Latest news with #Sliwa
Fox News
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Mamdani blasted by GOP opponent for 'sanctimonious hypocrisy' on police stance: 'Absolute insanity'
EXCLUSIVE: Republican Curtis Sliwa, who is running for mayor of New York City, blasted socialist opponent Zohran Mamdani for what he says is hypocrisy when it comes to the armed security Mamdani has enjoyed in recent weeks. "It is very interesting that as he returns from Uganda today he's being picked up by the NYPD armed police officers who provide him security 24 hours a day," Sliwa told Fox News Digital Wednesday. "So, in typical political fashion, that's why I don't trust any politicians. 'Do as I say, but not as I do.' He's protected by the armed NYPD, but he wants social workers for everyone else." Mamdani has been heavily criticized for his previous calls to defund the police during the 2020 George Floyd riots, saying that "nature is healing" in response to a police officer crying in his car and labeling the NYPD as "racist." Mamdani has also suggested sending mental health workers to crime calls while he is being protected by the New York Police Department as he runs for mayor. The New York Post reported that while Mamdani was at his family compound in Uganda to celebrate his wedding, the property was protected by heavily armed security. "I could have had a police detail. I said, 'No, we need them to protect people in the streets,'" Sliwa told Fox News Digital. "I was offered it again as a major party candidate, the Republican candidate, and unlike Zohran Mamdani, who couldn't wait to take armed security police officers from the NYPD, again I said I'm in the subways, I'm on the streets. Let the police go out there and protect the people. "And isn't it ironic, while arriving from Uganda, while he was there, he was protected by armed commandos bearing AK-47-loaded weapons with masks on. So, again, the sanctimonious hypocrite, 'Do as I say, but not as I do.' If social workers would have responded to that madman entering the facilities of that Park Avenue building, they would have been cut down in a hail of bullets. And he probably would have said, 'Well, maybe we need a few alterations. We need to sort of reconvert.' This is absolute insanity." Sliwa also criticized Mamdani for his previous pledge to disband the New York Police Department's Strategic Response Group (SRG), which was a unit that responded to the midtown shooting earlier this week that resulted in four deaths before the shooter turned a gun on himself. "That was based on the fact that they also are assigned to whenever the pro-Palestinian demonstrations go out, and they're singing, 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,' and they are promoting jihad," Sliwa said, pointing to Mamdani's many anti-Israel positions that have become a key issue both on the campaign trail and for elected Democrats nationwide. "Zohran Mamdani will let them take over the city. Let's face it, they'll probably be part of his administration," Sliwa said. "Curtis Sliwa will stop them in their tracks. They can legally demonstrate, but they have to have a permit. They have to remain in a designated area, and they cannot violate the rights of other citizens who may disagree with them. We don't want them to be attacked, but we certainly don't want other people to be attacked either." Fox News Digital reached out to the Mamdani campaign for comment. Mamdani answered questions about his past comments in opposition to the police during a news conference Wednesday, where he attempted to distance himself from his calls to defund the police. "Looking at the crisis of retention that we have in the city today, to try and pin it upon tweets from five years ago, as opposed to the conditions of this moment, is to ignore what officers themselves are saying," Mamdani said as he praised the NYPD officer who was killed in the recent midtown shooting. The 33-year-old socialist said multiple times that his past tweets were "clearly out of step" with the current landscape and claimed they were made out of "frustration" over the death of George Floyd. Mamdani also defended his NYPD security detail, saying, "My life is sadly not the one that it was. There are far more threats, and with that comes precautions that I wish I didn't have to take. Though they are also precautions that I am immensely grateful for, especially in the example of the NYPD detail that I have here in New York City."
New York Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Curtis Sliwa pledges — again — to hang up iconic red beret if he wins NYC mayoral race
He'll hang up his hat — if he wins. Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa pledged Monday to retire his iconic red beret if he's elected mayor. 'I was born without a beret, I'll die without a beret, I can take the beret off,' Sliwa said as he led an hourlong manhunt for a dog-hating maniac in Queens, that didn't end up sniffing out the suspect. Advertisement The Republican mayoral nominee has shed his ruby noggin topper more often in recent days as he aims to appeal to well-to-do New Yorkers wary of socialist frontrunner Zohran Mamdani. 'If the people are good enough to elect me mayor, I'll retire the red beret. I won't wear the red beret. But for right now, I guess I'm going to have to switch on-and-off depending on what group I'm with,' he said. 3 Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa vowed to retire his beret if elected mayor. Michael Nagle Advertisement 3 He made the pledge as he led a manhunt for a monster who lit a pit bull on fire. Michael Nagle Sliwa has promised to ditch the beret before, during 2021's mayoral election, when he was also the GOP candidate. But Big Apple voters at the time evidently weren't jazzed enough by the prospect of a beret-free Sliwa — the bearer of quite the impressive tan line underneath his cap — and overwhelmingly voted Mayor Eric Adams into office. Sliwa wore a different hat, so to speak, for an hour Monday as he led an unsuccessful hunt across South Ozone Park for a monster accused of setting a helpless pit bull on fire last week. Advertisement He plastered fliers with photos depicting the suspect under car windshields and knocked on doors. 3 Sliwa's beret is so inseparable from his head that he has displayed a prominent tan line on the few occasions he has removed it. Stephen Yang The outspoken animal lover — who once showed off the 15 rescue cats inside his 320-square-foot Upper West Side studio apartment — vowed that animal abuse will be a priority if he's elected. 'I'm trying to get everybody to get involved to put this fiend in jail where he belongs,' he said.
