During the meetings Mayor Bill de Blasio had with five different New York City police unions on Tuesday, the mayor’s senior aides called top Democratic New York lawmakers on the city and state levels. They urged them to slam the Patrolman’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch and other officers for turning their backs on the mayor, DNAinfo reported.
City Hall wanted me to blast the Patrolman’s Benevolent Association for turning their backs on him,” one New York lawmaker told DNAinfo. “They called up Monday, said they were calling all of us, and that it was our obligation to stand up defending the mayor.”
“There was an expectation from City Hall that ‘because they were calling that we should do whatever they ask,'” the lawmaker added.
Another lawmaker, who also received a call from a top New York City Hall official, noted that while he did not feel pressured to criticize Lynch or officers upset with the mayor, he felt it was “really inappropriate” to be asked to do so, even though he did not agree with the police protests.
“I think the mayor should not find himself in that position, particularly on an issue that is so sensitive, asking elected officials to chime in on something like this,” he said. “It is not really appropriate and I felt badly that they had to do it,” the lawmaker told DNAinfo.
Mayor de Blasio’s press secretary Phil Walzak said only that the mayor’s aides contacted city Democrats and claimed they “did not ask elected officials to ‘attack’ anyone,” and only asked the pols “support the families” of the murdered NYPD officers.
The information surfaced as the mayor and other top NYPD brass exited their meetings with the city’s police union heads without a strategy to mend fences between de Blasio and the Police Department.
“There was no resolve and our thought here today is that actions speak louder than words, and time will tell,” Lynch told reporters after the meeting.
He added, “There were a number of discussions especially about the safety issues that our members face.”
Arrests in the city dropped 66 percent this week immediately following the deaths of the two slain NYPD officers. Traffic tickets and summonses for minor offense plummeted 94 percent, The NY Post reported, noting police union leaders ordered their members to include two units to every call they received, no matter how minor.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.