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NEW YORK — State Sen. Michael Gianaris on Tuesday night time known as the Police Benevolent Affiliation an “armed political group.”
The remark got here amid a Twitter fracas that began within the afternoon after Gianaris needled the union after Nassau County State Sen. Kevin Thomas, a Democrat, declared victory on Monday, after having trailed his PBA-backed challenger, Dennis Dunne, within the preliminary depend. Hundreds of absentee ballots ended up within the Democrat’s favor.
“Hey @NYCPBA, behold the re-election of @KevinThomasNY and the 100% Democratic Nassau Senate delegation! You need to actually do a greater job minding your members’ cash,” Gianaris tweeted.
The PBA, which spent $1 million to defeat Thomas, responded by telling Gianaris to look over his shoulder.
In an interview on NY1, Gianaris known as the tweet a risk.
“It’s definitely not one thing {that a} group, that represents over 30,000 people who find themselves armed and have license to shoot their firearms all through the town, must be making. I believe the union has actually misplaced its bearings, has gotten off the rails,” the Democratic state senator from Queens instructed Inside Metropolis Corridor anchor Errol Louis.
He mentioned even when the PBA meant the tweet as a political risk as a substitute of a bodily one, it was menacing coming from a union made up of armed officers.
In a response to Gianaris’s feedback on NY1, PBA President Patrick Lynch mentioned in an announcement, “Senator Gianaris and firm are feigning ignorance. They know that they’re trying over their shoulders at voters who’re fed up with the Senate Democratic convention’s anti-cop, pro-criminal agenda. The PBA will maintain combating in opposition to politicians who flip their backs on our members and the individuals we serve.”
Critics have questioned why the PBA poured a lot cash right into a race that wasn’t even in New York Metropolis. Whereas the PBA makes cash from contributions, it additionally takes union dues from its members, whose salaries are finally paid for by New York Metropolis taxpayers. In accordance with the PBA, about 3,000 of its members reside in Thomas’s Lengthy Island district.
Sources told NY1 in October that the police union was indignant with Thomas as a result of he promised them he wouldn’t vote for a repeal of the legislation often known as 50-a, which shielded police disciplinary data from public view. Lawmakers voted to repeal 50-a following clashes between police and demonstrators after the demise of George Floyd in Minneapolis in Could. Advocates had been pushing for its repeal for many years. Thomas was not the one senator to vote for it.
A Democratic Supermajority After All?
Like many Democrats in New York, Gianaris is now happy with the get together’s standing after disappointing results from the in-person ballots on Election Evening. Initially, it appeared that Democrats would lose some state legislature seats or not less than be denied a possibility for a supermajority within the state Senate.
Now, with a whole lot of 1000’s of absentee ballots being counted — and people ballots breaking mostly for Democrats — Democrats have pulled forward in lots of races. Trying on the six state Senate races which might be nonetheless undecided as of Tuesday night, Gianaris, the state Senate’s deputy majority chief, tells NY1 there’s a good likelihood the get together might find yourself rising its majority to not less than 42 seats.
If that occurs, the get together would safe a supermajority that might permit it to override any veto issued by the governor. Doing so — assuming no Democrats broke away — might open the door for Democrats to enact progressive priorities Cuomo opposes, together with a tax on millionaires and billionaires. Democrats have already got a supermajority within the State Meeting.
When requested if the Democrats deliberate to remove a few of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s expanded powers the legislature allocated to him to respond quickly during the height of the pandemic, Gianaris mentioned whereas the get together was ready to see what number of senators it might have, he anticipated it might “reassert itself.”
“Going into subsequent 12 months, I believe issues are very totally different now. We’re nonetheless in an emergency because it pertains to the pandemic. However we do have slightly bit extra of a way of learn how to deal with it, and I might anticipate that the legislature intends to reassert itself — working in tandem with the governor,” Gianaris mentioned. “He’s performed many issues proper, and we’d be completely satisfied to accomplice with him to proceed on these issues. And on areas we disagree, we’ll definitely assert ourselves.”
Some specialists marvel if a state legislature armed with a supermajority would lose swing seats within the 2022 state elections if it passes many objects on the progressive want record, corresponding to a wealth tax. When requested if the get together would average calls for with such a big tent of various pursuits, the state senator reiterated that he nonetheless thinks the tax is well-liked throughout the state.
“I’m an enormous proponent of taxing the rich to assist us get by way of the finances disaster we’ve,” he mentioned. “It’s extremely well-liked. It’s well-liked in New York Metropolis, it’s well-liked upstate, it’s well-liked within the suburbs. It’s well-liked with Democrats, independents, and Republicans.”
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Watch the total interview above.
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This story contains reporting from Juan Manuel Benitez and Zack Fink.
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