WEBVTT - Scott Stringer, Former NYC Comptroller & NYC Mayoral Candidate Talks Mayoral Election

0:00:02.320 --> 0:00:08.239
<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. Scott Stringer joins us

0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:12.159
<v Speaker 1>right now, a former New York City Controller and a mayor. Ken.

0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:14.840
<v Speaker 1>It is a primary, and there's an election in that.

0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:17.160
<v Speaker 1>Let's get the primary out of the way right now.

0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.920
<v Speaker 1>New York Times writes it up. The mayor's occupied, the

0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:25.720
<v Speaker 1>governor's piled into the race, and the line is everyone's invisible.

0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:29.520
<v Speaker 1>How does Scott Stringer get visible up the June primary?

0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:32.560
<v Speaker 2>Wait till the mayor race actually started. You know, you

0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:35.760
<v Speaker 2>mentioned my cousin Bella Abzug and the mayor's race of

0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:39.280
<v Speaker 2>nineteen seventy seven when Ed Koch was barely a blip

0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.159
<v Speaker 2>during that race until two weeks to go. And so

0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:46.040
<v Speaker 2>everyone who thinks these races end in May, they don't.

0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:47.640
<v Speaker 3>They actually end the end of June.

0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:50.559
<v Speaker 2>And I have high favorable as a record of fiscal

0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:54.240
<v Speaker 2>prudence and a government record that is unmatching this race.

0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.040
<v Speaker 2>So I'm very confident going into the next couple of months.

0:00:57.080 --> 0:00:59.760
<v Speaker 1>Is your constituency off of Naylor and Rest and you

0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:04.760
<v Speaker 1>know the whole thing is your constituency as organized is

0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:08.000
<v Speaker 1>it was twenty years ago. Is there a machine in

0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:11.399
<v Speaker 1>New York City where the Liberal party that progresses can

0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:13.920
<v Speaker 1>get behind one candidate or is it chaos.

0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.120
<v Speaker 2>Look, I think times have changed in this city. I

0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:20.840
<v Speaker 2>think people really want a mayor who knows what he

0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:23.360
<v Speaker 2>or she is doing. They want someone who's competent. They

0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:24.480
<v Speaker 2>want someone with experience.

0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:25.639
<v Speaker 3>They're tired of the chaos.

0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:28.720
<v Speaker 2>They don't want the current mayor, Eric Adams cast, they

0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:30.039
<v Speaker 2>don't want Quomo casts.

0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:31.000
<v Speaker 3>They want somebody here.

0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:32.240
<v Speaker 1>You went after build a Blasio.

0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:35.320
<v Speaker 2>I was controller during that time period.

0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:35.840
<v Speaker 3>I went after.

0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:38.639
<v Speaker 2>I held up to Blasio accountable three hundred and sixty

0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:40.440
<v Speaker 2>four days a year. I gave him a day off

0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:45.440
<v Speaker 2>due to Christmas. But I understand city agencies. I've exposed

0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.400
<v Speaker 2>waste and corruption. I know how to run a government

0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:50.080
<v Speaker 2>in the most competent way, and I think.

0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:50.680
<v Speaker 3>That's what people want.

0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:53.440
<v Speaker 2>But they also want to live here, to have affordable housing,

0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:57.800
<v Speaker 2>to have economic opportunity. People who come here understand how

0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:00.480
<v Speaker 2>critical it is to want to stay. We got to

0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:03.880
<v Speaker 2>go back to the compact of safety, good parks, clean air.

0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:05.800
<v Speaker 2>This is all what a mayor has to do, and

0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:07.400
<v Speaker 2>we need someone to start focusing on it.

0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:09.320
<v Speaker 3>From your perspective, Scott.

0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:11.880
<v Speaker 2>What is the state of the city today.

0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:13.080
<v Speaker 3>I think we're at a crossroads.

0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:16.200
<v Speaker 2>I don't think people understand just how corrupt the last

0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:18.720
<v Speaker 2>four years have been. And the first thing the next

0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:21.440
<v Speaker 2>mayor has to do is literally reform the government. Bring

0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.119
<v Speaker 2>in the best and the brightest, Bring in people who

0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:26.760
<v Speaker 2>are competent, who want to see a better city. Look,

0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:28.840
<v Speaker 2>we've got to hire three thousand more cops. We have

0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:31.839
<v Speaker 2>to align policing and a mental health initiative. We've got

0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:34.640
<v Speaker 2>to make sure that a strong mayor can take on

0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:36.839
<v Speaker 2>Trump when he's going against New York City.

