In case anyone was wondering, this was the real motive behind today’s press conference. Mayor Mamdani promised a laundry list of “free” giveaways to buy votes, with no plan to pay for them. Now that the math doesn’t work, instead of owning the fact that he misled New Yorkers, he’s blaming me. Let’s be clear: I left him over $8 BILLION in reserves. This is the same Mamdani who spent years attacking me for not spending enough during the migrant crisis. The only reason those reserves exist is because I ignored him and his socialist comrades who demanded we blow billions more with no guardrails. “Free” isn’t free. It’s just a bill someone else has to pay.
Facts have a way of getting in the way when slogans replace math and blame replaces leadership.
1. Bond raters gave my administration one of the strongest credit ratings in NYC history because we governed with discipline, not fantasy economics.
2. I didn't leave a "budget hole." I left over $8 BILLION in reserves. Only someone who can't read a balance sheet would call that a crisis.
3. Every budget passed under my administration was approved by the City Council, including Mayor Mamdani’s City Council comrades. And thank God I was there, because their reflex has always been to spend first and ask questions never.
4. We dragged this city out of COVID and absorbed a $9 BILLION migrant crisis without layoffs, raising taxes, torching our credit or bankrupting working New Yorkers. And here’s the part socialists hate saying out loud: “Free” is a lie. Every so-called free program comes with a price tag, and someone always pays for it.