Packages. This is hosted by Spectrum News new york one. Errol good evening. Im the political anchor here at Spectrum News new york one. We are less than one week away from the New York Primary for new York Congress and there is a race for Queens Borough president as well. The people elected to these positions will be grappling with a Major Public Health crisis as well as calls for Police Reform and much more. New york one has been holding debates in some of the most highprofile races. Tonight, we bring you a debate for new yorks 10th congressional district. Lets take a look its stress its stretches across manhattan and brooklyn and includes much of the westside including sunset park. The seat is currently occupied by jerry nadler who has represented the district since 1992. We have invited several of the candidates who are challenging him to this debate we are joined by a former Cuomo Administration official, lindsay boylan, and a former Andrew Yang Campaign manager, jonathan herzog. The rules have been agreed to all of the rules. We will give them 32nd rebuttals. You can see the full debate on ny one at any time and we are taping this on tuesday, june 16. Were are going to start with some short opening statements. The order was determined by a random drawing. Jonathan herzog will go first. Good evening. Jonathan good evening and thank you. My name is jonathan herzog. On the son of immigrants, born and raised on the westside in new yorks 10th district. Im a civil rights organizer and advocate with a decade an experience endorsed by andrew yang. Heres the bad news liberal democracy is being torn to shreds. Where in the middle of crises on top of crises. Congress has been on recess. Heres the good news. For the first time in a generation, we have a choice. Our vision begins with a universal basic income, a data bill of rights, publicly financed elections, and quadratic voting. Together, we will end an era of stagnation and ponzi scheme inequality and usher in an era for the common good. Im asking for your vote to build a new way forward. Thank you. Next is lindsay boylan. A former Government Official and other to two young daughters. Im running for congress because we cannot take the same complacency we have had in congress for the last 30 years. We need a seachange across this country. A publicaling with health crisis, and economic crisis and protest that will shape our future and our leaders are totally unprepared and out of touch. Luckily for our community, i have been preparing for just this kind of moment. I led the states job creation. I help past paid family leave, i led recovery work to puerto rico, after the hurricane. In congressman has been office for almost 30 years, since i was in the second grade. Any ofhas not addressed these issues. Instead, he writes strongly worded letters and gives empty talk. This is not the time for any of that. This is the time for people with guts and i will keep showing i have it and keep showing how much i love our community and i hope you will vote for me. Errol thank you. Next is mr. Nadler. Rep. Nadler thank you for posting this debate. Its good to be here. This is a time of great crisis for our country. Over 100,000 people have died in the pandemic so far and 40 Million People have lost their jobs. George floyd was murdered in the latest episode of Police Brutality, showing systemic racism that we continue to suffer from. And we have a president in trump who is totally unfit to be president and is a totally immoral person. But we have to Work Together because defeating trump is not enough. We have to work to ensure social justice, to make sure black lives matter, to restore peoples jobs and health care, to deal with our Climate Crisis that threatens all of us, and that is why i have been leading the fight for all of these things for many years. Constituents will enable me to continue leading these fights for another two years. Thank you. Errol candidates come our first topic tonight is criminal Justice Reform, policing reform. We are in a time of great upheaval, there are people marching in the streets tonight and every night. A twopart question for each of you. What public actions have you taken on these issues over the last few weeks and, if elected or reelected, what would be your comes toity when it criminal Justice Reform . There are a lot of ideas out there ranging from body cameras and transparency to defunding the nypd stop i would like to hear what your top priority would be. Its going the same order. We will start with you, mr. Herzog. Dismantlewe have to systemic racism and provide real structural reform. There is no more time for lip service and no more time for cheap talk. We need a federal standard for use of force as necessary only as a last resort. We have to mandate deescalation, we have to demilitarized our police force, enforce data collection, van no knock warrants, have a public database, and and qualified immunity. None of this is enough. If you look at the george floyd downstream of a counterfeit 20 bill. We need to heed the wisdom of Martin Luther king jr. , who in his last year, fought for a guaranteed minimum income for all americans. Is civil rights of this era fighting for a guaranteed minimum income for all. Boylan. Ext, ms. Showed up atve protest spring much every day. Im just one in the crowd because i think thats what i should be. I have called for the mayors resignation because he has not led in this moment. I think its an absolute aberration, his lack of leadership, his lack of push pda, against the nypd, i have called for defunding nypd. I do not think the justice act is nearly enough and, in fact, why would we give more money to the department of justice