New York Post
6 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Trouble-packed NYC animal shelters land another $1M in taxpayer funds — GOP's Sliwa slams as ‘drop in the bucket'
The city is dumping another $1 million into its troubled jam-packed animal-shelter system to hire and train 14 new staffers, City Hall said Friday. The Animal Care Centers of New York City — a nonprofit with a $1.4 billion contract to run the Big Apple's animal-shelter system for 34 years — recently announced it was suspending its intake of dogs and cats because of 'critical' overcrowding. The move came days after a Post expose revealed ongoing sickening conditions at ACC's new $75 million city-funded shelter in Queens. Advertisement 5 Anna Garguilo, an adoptions counselor with Charmy, 4, an Akita mix. Stephen Yang 'ACC's work to ensure no animal is left behind is essential to protecting animals across New York City, and our administration is proud to invest $1 million in additional funding to support the work ACC does and boost their capacity to better care for animals,' Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement. 'I also urge New Yorkers looking for a pet addition to their families to adopt, so we can ensure that every animal can find a loving home.' Advertisement But GOP mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa slammed the funding announcement as a piecemeal solution to the larger problem of animal welfare in Gotham. 'The city has completely ignored animal welfare,' Sliwa wrote on X. 'Today's $1M for ACC is a drop in the bucket. ACC has a 34-year contract worth over $1B—and yet our shelters are overcrowded, surrenders are paused, and animals are suffering.' 5 New York City mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa holds a campaign event outside of an Animal Care Center on 110th street in East Harlem in Manhattan. Stephen Yang 5 'ACC has a 34-year contract worth over $1B—and yet our shelters are overcrowded, surrenders are paused, and animals are suffering,' Sliwa said. Stephen Yang Advertisement The red-beret-wearing Republican, who shares an apartment with six rescue cats, earlier this week called for the city to end its contract with ACC and replace it with a city-run overhaul that would include a 'quasi-private public partnership' to shift the cost away from taxpayers. A new animal welfare agency would be created in the 'basement' of City Hall and all shelters would be kill-free and offer free spay and neuter programs under a Sliwa administration. The ACC has three active sites across the five boroughs with more than 1,000 animals in its care. 5 New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks at a press conference to announce that 200 rescues have been made through the NYPD's drone and enforcement operations targeting subway surfing on July 21, 2025 in New York City. Andrew Schwartz / Advertisement 5 A new animal welfare agency would be created in the 'basement' of City Hall and all shelters would be kill-free and offer free spay and neuter programs under a Sliwa administration. Stephen Yang While the ACC is mandated to have a location in each of the five boroughs, the Brooklyn location is currently closed till 2026 for renovations, and the Bronx resource center has been 'temporarily' closed since May. Another $92 million facility in The Bronx is still under construction even though it was slated to open in the spring. The ACC did not respond to a Post request for comment. Adams' campaign did not respond to a request for comment, either.
New York Post
24-07-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Curtis Sliwa finally gets sit-down with NYC business leaders as mayor race heats up
The business community is finally opening its doors to GOP NYC mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa – but will it open its wallets? Following my Sunday column in the Post on Sliwa's surprising strength in recent polling, and how business leaders are ignoring him, the NYC Partnership scheduled a meeting with the Guardian Angels founder on Thursday morning, On The Money has learned. The meeting at Partnership offices in Battery Park Plaza will be led by the group's chief, Kathy Wylde, though it's unclear how many business leaders will actually attend as most of the city's fat-cat class start to pick sides between current Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. 3 The NYC Partnership is meeting with Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa. 'Because of you and your column I will be meeting with Kathryn Wylde today and her group,' Sliwa said in a text message, adding that he won't be wearing his trade-mark red Guardian Angels beret today amid criticisms that his sartorial flair often detracts from his message. That message will offer a heavy dose of crime-fighting to support big business and small businesses alike, tax cuts and slashing the city's massive bureaucracy – including in the Education Department, which does a lousy job teaching basic skills but employs swaths of needless administrators. Wylde declined to comment, but these are all issues that should appeal to business types, who have for years complained about high taxes and regulations, and since the tenure of former left-wing Mayor Bill de Blasio floundering quality of life issues like rising crime. Their fears have been compounded by the rise of Zohran Mamdani, the uber-leftist (some would say communist) assemblyman from Queens who recently beat Cuomo in the city Democratic mayoral primary and is now the favorite to win the general election in November. 3 Uber-leftist is now the favorite to win the general election in November. / MEGA Sliwa will be accompanied by Ed Cox, chairman of the New York State Republican Party and some staffers of conservative Democratic City Councilman Robert Holden, whom Sliwa has said would hold a position in his administration if he is elected. The sit-down comes as Sliwa's appeal grows. A recent HarrisX poll put him in a statistical tie with Mandami (26%) and Cuomo (23%) in a four-way race, according to the margin of error. Sliwa's 22% share easily beat Adams (13%), the poll found. 3 The sit-down comes as Sliwa's appeal grows. A recent HarrisX poll put him in a statistical tie with Mandami (26%) and Cuomo (23%) in a four-way race. Yet, Sliwa has raised just $169,000 in the last reporting period, compared with $1.5 million for Adams. Mamdani — who met with the Partnership last week — has spoken about government takeovers of grocery stores, defunding the police and wouldn't denounce the left-wing rally cry of 'globalizing the intifada' despite its anti semitic overtones. Business leaders expressed a high degree of skepticism after listening to him address questions on those issues. That said, they have yet to fully coalesce behind either Adams or Cuomo, who bring their own baggage to the race. Adams' tenure as mayor has been marred by significant corruption scandals. Cuomo was forced to resign as governor in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations that he has denied and were never prosecuted. Sliwa brings different baggage. He has never held elected office (he lost handily to Adams four years ago running as a Republican). He is best known for his decades of work leading the Guardian Angels, a crime-fighting organization that made its name in the 1980s patrolling NYC's crime-ridden subway system.
