Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio were both caught this week stuffing crowds with supporters.
From the desk of the NYGOP:
Gov. Andrew Cuomo wasn’t taking any chances that there might be empty seats at a speech he delivered last week on climate change — so state workers were summoned on the taxpayer dime to fill the audience, The Post has learned.
The workers said they left their jobs in the middle of the day Thursday and were paid their full salaries to hear Cuomo at Columbia University announce the state was joining a global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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“I’d rather be at the park,” said one of the workers, who is employed by the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and who has no connection to climate issues.
He explained that he went because his boss “asked me to make some time available in my schedule.”
The worker confessed that he didn’t know what the event was about before he agreed to go.
He said attendance is not required, but is viewed favorably, and that the practice is common throughout state government to support Cuomo.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio allegedly “handpicked” his allies to stack the deck at a town hall meeting Wednesday regarding rent security and tenant protection.
“Mayor de Blasio is using a public school building for a re-election rally disguised as a town hall meeting,” Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association, told the New York Post. “The mayor and sponsors handpicked the attendees.”
A close ally of the Democratic mayor, Democratic City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, was in charge of selecting audience members from the audience of about 300 to ask questions.
“It’s a sham audience packed with supporters only, and anyone else who shows up will be placed in another room outside of the main venue and not be allowed to ask questions,” Strasburg added.
