hands of a white police officer.
“The City Council failed the test of political courage and moral clarity by protecting a bloated police budget while our hospitals and schools were being gutted,” the candidate said.
As part of this year’s $88 billion budget, Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson shifted around about $1 billion in NYPD funding, though activists dismissed the move as smoke and mirrors.
Along with cutting police funding and unspecified jail reforms, Caban outlined a liberal agenda including a “Green New Deal” for the city, guaranteed affordable housing and desegregation of public schools.