NYC mayor race: Eric Adams calls Maya Wiley hypocrite after questioning police funding

Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Adams calls out Wiley after questioning police funding

Dave Evans has the latest on the race for New York City mayor.

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Democratic candidate for New York City mayor Eric Adams is calling out one of his opponents for being a hypocrite.

Adams says while Maya Wiley is questioning how the police department is funded, her historic mansion in Brooklyn is protected by private security patrols.

Wiley fired back Tuesday, saying that she won't call it defunding the police, but in favor of shifting a billion dollars from the NYPD to other types of anti-crime work.

The New York Post reported the mayoral candidate and her neighbors in Park Slope pay for private security guards.

Wiley said her long-time partner was a victim of a brutal attack 20 years ago -- and still suffers trauma because of it.

ALSO READ | NYC elections: What is ranked-choice voting?

Bill Ritter explains what you need to know about ranked choice voting on this special edition of "The Countdown."

"I don't believe in private security and i didn't know we were paying for it," Wiley said. "But in his trauma he decided to pay for the neighborhood security."

The frontrunner and former cop responded, calling her explanation "the highest level of hypocrisy."

"Security can't be for the affluent," Adams said. "It must be for every New Yorker."

He ripped Wiley for favoring cuts to the police department, and then paying for more protection in her neighborhood.

WATCH THE FULL DEBATE: You can watch both hours of the debate here and on our connected TV ap for Fire, Roku, Apple and Android TV

"A candidate in the race has private security while they're saying to other families that are frightened over gun violence that you don't need more security," Adams said. "That's just not fair. That's not fair."

As violent crime spikes in the city, the issue has taken center stage in the race for mayor.

Wiley isn't backing down, saying we have too many police on the force and too many not deployed the right way.

"That's my point about we have thousands of police officers sitting in patrol cars that are actually preventing nothing," Adams said. "That's not a smart use of resources."

ALSO READ | NYC elections: What is ranked-choice voting?