that we are saying doesnt know how to use the money when it should be directed elsewhere . I think our federal government in addition to our local government is completely out of whack on this and it is really unfortunate that the congressman is leading this effort and pretending in fact, the last thing he did was support a Blue Lives Matter bill and its very transparent what hes doing. Errol before i give mr. Nadler saidnce to respond, you for the mayor to resign. That would then lead to the public advocate becoming the mayorstop becoming the. Do you think he would be better at handling the Current Situation . There isndsey something about de blasio that i think is incapable of handling the situation. We have someone in my view who is incapable at even responding in a humane way to deescalate crises and poor gas on the flames. He clearly has no authority in this situation in my view. Secondly, act in january, i called for nypds commissioner and leadership to be forced to live in the city. Theres no reason our Police Officers should live somewhere else. Its the opposite of committee policing. Ive been on this for quite some time. Defundingupportive of , mainly because redirecting these funds to Mental Health support and i have called for the resignation of the mayor who failed us on sony levels. So many levels. At the very basic level in failing to deescalate the situation and making new yorkers feel that not only have they not been heard, but the Police Department is absolutely able to run amok in every way. Errol mr. Nadler . Rep. Nadler i have been very involved in the black lives Matter Movement and dealing with temic racism ever since and eric garner. One of the chief authors of the justice act which would banned chokeholds and have a National Police registry. This would and qualified immunity. Refund it would do almost everything the black lives matter people are asking us to do. Im going to be leading the fight in the next few weeks against the republicans who dont want to do most of what needs to be done to end this plague of Police Brutality and systemic racism. Add to thiswant to that none of this is enough. The average net worth of a black household is 1 10 of a white household. Black mothers are three times more likely to die in childbirth. People of the median net worth of a lack family is expected to be zero by 2053. This is before the pandemic, before covid, we are now nearly half of all lack households will not be able to make rent. When america catches a cold, black people catch the flu. In 2020, when america catches covid, black people are nearly 2. 5 times more likely to die than white folks and this is part of a legacy of structural racism, redlining, and a and of a disparate impact of chronic illnesses. This cannot be handled solely through slogans and party lines. We need real, structural, systemic reform at all parts of health care, the economy, and criminal justice. Close the loop finish the thought. Of you have a universal basic income on its way to being closed with there be a need to deal with criminal Justice Reform and what would that look like if you were in congress . To reform andeed reimagine the police. I agree with Stacey Abrams who says the notion of defunding is a false choice. If you look at the new york Police Department, its 92 funded by the city of new york. This is not primarily a matter of congressional funding. What happens when you defund Public Services is they end up being privatized. Andave to unbundle remilitarize and unarmed. Serve as traffic controllers, tax collectors, social workers, and a paramilitary force. We have to make sure that in the nearly 20 million instances where police are contacting accidentsin traffic we have a separate we have a separate force. Deal with criminal justice, deal with criminal Police Reform by dean militarizing our police. Wehave to rethink how provide housing, how hud works, how the department of education works. We have to desegregate our schools. That is why i am one of the byple who is really excited the true reconciliation commission. Not because we do not have to have actionable results but because it goes beyond policing, beyond criminal Justice Reform. If we want to use this moment to change the destiny of this country, and that is absolutely what we have to do. What jonathan was trying to get at was we need to focus on housing issues, how we provide support to americans. How we focus on education. Barbara lee proposed that, i am very supportive. The otheranted to get candidates to weigh in on whether or not you think mayor de blasio should step down and how do you rate his handling of the crisis over the last few weeks . Mr. Nadler. Rep. Nadler i think he has handled it very poorly. I think it is up to the electors, with respect to the mayor. Let me say that the leadership supplyinghave been and trying to deal with problems of housing, the environment, and the new dish the Green New Deal for years. I have been doing this successfully. Gotten millions of dollars for the housing authority. I have passed amendments on the floor of the house to increase funding for housing for people with aids, for Senior Citizen housing. It is easy to talk about these things, but most progressive leaders are supporting me because they know that i have been the progressive leader in getting these things done. Leaders like Elizabeth Warren and alexandria ocasiocortez and the New York Times are supporting my candidacy for reelection. The mayor resign, mr. Herzog . Mr. Herzog that is up to the mayor. He has not handled this well. I want to respond to ms. Boylans point. Nelson mandela said no one is born hating another person. People must learn to hate, and if they must