0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:38.240
<v Speaker 3>We need somebody who.

0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:41.160
<v Speaker 2>Has that experience, not just pie in the sky promises.

0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:43.640
<v Speaker 3>And I think I positioned myself in that way.

0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:48.760
<v Speaker 2>Metropolitan Transit Association, the congestion tax, what's your view there?

0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:50.840
<v Speaker 3>Look, I think gets working.

0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:54.960
<v Speaker 2>I think people want to pay a little more to

0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:56.280
<v Speaker 2>move the city.

0:02:56.800 --> 0:02:57.280
<v Speaker 3>We have a.

0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:02.760
<v Speaker 2>City government that depends on goods and services how they

0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:03.920
<v Speaker 2>get in and out of New York.

0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:06.600
<v Speaker 3>But look, let's make let's make it clear we have

0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:07.120
<v Speaker 3>work to do.

0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:09.840
<v Speaker 2>Congestion pricing helps some, but we have to build out

0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:12.480
<v Speaker 2>a fibroa transportation plan, and we have not done that yet.

0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:15.520
<v Speaker 2>When I was supporting congestion pricing, back when Mike Bloomberg

0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:18.480
<v Speaker 2>was mayor, we always said we would look at Queen's

0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:19.880
<v Speaker 2>and Staten Island and how.

0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:21.480
<v Speaker 3>We can close those transit deserts.

0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:23.639
<v Speaker 2>So this is just the first step in a long

0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:25.680
<v Speaker 2>transportation journey for New York City.

0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:28.960
<v Speaker 1>Mention that mister Bloomberg, of course, of Bloomberg LP is

0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:33.040
<v Speaker 1>the founder of this radio station and signs my paycheck,

0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:38.040
<v Speaker 1>and you know, exactly once a year, Good morning, mister Bloomberg.

0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:40.160
<v Speaker 3>Scott, I thought it'd be good to mention him. Just

0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:40.880
<v Speaker 3>that's good.

0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:43.000
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and you mentioned him, I got to mention it.

0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:44.920
<v Speaker 1>I'm not in speaking terms with them, but that's a

0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:51.240
<v Speaker 1>separate issue, Scott Stringer. How can liberals be conservative and

0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:55.200
<v Speaker 1>be anti crime? I mean, there's a whole modern theology.

0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:57.800
<v Speaker 1>The last election was to me and Eldam out of election,

0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:01.680
<v Speaker 1>Long Island rose up and screened afraid. How do guys

0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:07.440
<v Speaker 1>like you in a city that's become afraid support NYPD

0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:10.119
<v Speaker 1>and support a tougher crime view.

0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:15.560
<v Speaker 2>Why do you think that people who are on the

0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:18.599
<v Speaker 2>liberal side of the equation or even the conservative side

0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:22.000
<v Speaker 2>can't come together and recognize a problem when you see it.

0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:24.880
<v Speaker 1>Me, that's what we've got inst.

0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:25.760
<v Speaker 3>But I got to tell you something.

0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:27.839
<v Speaker 2>It's very easy for me to look at the problem

0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:30.919
<v Speaker 2>and say, hey, we are having a trouble retaining the

0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:34.240
<v Speaker 2>police officers we have. You know that young police officers

0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:37.760
<v Speaker 2>are leaving the police force in droves, and they're not

0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:41.480
<v Speaker 2>retiring from policing. They're actually going to Long Island or Mosquito.

0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:44.760
<v Speaker 2>States like Texas and Florida. Paid well, it's not so

0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:47.240
<v Speaker 2>much pay as it is how do you create a

0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:50.119
<v Speaker 2>work life balance. You know, we've gone from six hundred

0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:52.800
<v Speaker 2>and fifty million dollars in overtime for policing to one

0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:55.640
<v Speaker 2>point three billion. We have the lowest head count in

0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:59.359
<v Speaker 2>the NYPD in generations. We're down a thirty three thousand cops.

0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:01.400
<v Speaker 2>So what should we do. It doesn't matter whether you're

0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:04.119
<v Speaker 2>a liberal conservative monitor. We got to hire more cops.

0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:07.200
<v Speaker 2>That makes financial sense and also from a safety perspective,

0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:09.240
<v Speaker 2>makes sense. I want to put a cop on every

0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:11.400
<v Speaker 2>train during in those high crime areas. I want to

0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:14.920
<v Speaker 2>align policing with a mental health initiative because we see

0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:18.320
<v Speaker 2>people languishing, suffering, dying on the streets. When I take

0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:21.200
<v Speaker 2>my two kids on the subway most mornings.

