Governor Hochul made a strong break with his new lieutenant governor, State Senator Brian Benjamin, rejecting the “spread the police” movement he has adopted.
“Governor Hochul does not support police funding,” Hazel Crampton-Hays, her press secretary, told The Post. “In the Hochul Administration, public safety and justice and police accountability are not mutually exclusive, and we are pleased to partner with the next Lieutenant Governor Benjamin on these priorities to keep our communities safe.”
Benjamin, 44, has represented Harlem in the state Senate since 2017 and has a long history of aligning with the far left, making “defusing the police” a central component of his bankruptcy. campaign for control of the city this year.
“As a New York City inspector, Brian will investigate 20,000 cases of police misconduct to find patterns of abuse,” says one narrator in a campaign ad in which he also promised a full audit of the New York budget.
“I support the movement to spread the police because I think there are parts of the New York budget that are not essential to citizen safety,” Benjamin said in a January tweet promoting his candidacy.
“Our goal should be to use the powers of the office to prioritize more public security measures, not more security forces.”
Benjamin has also supported the state disastrous bail reform laws and the plan for near Rikers Island.
“The senator agrees with Governor Hochul that public safety and police accountability are not mutually exclusive. He is keen to support his agenda.” Neil Reilly, a spokesman for Benjamin, told The Post.
Prior to politics, Benjamin was the top executive of Genesis Companies, a troubled real estate company. He was born in the neighborhood, the son of Caribbean immigrants, and later received degrees from Brown and Harvard universities.
Hochul praised her centrist credentials during her first week in office and recently described herself as a moderate “Biden Democrat.” But President Biden has long voiced opposition to the defunding police and, along with most other national moderates, has tried to get the idea dead and buried before the 2022 midterm elections.
Unlike previous lieutenant governors, Hochul says Benjamin’s job will not just be window dressing. In a ceremony announcing her selection, she said Benjamin was a “partner” and said he would work with her “side by side in the trenches.”
“It shows that Kathy Hochul has just stepped very far to the left and I hope she does this with many other policies as she tries to appease the strongest liberal voices in the room,” said Andrew Giuliani, a Republican candidate for governor on 2022, he told The Post.
He also tied Benjamin up for the issue. “It shows that the boy doesn’t really care about the facts or the challenges that New Yorkers face,” he said.