New York Post
22-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Curtis Sliwa's controversial candidacy: Letters to the Editor — July 23, 2025
The Issue: Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa's run for mayor of New York City. Finally: Curtis Sliwa is getting some attention ('Sliwa: I have a path,' July 20). Charles Gasparino followed Sliwa for quite some time, and Gasparino knows New Yorkers. Advertisement Sliwa knows the problems of New York; he walked the streets late at night and manned the subways. Our current candidates ride the subway with a crew of reporters for one or two stops. As far as his signature beret, Zohran Mamdani campaigned in the beginning in what looked like pajamas. Maria Musolino Advertisement Staten Island I don't see why Sliwa has to 'kiss the ring' of Kathy Wylde. Judging by the number of empty storefronts, I don't think her NYC Partnership is doing much to support local businesses. Advertisement Plus, she seems to belong to the group that thinks gambling and marijuana revenues are the way to shore up the city's finances. I will vote for Sliwa, particularly, because he seems intent on keeping NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. But, I have some advice, Curtis: Lose the beret now and don't go to the polls in November cradling one of your cats — it makes you look weird and unserious. Ilene Heller Advertisement Manhattan Sliwa is as qualified to be mayor as I am to be pope — and I'm not Catholic. He has never worked as a beat cop or a detective tracking down thugs. Instead, he devoted his life to a glorified neighborhood watch association. He never served in the military, but adopted the beret, a symbol of elite troops. It looks like an attempt to appropriate the prestige of the military. Sliwa never launched a business, hired scads of people and built it into a powerhouse. Does anyone on Wall Street, in state and local government or the police unions take him seriously? Advertisement Yet he vows to stay in the race. His sole accomplishment will be splitting the vote and electing Mamdani. Scott Reeves Manhattan Advertisement Curtis Sliwa is somebody who the people of this city can trust. He is down to earth and cares about New Yorkers. New Yorkers continue to move out of the city because of high crime, high rent and high taxes, and Sliwa will work tirelessly to reduce all of those things. He will work with our wonderful NYPD and FDNY to improve working conditions and salaries for New York City's bravest. Advertisement He will work hard to further improve our public school system for our teachers, principals and students, so that parents will not pull their children out of schools. Sliwa is the right person for the job of mayor, so let's show him support. John Amato Fresh Meadows Advertisement There is definitely a path for Sliwa to win the mayoral election. What he needs most is money. He also needs Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Adams and Jim Walden to stay in the race and split the vote. Tom Gagan Mount Vernon Sliwa refuses to abandon his tough white outer-borough look and goes strutting around sporting his Guardian Angel outfit, replete with red beret and jacket. That image does not appeal to the vast majority of New Yorkers. Democratic candidates will thrash Sliwa. Dennis Middlebrooks Brooklyn Keep up with today's most important news Stay up on the very latest with Evening Update. Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters The pickings are slim for the New York City mayoral election, but Sliwa truly deserves a shot. Cuomo and Adams have failed track records. Mamdani, an avowed socialist and anti-capitalist, will perpetuate further misery. Meanwhile, Sliwa has literally put his life on the line for New Yorkers and earned our trust. Peter Cooper Bronxville Sliwa is a Republican, which puts him behind the eight-ball in the mayoral race. However, he has been patrolling the streets and protecting New Yorkers for over 40 years. He knows the bad places better than the police themselves. He wasn't responsible for any of the deaths during COVID, or the money we laid out to house thousands of illegals, and he certainly doesn't have Marxist convictions like Zohran Mamdani. Dan Liberati White Plains Want to weigh in on today's stories? Send your thoughts (along with your full name and city of residence) to letters@ Letters are subject to editing for clarity, length, accuracy, and style.
