Exclusive | New Yorkers not safe with a Zohran Mamdani or Andrew Cuomo mayoralty, Curtis Sliwa says in new scathing ad
New Yorkers are “not safe” if Zohran Mamdani or Andrew Cuomo are elected mayor, Republican rival Curtis Sliwa claimed in a scorching new TV ad focusing on public safety.“Rapes in broad daylight.Attacks on the subway.
Why?” the narrator in the 30-second TV spots released Monday asks.“Cuomo.”The ad then recycles a clip of the then-governor touting his support to end the “cashless bail system” in 2018.Cuomo would later approve a law dramatically curbing cash bail.“We’re going to end the cashless bail system once and for all,” Cuomo said in 2018 at the Global Citizens festival, a clip shown in the ad.“We’re going to do it in New York.
We’re going to do it this year,” he said.It wasn’t included in the ad, but Cuomo also said a “cashless bail system violates justice” because it detains poor criminal defendants pending trial simply because they can’t afford to pony up the necessary funds.Cuomo also said the Rikers Island jail complex was a “hell hole” that had to close.The Sliwa ad then says, “Worse.Zohran Mamdani wants to go even further [than Cuomo]” with criminal friendly policies.“With them in charge, you are not safe.”“We deserve better,” says Sliwa, the founder of the red-beret clad Guardian Angels civic patrol, who appears near the end of the ad.
Sliwa has proposed adding 7,000 cops to the NYPD, if elected mayor.The Sliwa broadside was released a day after incumbent Mayor Eric Adams announced he would not seek re-election as an independent — and the other candidates are now jockeying to woo the retired NYPD captain’s moderate backers.Mamdani, the socialist Democratic nominee who defeated Cuomo in the party primary, has distanced himself from prior statements in support of defunding the police and calling cops racist.Cuomo is now running on the independent “Fight and Deliver” ballot line.The spot is part of a Sliwa campaign $500,000 ad buy, and is his answer to counter people urging him to exit the race...