Mayor Adams backs Dem who called to defund cops, breaks with unions in tight primary for NY Assembly seat
NY Post
Mayor Eric Adams is backing a Dem state pol who called for defunding cops, while two suburban police unions made a rare endorsement outside their counties to fight the candidate’s dangerous “leftist tactics.’’
The Suffolk and Nassau Police Benevolent Associations on Long Island have formally thrown their support behind Yi Andy Chen in the tight Democratic primary race for the state’s 40th Assembly District seat in Queens, joining the Big Apple’s largest police union in a campaign to oust longtime lawmaker Ron Kim.
“It’s long past due that we have a smart candidate that isn’t swayed by the harmful, leftist tactics to destroy public safety and portray police as subhumans,” Nassau police-union head Tommy Shevlin told The Post.
Kim, who has served in Albany for more than a decade, was one of the many lawmakers who called for the defunding of the police in 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
But the progressive Flushing Dem has changed his tune as of late, pushing for a new Queens police precinct, stricter hate-crimes laws and stiffer protection against squatters.
His U-turn even won over the Big Apple’s pro-cop-mayor, a retired NYPD officer who joined a rally for the incumbent June 15 outside the Queens Library, where he told supporters the state needs lawmakers like Kim.
