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Scarborough Tears Into Gov. Hochul, Progressives Over New York Crime Surge

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Nicole Silverio Media Reporter
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MSNBC anchor Joe Scarborough took a shot at Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and progressive leadership in New York City for the crime surge on Squawk Box Tuesday.

In a discussion with Scarborough, CNBC anchor Joe Kernen criticized the liberal district attorneys across the U.S. for ignoring “broken window crimes,” small crimes such as vandalism and graffiti that affect the environment and quality of life in a city. Scarborough agreed, adding that Democratic and progressive leadership have “gotten in the way” of tackling crime.

“I have somebody who works for me who loves New York and said last night, she thought Hochul was going to lose because she said just walking around New York, I don’t care what the data says, it feels different. Going to the subway, it feels different because it is different. You look again, at like for instance [Democratic New York City Mayor] Eric Adams, I was personally excited that Eric Adams got elected mayor because he was going to be tough on crime, he was gonna clean up New York. Well, look who’s gotten in his way. He’s got a very progressive DA, Hochul pushed back on him on no cash bail, and these things have real impact.”

The MSNBC anchor then commended former Republican New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for “focusing on those small crimes,” referring to broken windows policing, which punished smaller crimes more severely to deter bigger ones. (RELATED: Scarborough Tears Into Left-Wing DAs For Ignoring Crime Spike) 

“Guess what, it worked in New York and I think all of us who were around back then can talk about how New York changed more quickly than I think any major city,” Scarborough continued. “The problem right now that Democrats need to get tougher on crime, Biden needs to send that message from the top, because I still think it’s gonna impact them in important races.”

Crime rose by about 6% in New York City in October 2022 from the same month in 2021, according to data from the New York Police Department (NYPD). Grand larceny jumped by 19.3%, rape by 15%, and burglary and grand larceny auto by 8.9% and 19.3%.

New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg initially announced criminals will receive no jail time except for murder, violent felonies, sex offenses or white collar crimes. He wanted to enact two more policies intended to prosecute armed commercial robberies with a gun or at knifepoint as a petty larceny or a misdemeanor if no one was harmed, but scrapped them after under public pressure.

Hochul is running for reelection in a race against Republican New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, who has made crime a central aspect of his campaign. After being the victim of two major violent crime incidents, Zeldin vowed to declare a crime emergency and suspend cash bail laws in the first 100 minutes of being sworn in.

Hochul made more crimes bail-eligible and allowed judges to consider the severity of the case when setting bail, the New York Times reported.