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Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears on Inside City Hall

May 20, 2019

Errol Louis: Good evening, welcome to Inside City Hall for Monday, May 20th, 2019. I’m Errol Louis. Mayor de Blasio was busy this weekend spending his first weekend as a candidate for president in two states that will play a key role in the race for the White House – Iowa and South Carolina. He toured an ethanol plant, he met with farmers, and he attended church services as he introduces himself to voters in those far away states. Today, the Mayor attended his son, Dante’s, college graduation at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut – and that’s where he joins us from right now. He’s on campus and we’re going to have our weekly conversation from there. It’s the first interview he’s given since completing his first campaign swing. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, and congratulations.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you, Errol. I’m like – I really am floating on air right now and it’s an amazing, amazing feeling. I’m so proud of Dante right now.

Louis: What will the young man be doing? I mean the short answer is – the real answer is whatever the hell he wants but what will he be doing this summer? What’s up next for him?

Mayor: I know he’s going to travel for a while and then make some decisions. But I think – you know, he was a political science major. He cares deeply about the world. He is someone, I think, wants to make a positive impact in the world but he hasn’t figured out what that looks like yet. But – stay tuned.

Louis: Okay – and since economics is one of those areas that you talk about quite a lot, was he able to do this relatively debt free?

Mayor: He’s got some debt for sure. As you and I have noted previously, one of the other things we’re celebrating is we are not sending huge checks to Yale anymore.

[Laughter]

That has been a real challenge for Chirlane and I the last few years but very much worth it, obviously. So, he did a lot of work during [inaudible]. He definitely took out loans. So, he’ll have some debt for sure.

Louis: Okay. I get this picture of you looking at the bill from Yale and thinking, ‘There’s plenty of money out here, it’s just in the wrong hands.’

Mayor: It’s in the wrong hands, Errol. That may be one of the best examples.

[Laughter]

Louis: Let me ask you about how things went. You hit the campaign trail for the first time. What kind of a response did you get in the two states you visited?

Mayor: Errol, you’ve known me a long time and this was an amazing experience to go out to people around this country and talk about the kind of changes we need. And when I talk about ‘there’s plenty of money it’s just in the wrong hands,’ I want you to know people respond to that point, they feel it, they like to hear it said out loud and said bluntly. And I got a very good response from people I talked to in Iowa and in South Carolina. And I just had a great experience. One of the things I try to do is do as much listening as I do talking.

And when I met with family farmers in Iowa, you know, there problems are strikingly like the problems that working folks have in New York City and every other part of the country. You know, they’re really struggling to make ends meet. They don’t think the economy is fair. They don’t think the federal government in on their side. And when I talk to folks in South Carolina – a lot of the same feelings. So, I think for a first trip it was really good, really energizing. We met – I met a lot of people, got a lot of chances to introduce myself.

And what I’m finding is folks are looking for something new. There’s a lot of candidates, that’s for sure, but I found that a lot of people were struck by what we’ve achieved here in new York. I talked about Pre-K for All, Paid Sick Leave, guaranteed health care – the kinds of things we’re doing and a lot of folks were struck that these were already happening. They’re not just theoretical ideas. They’re happening now in the nation’s biggest city. I got a lot of good response on that, a lot of good response on the blunt talk about the need for more fairness in our economy. A lot of people also appreciated a willingness to take on Trump.

And it’s first about having a message of change and a message that’s very much about the economic realities people are facing. But a lot of Democrats, wherever I went, wanted to know how are we going to fight Trump, what’s it going to take to take him on. And I talked about, as a New Yorker, knowing Trump, knowing how to deal with him. And a lot of people responded very favorably at that point as well.

Louis: Okay, that was certainly the theme of your introductory video that launched the campaign. We also, though, at least in one of our reports there was – there were a couple of people, I believe in South Carolina, who said they don’t necessarily want you trading insults across Twitter with the president, that the business of both announcing your own vision and if possible defeating the sitting president is a little bit more serious than that. And I’ve heard you say in the past that it’s kind of a trap to just be anti-Trump. So, how are you going to strike that balance?

