Posted on 08/03/2021 9:33:51 PM PDT by DoodleBob
Curtis Sliwa has been a fixture in New York City for more than four decades, best known for starting the Guardian Angels, the volunteer anti-crime group, but he’s also worked as a trash-picker, newspaper boy, TV and radio host, and cat dad to more than a dozen rescued felines. As someone who claims to know the city streets and subways better than anyone else, there’s a certain logic to his latest move: running for mayor.
The Republican nominee will face off against Democrat Eric Adams in November, a race that pits two New York City natives in their sixties against each other, both claiming to be the best antidote to rising crime and homelessness as New York emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic. Sliwa, however, is running with a fraction of the funds and none of the institutional support Adams has.
Known for attention-grabbing stunts, like donning a mantle and crown to troll Governor Andrew Cuomo, and offending anyone and everyone with sexist and anti-immigrant rants on his NY1 segment “The Political Rundown,” Sliwa insists his campaign for New York City mayor is no joke.
“Throw the book out if you just want professional politicians who’ve been bureaucrats like an Eric Adams,” he told Gothamist/WNYC. “You really think you’re going to get different results?”
Sliwa first became a household name in New York City in the late '70s and early '80s, after founding a group he called the Magnificent 13, later renamed the Guardian Angels as membership swelled into the hundreds. The unarmed anti-crime patrols, in their unmistakable red berets and bomber jackets, were a solace to some New Yorkers as rates of violent crime ticked upward.
To some, they were seen as vigilantes who undermined police efforts and targeted young men of color.
When pressed by television reporter Christopher Glenn in a 1979 segment, Sliwa said he had every right to form the group. “I’m a taxpaying citizen... crime is on a spiraling rate,” he said “I’m not just gonna sit home. I love my city and I’m gonna do something about it.”
His status as leader of the Guardian Angels led him to a seat behind a microphone as a radio host at WABC. Throughout the 1980s, Sliwa was a controversial figure who butted heads with transit police officers, and was arrested dozens of times.
Then, in 1992, Sliwa was shot five times as he climbed into a taxi in the East Village, narrowly escaping death. Prosecutors later said it was retaliation for allegedly bad-mouthing a member of the Gambino crime family on the air. A few months after his recovery, Sliwa came clean: he admitted to lying about six incidents, including bogus attacks on members of the Guardian Angels and a tale that he had been abducted by off-duty transit police.
“I have waited nearly 14 years to say, I told you so,” wrote William McKechnie, the president of the transit police union, in a New York Times op-ed. "I found it hard to believe that in New York, the home of the world's most sophisticated media, they were willing to accept Curtis Sliwa's claims of heroics when invariably there were no witnesses to these acts and no victims or perpetrators who could confirm their occurrence."
In a defiant mea culpa, Sliwa said he felt lying was the best way to gain media attention and recruit more members to the group. “There’s a lesson here to be learned,” Sliwa told host Charlie Rose. “When there’s good out there, I would hope to good golly god that the media would at least give balanced attention to them.”
Sliwa certainly knew how to work the media. Thousands of hours of vamping on live radio over the decades helped. Sliwa even worked at WNYC in the mid-'90s, when the station was still owned by the city; enraged staffers suspected Rudy Giuliani personally selected him for the job.
Ron Kuby, a criminal defense attorney and political commentator who co-hosted WABC’s “Curtis and Kuby” with Sliwa for more than a decade, said Sliwa’s mayoral bid is nothing more than his latest publicity stunt.
“There’s not an end goal in this,” Kuby said. “This is what Curtis wants. People are paying attention, they’re listening, they’re quoting him. They’re talking about him. He’s having a fantastic time.”
Sliwa’s mayoral platform features an array of proposals such as ramping up property taxes on Madison Square Garden, opposing critical race theory in public schools, and making Gracie Mansion a cat and dog sanctuary. On the campaign trail, he has often mentioned that he lives with around 15 cats in his current wife's 300-square-foot apartment on the Upper West Side.
But Sliwa’s central message, as always, is the need to crack down on crime. In his early years, Sliwa was a thorn in the side of the police department but now he’s trying to position himself as its biggest ally, even as he runs against a former NYPD captain.
“I’m gonna take it to Eric Adams, cause he’s been a vacillator,” Sliwa said, shortly before posing for a photo with uniformed NYPD officers patrolling the city’s recent ticker tape parade. It was the day after Adams was declared the victor of the Democratic primary. “Last summer was he defending the police? No, he was on the sidelines. He was waiting to see where the wind would blow.”
Sliwa’s message is resonating with some. Alison Jurado, 71, was passing by a Guardian Angels patrol on a recent morning in Inwood Hill Park after three attacks on women there.
“We need law and order. I mean, it’s crazy. I’ve lived here for over 40 years. I know what it’s like when the city deteriorates,” she said. “Somebody like Curtis is our only hope.”
I don't know if Curtis can win - and he may be certifiable - but it wasn't too long ago that many people counted out another brash and mildly nutty New Yorker.
I doubt that he can win, but I wish him luck. New York needs a Republican administration to fix things.
I can’t imagine who you’re thinking of; but while I may agree with ‘brash’, I’ll never agree with ‘nutty’.
I believe I have it all figured out. Why Curtis seemingly cannot get elected to anything in spite of his qualifcations and friendly personality.
It’s that Red Beret.
As long as Curtis insists on always wearing that beret, the average New Yorker won’t be able to see him as anyone other than the leader of the Guardian Angels. This is a great group, but their tactics may seem overly confrontational, too ‘Tough Love’ like for some.
Also, some may consider the concept of Guardian Angels to be passe and a part of the distant past. Curt needs to update his image to appeal to younger New Yorkers.
I said the same thing when Kid Rock was pretending to ‘run’ for office some years ago. Not that i ever took him seriously. A lot of well meaning folks did though.
Kid Rock kept a hat on his head throughout the entire ‘campaign’, never once breaking character.
They may be right. The last guy who ran that was almost normal was Bob Dole. And he got trashed.
In contrast, when Trump mocked McCain, saying "I like people who weren’t captured, I hate to tell you.” I thought he had lost it. About 300 posts later, the consensus was that Trump had jumped the shark.
And he won.
Being a little nutty may be a good thing in politics. I'm just sayin'...
You may be right. In fact you probably are right. But I doubt the beret will go away.
I remember seeing Guardian Angels in their red berets on the New York subway and feeling comforted that they were there. This was early 80s and crime was rampant and I felt the guardian angels will protect us
As for his candidacy...he'd sure as hell do a better job than any Rat on the ballot.
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