NYC mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa gives his plan to crack down on crime, refund the police
New York City mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa shares his platform and his plan to refund the police
Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate for mayor of New York City, questioned why he wasn't invited Monday to meet with President Biden and several law enforcement leaders from across the nation to discuss strategies on how to reduce violent crime — while his Democratic opponent, Eric Adams, was.
Sliwa said Adams, a former police officer and current Brooklyn borough president, has already been coronated as the mayor by the media.
The founder of the Guardian Angels anti-crime group said he should have been invited to the White House roundtable given his vast experience with gun violence.
Sliwa was kidnapped and shot five times in 1992 while trying to hail a taxi in what was thought to be a mafia hit. John Gotti Jr., son of John Gotti, the deceased former leader of the Gambino crime family, was tried multiple times for the shooting but never convicted.
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Curtis Sliwa founded the "Guardian Angels" in 1979.
Prosecutors alleged Gotti tried to have Sliwa killed because he criticized his father on his radio show.
"Having been a victim of gun violence and having gone through the federal court system in handling that, in dealing with violence in the streets would have given a more pragmatic and more common sense solution to our problems," Sliwa said during a news conference. "I'm hoping the process was not a political one because really this is a tremendous advantage for Eric Adams."
"I think I should have had a place at the table," he added.
He also blasted Adams for purporting to be a law and order candidate despite taking positions to the contrary, for instance supporting making the city's subway system free, which Sliwa said would entice offenders to take their crimes underground.
"That's not a law and order philosophy. I represent a law and order philosophy," he said. "I guarantee you. It's almost like we're going to see round three of [Mayor] Bill de Blasio in office, except his name will be Eric Adams."
Other leaders who attended the White House meeting included Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown. Shootings and killings are on the rise across the country as violent crime started to balloon in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Sliwa said he would have told Biden and law enforcement leaders that problems began in New York City when officials voted to slash the police budget amid the defund the police movement and when the "no bail" law was enacted, after which some suspected criminals are cut loose only to re-offend days or even hours later.
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"There's no reason to even have judges," he said. "They can't make a decision about flight risk. They can't make decisions as to whether the individual charged is a danger to themselves or anyone else."
As of Sunday, New York City experienced 225 reported homicides, 10 more than in the same time frame last year, according to police figures. Shootings are also up, with 803 this year versus 623 last year as of July 11, the New York Police Department said.
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