Mayor: Well, you said it exactly right, Errol. It’s a trap to just be anti-Trump. What I lead with – you know, you’ve heard me say, ‘there’s plenty of money it’s just in the wrong hands,’ and that frames the whole discussion of the need for the government to be on the side of working people. This whole campaign is about putting working people first and the kinds of things we need to change in this country, for example, repealing the Trump tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, raising the tax rate on the wealthy to a much higher level, doing the kinds of things that we’re doing here – universal health care, pre-K for all children, things like Paid Sick Leave. These things are very meaningful, very tangible to people. That’s what I talk about first.

But I also say, we’ve got to be really aggressive in challenging Trump because a lot of Democrats feel – I’ve heard this for years and years, I heard it when I went around the country some weeks ago – they feel that Democrats kind of lie down in the face of opposition and are not tough enough and don’t take [inaudible] too Trump enough and don’t fight hard enough as if our lives depend on it because our lives do depend on it. For working people this election is a matter of life and death in so many ways.

So, I’m trying to make very clear as a New Yorker, I understand Trump, I understand his tricks, I understand his approach. I know how to take him on. And you know what – perfect proof, Errol. You know, I gave him a nickname coming out of the gate because I do believe he’s a con man, I called him Con Don. He responded the same day with tweeting, followed by a personalized video. And that proves that he gets disrupted when you’re tough on him. So, I think it is about issues first, vision first, what are you going to do for working people – the kind of thing the Democratic Party has not always done so well, defining a clear agenda for working people but also showing we are willing to fight him tooth and nail. That kind of fight, I think, Democrats really want to see.

Louis: Okay, let me move on and ask you some of what’s going on. I understand this is the kind of situation where you’re building the airplane as it’s taking off. But I see that you have a headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn. How much – how many staff members do you have now and where are they located?

Mayor: So, look, this is like a startup, it really is. You know, I’ve been in lots and lots of campaigns and some of the very best ones start from the grassroots and start, you know, with limited resources and then catch fire because there’s a message, there’s an idea, there’s something meaningful to people. I’m very clear about the fact that we’re going to start with a lean and mean team and we’re going to build up rapidly. I’m not going to get into the logistics and mechanics of the campaign. My focus is on the issues and what we need to do for working people but I can tell you this will look like – I mean, this will not look like some of the other campaigns. It will look like something different because it’s a lot more grassroots-focused approach. It’s a much more issue-focused approach than, you know, if you just have a lot of apparatus.

This is going to be about the issues and going [inaudible] and getting a message out. And I think it’s going to build support organically. And you know, Errol, you saw the 2013 race where I started with a lot fewer resources than many of the other candidates, a lot less name recognition. But the ideas that I was putting forward really mattered and really caught fire. And that’s what I intend to do here.

Louis: In the short term, there are some hard metrics that have to be met if you want to be on stage with the other candidates in the first couple of national debates. Are you on track to participate and do you intend to participate?

Mayor: Well, I certainly want to participate but I also understand it’s a very competitive process to get into those debates. So, I don’t assume anything. We’re going to work hard to get my message out, to build up the sense among Democrats of what I stand for and their willingness to be supportive. Right now we have three polls that put us at that threshold level. So, on that measure we have already gotten to, sort of, first base, if you will, because to qualify through polling you must have three polls that get you past a certain threshold.

So – but there’s more to play out in the coming weeks. But I’ll be campaigning very, very intensely. And if the experience that I had in Iowa and South Carolina is any indication, a lot of people responded well. I think there was a decent amount of coverage. People will see what I’m about and they do see something different because I’m not talking about unproven ideas, I’m not talking about theoretical ideas, I’m talking about changes for working people that I’ve actually done. And I want to tell you, particularly the folks I talked to in Iowa – and they pride themselves, in Iowa, as being first in the nation, the kind of first interviewers of candidates for the entire nation. They vet the candidates for everyone else.

