Andrew Yang may be a quick study, but all the cramming he’s done since jumping into the mayor’s race can’t make up for years of inattention to New York politics and policies, best evidenced by the fact that he has never bothered to vote in a local election.
At a Wednesday event advertising his plan to wrest control of public transit from the state, a gargantuan task, Yang couldn’t say how much debt the MTA is shouldering (it’s about $37 billion), and claimed “the MTA doesn’t break up its numbers out that cleanly,” which is untrue. Nor could Yang or the supposed expert by his side begin to explain how the MTA’s budget, largely funded from taxes that aren’t levied by the city, would work under municipal control.
But wait, there’s more.
Thursday, Yang was in Brooklyn to talk about diversifying the NYPD and using data more effectively to combat crime and hold cops accountable. He was asked whether he backed repeal of 50-a, the state law that shielded the release of police disciplinary records. Fixing that bad law was a drumbeat of this newspaper for years; its repeal was a landmark moment in criminal justice reform.
“The repeal of 50-a…” Yang said, prompting a reporter to ask, “Do you know what 50-a is?”
Yang continued: “This is not the — it’s not the mandatory interview of the—”
At which point a City Council candidate who stood beside Yang threw a lifeline, and Yang then gave a barely passable but at least responsive answer.
The same day, at a forum on homelessness, Yang spitballed, “One thing that I think would be extraordinarily helpful is to have specific shelters for victims of domestic violence, who are often fleeing from an abusive partner.”
The only problem is that these already exist.
The mayoralty is not just for wonks who know every intricacy of city government; it ought to go to the person with the best ideas, skills, instincts and priorities. But this is ridiculous.
