Bo Dietl, Curtis Sliwa join Lee Zeldin in bashing Kathy Hochul over bail reform
Former mayoral candidates Bo Dietl and Curtis Sliwa on Wednesday joined Republican gubernatorial nominee Rep. Lee Zeldin in bashing Gov. Kathy Hochul for not repealing bail reform ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
“If he doesn’t become the governor, I’m moving to Florida because I’m sick and tired of this governor and the state with these liberal values,” Dietl, a former cop and longtime conservative firebrand who came in sixth in the 2014 race for mayor, said at a Manhattan press conference where he endorsed Zeldin for governor.
New data from the NYPD shows major crimes increasing by 36% – with a decrease last month in murders and shootings – compared to last year.
“Do you want people who have no idea what’s going on in New York City – who’ve barely been in New York City – who would be lost without the state troopers and GPS? Or do you want a man and a woman who have been born and raised in our area?” Guardian Angels founder and radio host Sliwa said while bashing the Buffalo-bred Hochul on behalf of Zeldin and his running mate Alison Esposito, a former NYPD deputy inspector.
Zeldin has argued that the recent case of Jose Alba — a Manhattan bodega clerk who used deadly force defending himself against a man who attacked him in July over a bag of chips — is just one more sign that progressive reforms have run amok.
“Law abiding New Yorker Jose Alba was forced to defend himself against attack because of a system that is the way it is today. Jose Alba is the one who ended up getting thrown into Rikers Island,” Zeldin said outside the bodega Wednesday alongside Dietl, Sliwa and others.
Controversial Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg initially slapped Alba with a murder charge – before relenting amid The Post’s reporting and a public outcry – but declined to charge the woman who also attacked him during the encounter.
“The person who stabbed Jose Alba? Nothing – no charge,” Zeldin added.
The electoral boost from Dietl and Sliwa – the 2021 Republican nominee for mayor – comes as Zeldin follows a campaign game plan aimed at beating the odds against Hochul this November.
That effort depends on winning 30% of the vote in Democratic-dominated New York City while winning big in the suburbs and upstate.
“I’m really here to speak about the analytics. The election of Gov. Lee Zeldin and Lt. Gov. Alison Esposito has to take place in the five boroughs. It will win the rest of the state,” said Sliwa, who won just over 22% of the vote in his 2021 race against Democratic Mayor Eric Adams.
Hochul has rejected calls for a special legislative session on bail, including from fellow Dems like Adams, by arguing more time is needed to assess tweaks passed in the state budget that expanded the number of bail-eligible crimes while making it easier to jail some repeat offenders.
“What I want to start seeing is the implementation of those laws at all levels,” she said earlier this week.
Abortion, gun control and efforts to paint Zeldin as a rightwing extremist have been at the heart of Hochul’s campaign for a full term in office this year despite ongoing efforts by her opponent to shift the focus of the race to issues like historically high inflation and public safety.
Republican hopes of winning their first statewide election in two decades now depend on the extent to which Zeldin might address fears about rising crime.
A Siena College poll released earlier this summer showed 76% of New Yorkers were “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about being the victim of violent crimes amid the ongoing controversy about state bail laws championed by Albany Democrats.
“The will of the people demands it and if they cannot get this job done between now and November 8th, the people of New York should get this job done for them by firing all of the people who won’t go to Albany for this special session and to fix this,” Zeldin said Wednesday.