Iowans take experience very, very seriously and I heard consistently from folks that it mattered to them that I was a chief executive, that I ran such a big and [inaudible] operation. A lot of people understand the idea that the mayor of New York City is considered the second, by many, the second toughest job in America, and that the kinds of progressive changes I’m talking about we’ve put into action for millions of people. I think that’s the kind of things that registers intensely everywhere but particularly with the voters of Iowa.

So, we’re going to keep building that up and then that will lead to, I hope, a positive result in terms of getting into that first debate.

Louis: Alright, I’ve got more to ask you about, Mr. Mayor – standby there in New Haven. I’ll be right back with more from Mayor de Blasio in just a minute.

[...]

Louis: Welcome back to Inside City Hall. I’m joined once again by Mayor Bill de Blasio. He’s up in New Haven, Connecticut, and Mr. Mayor, I want to ask you, what your process will be to get up to speed on issues, especially in the area of foreign policy that you’ve never really dealt with as a Mayor? What – how are you going to figure out what your position is or should be on tariffs, on trade relations with China, those kinds of questions?

Mayor: Well a couple different things, Errol, I mean first of all the question is always what does it do to everyday people? What is the impact of these policies? I can tell you on the tariff issue, talking to farmers in Iowa about the fact that these tariffs are hurting them right now. It’s absolutely disrupting their lives and their incomes. There is tremendous insecurity being created particularly when it comes to soy beans, [inaudible] talking about, you know, one of their biggest markets not being there anymore in China.

So I am trying to immediately think about this and learn about this from the perspective of the human impact and the Trump trade policies are wreaking havoc on farmers all over this country and it will soon be having very negative impact on consumers as well because the prices are going to go up and it’s not really a strategy. And this is so classic of President Trump, there’s not a strategy, there’s not a vision that any of us can understand that actually gives us faith that this is taking us somewhere, we only see the negative impact on Americans.

But to your bigger point, look I’m someone who’s been interested in international issues, national issues all my life, so I’ve spent a lot of time trying to learn on my own, but there’s so much more to learn, unquestionably. I think being Mayor of New York City gives me some natural strengths, obviously, this is one of the great global cities of the world, possibly the most diverse place on earth, every culture represented here and I’ve spent so much time in different communities understanding their culture, understanding their homelands. The United Nations, which I’ve done a lot of work with being based here is important and then on another side when we think about these issues, we’re the number one terror target in America, so I’ve spent a lot of time working with the FBI, working with the Department of Justice, others, on how we protect ourselves from threats of foreign and domestic.

So, I think those are good elements of grounding but there is so much more to learn and it’s going to be an ongoing process, I’m someone who has very strong values when it comes to a lot of national, international issues, and one of the things talked about is the War Powers Act because I grew up during the Vietnam War, I had an older brother who was draft age, and I think one of the great mistakes of recent decades is that the congress has not exercised its power to say yes or no to military involvement through the War Powers Act finally used for the first time in a generation on the issue of Yemen recently. But that’s a big change that needs to happen that I think is something I know I care deeply about, but it’s the kind of change I’d like to see, and as President I would want the congress to authorize major military actions because getting away from that has made it bluntly too easy for these kind of interventions to occur without the kind of thinking we need in advance and often with really bad outcomes. So that’s something I care about deeply, I’ve cared about for decades and decades, but there will be a lot more I’ll be learning about.

Louis: I know one of the areas where you did travel and studied when you were in school is Central and Latin America. What do you think about the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and if elected what would you do about it?

Mayor: Well clearly there is a crisis and it must be addressed both diplomatic measures and economic measures, but not through military intervention. You know, one of the things I did learn, and you’re right I’ve studied Latin America quite deeply, and the history of American involvement, including military intervention, is deeply troubling, often quite counter-productive, and you’d like to believe we would have learned some of those lessons of history. The last thing we should do is go into Venezuela militarily. But we have tremendous ability to influence the system and the situation there both diplomatically and economically. It’s not about a bunch of saber rattling and rhetoric if we’re actually trying to solve the problem there or have a positive impact on the problem there. We need to use our diplomatic tools and our economic tools.

