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Jim Owles rescinds Morales endorsement, backs Wiley
BY MATT TRACY
While the Dianne Morales
campaign for mayor faces
allegations of union-busting
and other labor issues, at least one queer
political club is going in a new direction.
The Jim Owles Liberal Democratic
Club has ditched Morales in favor of Maya
Wiley, who previously served as counsel to
Mayor Bill de Blasio and was chair of the
Civilian Complaint Review Board. The club
settled on the Wiley endorsement during an
emergency meeting, according to a June 1
announcement.
“Workers’ rights are an essential tenet
of our progressive club and our champions
must not only profess our values, but live
them in their own public and private lives,”
club president Allen Roskoff said. “And so
with a heavy heart, we rescind our endorsement
of Dianne Morales.”
He added, “However, the club is proud
to throw its support behind another highly
qualifi ed and historic candidate with impeccable
progressive credentials and an abiding
dedication to systemic progressive change.”
The club is planning on campaigning for
Wiley and will distribute more than 32,000
mailers for her across 11 City Council districts,
according to Roskoff.
“We call upon the progressive community
to unite and make history by electing
her as the city’s fi rst Black and fi rst woman
Mayor,” Roskoff said.
Shortly after the announcement, Wiley
REUTERS/EDUARDO MUNOZ
welcomed the club’s support.
“I will set our city forward on a path to
better days for everyone,” Wiley said in a
tweet. “I’m honored to have the endorsement
of @JimOwles, which has been at
the forefront of advocating for the needs
of LGBTQIA New Yorkers, as we work to
create a New York City that is truly a city
for all!”
During the club’s mayoral forum last
October, Wiley recalled her experience as
an attorney working on cases at the intersection
of homophobia and the HIV/AIDS
crisis. One of her fi rst cases as a civil rights
lawyer, she said, included an client living
with HIV who was getting evicted from his
home and fi red from his job.
In Jim Owles’ mayoral questionnaire,
Wiley committed to abolishing the NYPD’s
vice squad — which has a reputation for
targeting sex workers and entrapping gay
men in adult establishments. However,
Wiley does not support the full decriminalization
of sex work. She said in that
questionnaire that she supports removing
criminal penalties for sex workers, but not
for buyers, and she distanced herself from
the issue by saying she does “not intend
to engage in this fi ght in Albany, as this
is a state legislative issue.” (A bill has
been proposed in the State Legislature to
comprehensively decriminalize sex work).
“As mayor I commit to listening and
partnering to ensure that we are making
real and meaningful change for trans sex
workers,” Wiley wrote in the questionnaire.
Mayoral candidate Wiley warns Lynch: ‘There is a new sheriff in town’
BY DEAN MOSES
Mayoral candidate Maya Wiley
fired back at the President
of the Police Benevolent Association
Patrick J. Lynch during a press
conference on Tuesday afternoon, stating
“there is a new sheriff in town.”
Wiley held a press conference in
Washington Square Park to affi rm that
New York City has the money, people,
and know-how to handle critical issues at
hand such as homelessness. However, she
claims the city is lacking adequate leadership.
Announcing policies on affordable
housing, homelessness, and other initiatives
to help rebuild New York City, the
mayoral hopeful was joined by advocates
Maya Rupert, Shams DaBaron, and others
who both spoke on behalf of Wiley’s
character and why they believe she is the
ideal candidate.
“As we look at the essential workers
Maya Wiley shoots back at Patrick
Lynch comments on June 1 during
a press conference in Washington
Square Park.
who showed up COVID or no COVID,
whether it was to stock grocery store
shelves or to take care of people in their
homes who could not take care of themselves,
those people even as they work are
standing in food pantry lines because they
had to choose between the rent or to feed
themselves and their families. That is not
who we are and that is not who we chose
on June 22,” Wiley said.
Wiley told onlookers that she is aware
that many of her constituents are jaded by
the broken promises of past and present
politicians, but she assures voters that as
a black mother, civil rights attorney, and
progressive, that she will fi ght to protect
law-abiding citizens.
“Guess who is homeless? Literally,
women of color with kids as well as
people of color who are struggling with
mental health issues including substance
addiction. It is the communities that get
ignored in every single crisis and its recovery
and to be a Civil Rights Lawyer and to
be a mom is to say we are not letting any
families go down like that. We will not
accept it because that is not our path,”
Wiley said.
In addition to announcing her policies,
she also addressed the news that Patrick J.
Lynch, the President of the Police Benevolent
Association, called her standpoint on
the NYPD “divisive.”
“They have called me divisive because
I have insisted that every single person
in this city has to abide by the law. Every
single one. There is simply no such thing
as a public servant that gets to say, ‘Yeah,
those laws don’t apply to me.’ The other
thing about divisiveness is that I have
never called anyone an animal, but the
Police Benevolent Association’s Pat Lynch
has,” Wiley said, adding, “And you know
what I say to the police unions, the police
department, the police offi cers of the
police department are people too. Whomever
you are in this city, if you think we
are animals, if you think you are above the
law then there is going to be a new sheriff
in town after June 22 that is going to say
that every person in this city matters.”
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