Rising mayoral candidate Kathryn Garcia threw punches at rival Eric Adams Friday, dunking on his status as a retired NYPD captain despite rising crime in the city.
“Right now, we don’t need a cop as mayor,” Garcia said at a Queens campaign event.
“We don’t need someone who is going to carry a gun. We need a mayor who is laser-focused on proven strategies to curb gun violence.”
The former de Blasio administration Sanitation commissioner announced her plans to get 10,000 illegal guns off the streets during her first year in office, in part by upping the gun buyback rebate from $200 to $2,000.
Veteran political consultant Sid Davidoff said Garcia’s experience managing the Department of Sanitation and the NYCHA lead crisis doesn’t trump Adams’ law enforcement background given skyrocketing crime rates.
“Is her area of her expertise more important than the areas of crime and public safety?” Davidoff asked. “I think that’s where it’s going to come down to — public safety is a more important issue and Eric’s right, you can’t kickstart a city if people are afraid to come here,” Davidoff said, referring to Adams remarks at a recent mayoral debate.
Adams clapped back at Garcia’s remarks telling The Post: “Kathryn just proved in two sentences that she doesn’t have the first idea what to do about crime — which isn’t surprising, because she apparently just discovered it was a problem. She couldn’t get trash off the street, why would anyone think she can get guns off the street?”
And Joseph Giacalone, a former NYPD sergeant and current John Jay College professor, said Garcia’s criticism rang hollow.
“Him [Adams] being a cop has nothing to do with anything. He’s no longer a cop, he’s a politician. She’s just trying to capitalize on the anti-cop movement. If all else fails lurch further left,” Giacalone, who’s not supporting any of the candidates, told The Post.
Officials with the Police Benevolent Association blasted Garcia’s gun violence platform.
“Why should we double down on failed ‘solutions’ to gun violence? If there’s one thing researchers and law enforcement experts agree on, it’s that GUN BUYBACKS DON’T WORK…” the union tweeted.
Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy and Sam Raskin.
This post first appeared on Nypost.com
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