learn to hate they can be taught to love. Martin luther king said the evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism are intrinsically tied. In combatto unravel one, we must unravel and combat all. We must restructure from the bottom on up. Slogans will not suffice. Lipservice will not suffice. We need true substance of, systemic substandard, substantive, systemic change. Errol stay with us. Back to thise democratic primary date for this 10th congressional district. I want to talk about the coronavirus pandemic. To reopen, begins there is a major push to reopen as quickly as possible. I want to get your views on whether or not we are doing it too fast, fast enough, what would be your priorities in congress as far as making sure it is done in a way that properly balances Public Health needs and economic needs. Lets start with you, mr. Nadler. Rep. Nadler we have to be guided by the Public Health authorities in what we do. In congress, i am guided by the Health Authorities. Some of the most important things we have to do in congress is what i am leading the fight on. We have to enable people to stay at home if that is what the Health Authorities indicate to do. We have to get them funds for the money they are not getting because they cannot go to their jobs. I have supported, and we have act, lotsn the cares of money for people to pay rent small homeowners to pay mortgages with. We have to extend that. We passed the heroes act a couple weeks ago. We have to persuade the republicans in the senate to pass it too, but it would extend these things. Nobody would have to worry about getting evicted or about paying their mortgages. These are the kinds of economic supports we have to give to make sure we can follow the guidelines of Public Health authorities and not follow the president or the republicans or some others who are saying open up the economy because that will threaten everyones health. We have to open up the economy as indicated when we can buy the virus, which will enable what will enable us to do that is the economic support, which i have been leading the fight to get and which we can get through the senate. Errol ms. Boylan. Ms. Boylan the cares act was an abomination. 1200 for people earning up to blank0 does not do jack for most new yorkers. If you actually have to worry about paychecktopaycheck in new york, you know that 100 of unemployment or emergency for most people to get, especially if you insecure. Mentionedadler just actually does not help people at all. People are desperate to get help in they are not getting it. The best way we could have help people was to give them non means tested checks, like i , forsed my stimulus plan 2000 per month plus 1200 per dependent. That is just on a personal level that could have helped. The cares act failed on that front. Support, itiness also failed utterly. Shack, all shake these Big Companies have been able to access and get to the front of line for support. The smaller firms that do not have the flexibility to wait and bring their people back and try to reopen all in this short period of time are left hanging. That is what i am talking about when i talk about my experience overseeing all Economic Development for the state of new york. I do not think we have seen a bit about much recovery will. Be necessary and it is really sad most of our leaders do not even get the pain. If you see what he did with the heroes act, the heroes act has not even been enacted. This is a great example of when congressman nadler talks about things he has done but has not actually done. The cares act gives people more than 100 replacement for their jobs. It gives people more than 100 of what they are earning in many cases. The heroes act has not been successful yet because of the republicans in the senate. You go to washington as a member of congress, you are not the only person. You do not go there to get your name on buildings, you go to get things done. We have gotten things done, but of course we have a president who is terrible and Republican Senate that is terrible. We are fighting to get some of these things through the senate. We passed them in the house. The heroes act would replace sureones income, make nobody got evicted ms. Boylan no it doesnt. Unfortunately, until the election this year, we have to deal with the Republican Senate. Fundamentalthis is because this is the congressmans biggest failure. This is a multitrillion dollar for multinational firms, the largest since the 2008 financial crisis. Nearly 100 20,000 americans are dead, doubled the number that died in vietnam. One in five are new yorkers. If new york had shut down 10 days sooner, the former cdc director said that 80 of all deaths could have been avoided. Congressman nadler has been on recess. Backn eat when he came k, he passed a bailout with crumbs for regular people. Not listened to the scientists and Public Health experts. Hasact, congressman nadler played pandemic politics. This entire time. If you look at the first case in new york, the first covid case, it came online as Ballot Access for the primary began. In the entirer new York Democratic primary party do . They tried to cancel the primary. These aremaries politicians denying basic tellingand intuition, workers until midmarch to ride the subway, all as well all is well. This is an utter failure. I dont know where to start. Dopassed legislation to everything mr. Herzog is talking about. Mr. Herzog simply false. Rep. Nadler the republicans have not passed it. One congressman is one congressman. I am not the dictator. I cannot dictate policy. I can lead. I have led. We have done what we should do. As i said before, the legislation we did pass replaces one hu