New York Mayor Bill de Blasio allegedly “handpicked” his allies to stack the deck at a town hall meeting Wednesday regarding rent security and tenant protection.
“Mayor de Blasio is using a public school building for a re-election rally disguised as a town hall meeting,” Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association, told the New York Post. “The mayor and sponsors handpicked the attendees.”
A close ally of the Democratic mayor, Democratic City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, was in charge of selecting audience members from the audience of about 300 to ask questions.
“It’s a sham audience packed with supporters only, and anyone else who shows up will be placed in another room outside of the main venue and not be allowed to ask questions,” Strasburg added.
De Blasio’s office denied the allegations.
“It’s hard to fathom why anyone could oppose the mayor taking two hours of unfiltered questions from tenants and helping explain their legal rights,” Mayor Deputy Press Secretary Wiley Norvell told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
De Blasio did invite certain groups to attend, but his office said none of those groups were invited in an effort to make the crowd more friendly towards him. The organizations he invited include New York Communities for Change and the unions SEIU 1199 and UNITE HERE.
Strasburg also alleged de Blasio chose the housing topic for the meeting in order to avoid tougher topics.
De Blasio’s been accused of inciting violence against cops and criticized for cracking down on Uber, and his recent budget proposal has been met with strong resistance.
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