0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:22.200
<v Speaker 3>To go to school. You know what I see.

0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:24.720
<v Speaker 2>I see what I saw in the nineteen seventies, people

0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:25.840
<v Speaker 2>languishing side.

0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:28.640
<v Speaker 3>It must admit well said, and it's actually true.

0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:31.320
<v Speaker 1>Scott's tringer here with the primary in June, an election

0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.960
<v Speaker 1>in November, of course, with his public services family service

0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.080
<v Speaker 1>over the years to New York City.

0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:41.120
<v Speaker 2>Pulse reading, Scott is, were you to be elected, what

0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:41.640
<v Speaker 2>would be.

0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:43.800
<v Speaker 3>The first one hundred days of your administration? What would

0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:46.920
<v Speaker 3>be the focus? We bring in a whole new government.

0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:49.120
<v Speaker 3>We reform these city agencies.

0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:51.839
<v Speaker 2>We have a clarion call for people who want to

0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:54.240
<v Speaker 2>serve this city to come into this government and do

0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:55.320
<v Speaker 2>the people's business.

0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:56.159
<v Speaker 3>That's the first step.

0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:58.760
<v Speaker 2>Second, I want to build the same kind of housing

0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:03.920
<v Speaker 2>that was built in a different generation called Mitchellama Housing Mitchellama.

0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:03.960
<v Speaker 3>Two point zero.

0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:06.400
<v Speaker 2>I want to take our thousand vacant lots in the

0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:09.080
<v Speaker 2>city and let's put to work for affordable housing so

0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:12.320
<v Speaker 2>families can come here, go to our best universities, and

0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:15.200
<v Speaker 2>stay here in a way that's affordable. I want to

0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:18.080
<v Speaker 2>put three thousand cops back on the street. Want to

0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:22.080
<v Speaker 2>make sure we align that program with a mental health initiative.

0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:24.760
<v Speaker 2>I want to make sure that we have people taken

0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:28.160
<v Speaker 2>the police test again, eight thousand people took the police test.

0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:29.040
<v Speaker 3>Do you know how many.

0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:33.040
<v Speaker 2>People took the sanitation test? Sixty thousand. There's something wrong here.

0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:35.719
<v Speaker 2>We're just not governing anymore. And also I want to

0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:39.640
<v Speaker 2>make sure that we bring back something called quality of life.

0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:41.640
<v Speaker 2>We'll have a Deputy Mayor for quality of Life, will

0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:45.080
<v Speaker 2>initiate quality stat will break down the silos of all

0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:47.640
<v Speaker 2>these city agencies. I've ordered all of them. And I

0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:50.520
<v Speaker 2>got to tell you, mental health has to start talking

0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:51.160
<v Speaker 2>to small.

0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:52.000
<v Speaker 3>Business and vice versa.

0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:54.200
<v Speaker 2>We got to get a handle on this government. You

0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:57.480
<v Speaker 2>need somebody who actually knows how to govern. And as

0:06:57.520 --> 0:06:59.960
<v Speaker 2>borough president for eight years, is controller for eight years,

0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:02.560
<v Speaker 2>I know the fiscal situation in the city like the

0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.960
<v Speaker 2>back of my hand. I'm not over promising like others

0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:08.080
<v Speaker 2>in this campaign. I'm just going to be me and

0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:10.400
<v Speaker 2>be the lifelong New York I've always been to fix

0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:14.280
<v Speaker 2>the city taxes. Pretty Much everybody you walk into on

0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:16.120
<v Speaker 2>the streets say my taxes are too high.

0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:18.280
<v Speaker 3>What do you say, what's your tax.

0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:22.920
<v Speaker 2>Well, let's give people some value for those taxes. Let's

0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:26.440
<v Speaker 2>go back to the compact we've always had in this city,

0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:29.080
<v Speaker 2>which is if you come here, you pay a little more,

0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:31.440
<v Speaker 2>but you're going to get a clean city. You're not

0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:34.080
<v Speaker 2>going to have rats running around, garbage piled high. I mean,

0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:36.360
<v Speaker 2>we've got rats walking upright right now. They've come up

0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:38.720
<v Speaker 2>to me on more than one occasion at night saying, hey,

0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:41.520
<v Speaker 2>can you beat Cuomo. I mean, this is a real crisis.

