NY Gov Hochul Avoids Press After Asking Lee Zeldin Why Crime’s Such a Big Deal
Gov. Kathy Hochul used the old “bait and switch” to avoid post-debate questions from the city’s press corps on Wednesday — luring reporters away from a campaign event in Brooklyn and then ducking out a back door.
The sneaky strategy unfolded just hours after Hochul’s first and only face-off with Republican challenger Lee Zeldin, during which the incumbent Democrat stunningly said she couldn’t understand why it’s “so important” to lock up criminals.
In the wake of the controversial remark, Hochul stumped for votes at the RAICES Times Plaza Neighborhood Senior Center, where she individually chatted up about 30 people as they ate lunch in the basement cafeteria.
Hochul then gave a brief speech in which she repeated a frequent talking point about the seizure of 8,000 firearms across the state since January, following her establishment of the Interstate Task Force on Illegal Guns.
Afterward, campaign spokesperson Jen Goodman directed reporters to the building’s lobby for a Q&A session with the Democratic governor.
But Hochul never appeared and Goodman instead told the crowd she was headed to another event in Manhattan and said anyone who wanted to ask her questions should go there.
Reporters raced out to try to catch Hochul but only managed to spot her black SUV as it drove off.
Goodman later said that a “security threat” led to the cancellation of the Q&A session.
“At the campaign’s stop in Brooklyn, Gov. Hochul met with voters and delivered remarks prior to two protesters entering the facility and disrupting the intended gaggle space,” she said in a written statement afterward.
The Post saw a lone protester enter the lobby and stand silently with a placard urging the governor to sign the “Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act,” which passed both chambers of the Legislature in May.
The well-dressed man engaged in a brief conversation with the building’s receptionist after the worker approached but no one took any action to get him to leave.
In Manhattan, Hochul gave a 10-minute speech to the Civil Service Employees Association’s annual delegates’ meeting at the Sheraton New York Times Square hotel.
On her way out of the ballroom, Hochul refused to speak with five reporters from The Post and other news organizations.
Hochul’s campaign spokeswoman later said the governor didn’t hold a Q&A session at the hotel because there weren’t enough journalists present but didn’t immediately answer when asked how many were needed.
Earlier in the day, Hochul held a news conference about COVID-19 at her Manhattan office but wasn’t asked about her debate gaffe in saying, “I don’t know why that’s so important to you” after Zeldin questioned why she “hasn’t talked about locking up anyone committing any crimes.”
When asked how she felt about her performance, however, Hochul responded, “I feel good about how I did the debate last night.”
“I was able to show the incredible, the credible differences of opinion on every issue that really matters to people and including the issue we’re talking about right now, [which] is that there is no tough-on-crime strategy that does not include being tough on illegal guns,” she said.
Meanwhile, Zeldin attacked Hochul during a campaign appearance in Queens, where he said her “so important” remark “proves that she isn’t in touch with the people.”
“It proves that she doesn’t represent the people because it should be first and foremost in her mind,” the outgoing US representative from Long Island said.
“If she wants to represent New Yorkers, if she cares about New Yorkers, she would have her finger on the pulse and she wouldn’t have to make that point.
“She wouldn’t have to think it in her head, let alone say it out loud,” he added. Zeldin also mocked Hochul’s recent announcement of a subway safety program dubbed “Cops, Cameras, and Care.”
“She’s not talking about the fourth ‘c’ — cuffs,” he said.
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