18 COURIER LIFE, JULY 3-9, 2020
OPINION
Vito Bruno knows we can’t go
back to the ‘bad old days’
This year’s budget was a weird one
New York City passed its
budget this week, as
it does every June 30.
This year was rather different
than most, though. It was
the fi rst budget in more than a
decade that decreased spending
from the previous year,
due to the massive contraction
of our economy from the coronavirus
pandemic. It’s also
the fi rst city budget to occur
in this new era of widespread
anti-police sentiment.
These factors have created
a very strange budget that
seems to me the most opaque
in several years. The NYPD’s
budget was cut for the fi rst
time in a very long time — as
much as some council members
wanted and more than
others were willing to stand
— but the ways in which it
was cut seem to be accounting
or administrative tricks
rather than real cuts. School
safety agents were moved
out of the organization chart
of the NYPD and into the authority
of the Department of
Education. Two of the year’s
four police academy classes
were canceled, and a new police
station projected to cost
hundreds of millions has been
mothballed.
It’s a tough situation, because
if the department had
had to institute layoffs, it
would have fi red the newest
cops fi rst, who are the most diverse
in the department and
quite possibly the least repressive.
Still, this budget is a disappointment.
It has been over a decade
since the budget was cut, an always
painful process, but just
what the city council voted
to cut remains unclear to the
public. Andrew Rein of the
Citizens Budget Commission
noted that this budget is “precariously
balanced” while
Public Advocate Jumaane
Williams said, “In a moment
when New Yorkers, with the
entire nation, are demanding
a reimagining of public safety,
a reckoning with systemic injustices
and inequities, the
city falls far short with a budget
that misses the moment of
need.”
I’m surprised the City
Council vote wasn’t closer
than its eventual 32-17. Nine
of the “No” votes were from
the Left, demanding a more
substantial cut to the NYPD,
while eight of the “No” votes
objected from the Right: the
council members couldn’t
countenance any cuts to the
police department at all.
But if this budget is likely
to be unpopular from each angle,
why did so many vote for
it? I can think of three reasons.
First, council members
feel that voting for the budget
is part of their job. Second,
council speaker Corey Johnson
is a skilled legislative
leader, and he likely was careful
to produce lots of inducements
to vote for the budget.
Third, the overwhelming majority
of politicians are fundamentally
herd animals, who
want to go where the others
are going.
Eighteen months from now,
this city will be run by a completely
different herd.
Nick Rizzo is a Democratic
District Leader representing
the 50th Assembly
District and a political consultant
who lives in Greenpoint.
Follow him on Twitter
@NickRizzo.
WORDS OF
RIZZDOM
Nick Rizzo
Last week, Curtis Sliwa,
popular New York City
radio host and founder of
the legendary civilian crime
fi ghting group the Guardian
Angels, stood in front of
the 95th street station in Bay
Ridge to endorse Republican
Vito Bruno for the 22nd state
Senate District, which covers
a large area of southern
Brooklyn.
This seat was previously
held by Republican Marty
Golden from 2003 until 2018,
when Democratic State Senator
Andrew Gounardes won
by a narrow victory.
Signifi cantly, Sliwa, who
currently leads the NYC Urban
Reform GOP Coalition,
supported Gounardes in the
last election when he was
chairman of the NYS Reform
Party. Outside the Bay Ridge
train station, Sliwa gave a
“mea culpa” to district residents
for endorsing Gounardes
two years ago — one of
the “biggest mistakes” he says
he’s ever made.
The prospective Republican
mayoral candidate said he
is a fi erce believer in term limits
— one of the main reasons
he endorsed Gounardes over
Golden. However, he also accused
Gounardes of “political
tricknology” by portraying
himself as a moderate during
the campaign only to jump all
in with the far-left progressive
crowd once elected.
Sliwa recalled attending
an event for Gounardes in the
summer of 2018 where he was
assured that the then-Democratic
hopeful understood the
importance of law and order,
and supporting the police.
However, since being elected,
the freshman senator voted
for bail reform and has joined
most other Democrats with
his anti-police rhetoric and record.
For example, he tweets about
any hint of alleged police misconduct,
but remained silent
during recent incidents of looting
and attacks on our police.
As a former cop, no one
could ever doubt Golden’s law
enforcement bona fi des or commitment
to keeping New York
City and his district safe. Likewise,
Sliwa said, Bruno — a successful
business owner — has
always focused on community
improvement, supports our police,
and represents the values
of the district.
Even after his recent endorsement
of Bruno, Sliwa and
other former Reform Party
members came under fi re from
a faction of the Brooklyn GOP
for their previous decision to
back Gounardes.
But, in comments on Facebook,
Golden’s wife Colleen —
who is almost universally respected
in the community for
her own civic involvement —
put it best. She said, “It takes a
big man to apologize for backing
someone that stabbed his
constituents in the back and
the Reform Party. I for one
thank Mr. Sliwa. We all make
mistakes.”
More people should take accountability
for their actions,
she went on. “We were all
duped.”
Colleen hopes we can all
come together to elect Bruno
— and I do, too. This seat is one
that can be won again for the
GOP.
Bruno has focused on the
dire consequences of bail reform
and defunding the police.
This is an effective message,
especially considering that we
haven’t seen this many city
shootings in the month of June
since 1996.
More locally in the 68th Precinct,
which covers the Bay
Ridge and Dyker Heights portion
of the senate district, rapes
are up 85.7 percent and burglaries
are up 144 percent year-todate
compared to 2019.
While Sliwa and Bruno understand
that we can’t go back
to the bad old days of rampant
crime, Gournades and the Democrats
seem intent on taking us
back to those days.
Bob Capano has worked
for Brooklyn Republican and
Democrat elected offi cials,
and has been an adjunct political
science professor for
over 15 years. Follow him on
twitter @bobcapano.
THE RIGHT
VIEW
Bob Capano