Louis: Okay, let’s talk within the five boroughs. The numbers come out every Monday about measles, the numbers are up, another 25 cases since the last reading, so we’re up over 523 which is still well more than half the cases in the United States, in particular, lawmakers in Albany have been talking about an amendment to the health law to do away with the so-called religious exemption that allows people based on a sincere – a genuine and sincere religious believe to avoid being vaccinated. Are you going to be participating in that? Are you going to be supporting that amendment to the law?

Mayor: I’m still considering that issue. I have not come to a final decision on that but what I’ve emphasized is I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding, Errol, about how the community in Williamsburg has responded to this crisis. Overwhelmingly the institutions of the community, the community leadership, the civic leadership, the religious leadership, overwhelmingly have supported the effort to get children vaccinated. The number of vaccinations has skyrocketed since the Commissioner’s order was put forward some weeks ago.

So the vast majority of people in Williamsburg are doing the right thing, we do see some leveling off starting to occur with this crisis and that’s good news. It’s a very small group of people, the anti-vaxxer movement, which has really infiltrated – and that’s the only word I can use – infiltrated Williamsburg from outside, and you know it’s a well-funded national movement, and it’s gotten some adherents in Williamsburg and that’s where the problem is coming from. So I want to make the big point first that this is not about whether the community is on the side of the City government, working with our Health Department, they unquestionably are, it’s a very small number of people causing a lot of trouble –

Louis: Well, what – but isn’t it, but isn’t it –

Mayor: I’m going to look at that legislation and come to a decision of what I think.

Louis: Isn’t it possible, I mean the – it may be that the leadership doesn’t have as firm control over the actions and beliefs of their community as one might hope, right?  So their people are kind of doing whatever they want regardless of whether or not somebody has told them, whether it’s a religious or secular authority, what they should be doing?

Mayor: Yeah, there is no monoliths in our society, and certainly not in New York City, but I’m just trying to make the point that there is unquestionably a very, very clear majority of the voices in the Williamsburg community support vaccination and a very small number of voices oppose it. But they’ve won over some people, it’s a small number of people, but it’s enough to have continued to fuel this crisis. So we’re going deeper and deeper into the community with outreach through our Health Department, it’s having more and more of an impact, as I say, we see some leveling starting to occur. But I’m still considering that legislation, I just don’t want anyone to mistake the overall reality we’re experiencing in that community, because that’s the story I think that needs to be told here, that the vast majority are working with us.

Louis: Okay, let me, I guess, finish in our last minute by asking you about the budget and how things are coming, in particular there’s been a lot of expressed concern from the Council about library funding both the capital funding that appears to have some real gaps in the ability to get some of the most dilapidated buildings repaired, as well as the operating budget which is where both the baseline and some of the discretionary funding is cut back according to your Executive Budget.

Mayor: Well Errol, look, at the beginning of this budget process and earlier in the year I made very clear this year is different than the previous five years. We’ve had to tighten our belt, we did a PEG program, meaning we asked every single agency to find savings. They did across the board. The Department of Education alone came up with over $100 million in savings and, you know, no one does that lightly. It’s not something I like to ask agencies but we got to the point when we looked at our revenue situation and our expenses, we said we’ve got to really come up with some new resources through savings. We ended up with a savings program, almost billion dollars, and we asked every agency to make some sacrifices, and they did it in a very, you know, thoughtful way. But there is still a process, as you know, over these coming weeks with the Council, where we will look at their priorities, we care a lot about their priorities, on the expense side and the capital side, we all find a way to work together, we always have, and I’m convinced we will again. We’re also going to be watching the revenues, you know, since we put out the Executive Budget in April, we’re going to see how the revenues come in and that will tell us what we have to work with. So I care about the libraries a lot but I also want to be clear that everyone had to tighten their belt because we found that we had some constraints that we didn’t have in the previous years.

Louis: Okay, we’re going to leave it there for now. Once again, congratulations, please convey my congratulations to your son as well and we’ll talk again next week.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Errol.

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