0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:43.720
<v Speaker 2>People say, what am I paying for? What's the value

0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.080
<v Speaker 2>of my taxes? And we have to go back to

0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:49.720
<v Speaker 2>making people understand that what they get in return is

0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:52.320
<v Speaker 2>a real New York City that they'll never leave.

0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:56.400
<v Speaker 1>What is your policy on immigration and migration and the

0:07:56.440 --> 0:08:00.520
<v Speaker 1>emotion here of people coming in that are new troubled.

0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:04.560
<v Speaker 2>But we've always had people come, like my grandparents came

0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:07.040
<v Speaker 2>to this city and came to this country. So let's

0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:10.320
<v Speaker 2>not start filtering out who comes and who doesn't. Let's

0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:13.120
<v Speaker 2>be very smart about this. Look, you bring gang members

0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:15.080
<v Speaker 2>in here, get them out. I'd be the first one

0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:17.720
<v Speaker 2>to stand and say we want you out of here.

0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:19.520
<v Speaker 3>No guns, no violence.

0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:22.520
<v Speaker 2>But for people who flee persecution, for people, I mean,

0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:25.080
<v Speaker 2>come on, we were so much better than this, and

0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:29.520
<v Speaker 2>we can Good government means we can absorb people. We

0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:32.280
<v Speaker 2>can absorb crises. It doesn't have to be a meltown.

0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:34.600
<v Speaker 1>I gotta ask you one final question, Harry. I think

0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:37.520
<v Speaker 1>it's hugely emotional for everyone across this nation.

0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:39.000
<v Speaker 3>There is an.

0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:43.600
<v Speaker 1>Uproar among liberals over a generational shift, as identified by

0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:47.920
<v Speaker 1>Senator Schumer, over to something new. John Ferrell mentioned to

0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:52.280
<v Speaker 1>Glenn Young Kenne Virginia the Utah event of Senator Sanders

0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:55.160
<v Speaker 1>the other day. Help me here with what the new

0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:57.000
<v Speaker 1>generation of Democrats look like.

0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:01.840
<v Speaker 2>Look, we've always had a new generation of Democrats. You

0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:04.640
<v Speaker 2>mentioned the starting at the show, Very very smart, right,

0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:07.200
<v Speaker 2>Bella Abzug was a new generation.

0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:11.040
<v Speaker 3>Of course, you can't imagine. No one can shock and

0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:13.680
<v Speaker 3>this mouthy woman was. It was for the products.

0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:15.520
<v Speaker 2>And look, I was a twelve year old kid running

0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:18.000
<v Speaker 2>around campaigning with her during the Vietnam War.

0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:20.720
<v Speaker 3>And you know what happened. A few years into her term.

0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:23.280
<v Speaker 2>The US News and World Report, not the most liberal

0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:28.000
<v Speaker 2>newspaper or magazine, named her the number three most competent

0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:33.760
<v Speaker 2>and effective member of Congress. I am I embrace the

0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:37.720
<v Speaker 2>new generation, but right now we need somebody in New

0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:42.160
<v Speaker 2>York City who represents vision, experience, and competence. Make no mistake,

0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:44.960
<v Speaker 2>this is a moment where we have to rate the

0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:45.760
<v Speaker 2>ship so that the.

0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:48.760
<v Speaker 3>New generation can come in do it all generations.

0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:51.559
<v Speaker 1>Some would say you just describe God or Cuomo. I mean,

0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:54.400
<v Speaker 1>the basic idea is he's been around his father's iconic.

0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:57.560
<v Speaker 1>You're up against Cuomo. What's the biggest stetriment there?

0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:00.600
<v Speaker 2>Oo he's chaotic and he's not prone New York City,

0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:03.080
<v Speaker 2>and he doesn't like people, and he's running the worst

0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:06.319
<v Speaker 2>kind of campaign. That makes him unelectable.

0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:07.439
<v Speaker 3>In my mind. But no one's going to realize that

0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:09.160
<v Speaker 3>until June first.

0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:10.920
<v Speaker 2>And I hope to come back on this show as

0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:13.920
<v Speaker 2>your mayor elect and talk to you, especially about the

0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:17.000
<v Speaker 2>history of mayoral politics and what went wrong in his campaign.

0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:18.560
<v Speaker 2>But I am not feeling him diskettering.

0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:23.760
<v Speaker 1>Thank you so much, former running here for mayor this morning.