Brian Lehrer and Christine Quinn on the NYC Mayoral Election

BRIAN LEHRER, WNYC: I think there’s a big question in the city right now as to whether this is a social justice moment or whether it’s crackdown on crime moment. And they may not be counterposed, because Adams is doing the best in the recent polling among black voters. So, obviously, if, as some people have put it, you’re afraid of the cops and the robbers, you might want somebody who’s going to kind of crack down on both bad cops and civilian crime. And Eric Adams is running in that way. His main progressive challenger, Maya Wiley, is running more on a long-term root causes of poverty and inequality, which affect civilian crime. And I think voters are choosing — those aren’t the only two main candidates in the race. But voters, I think, are asking them, is this a social justice moment, or is this a crackdown on crime moment? And are they necessarily opposed to each other?

CHRISTINE QUINN (D), FORMER NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL SPEAKER: And Eric, of course, also, was a police officer.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: OK, so that’s really interesting.

(CROSSTALK)

AMANPOUR: Exactly, Christine. I was going to ask you about that.

QUINN: Yes, I mean, I think that adds to his resume, if you will, on cracking down on crime that he was a police officer, rose to the very high rank of captain. I think Brian’s right that it’s kind of these two prongs at the moment. And of the top four candidates, Maya Wiley is definitely the progressive candidate. And Garcia, Yang and Adams are the three moderate candidates. And I think we may see in this election a statement about what is the future of the Democratic Party going into 2022, based on not just who wins, but how the one, two, three, fours all shake out.

AMANPOUR: Well, look, I just want to follow up. And I will ask you both about this, because, look, it seemed that 2020 and 2021 were potentially progressive years. We saw it in the presidential election, and then they voted for the more moderate, although he’s got a lot of progressive agenda, Joe Biden. Maya Wiley, who you’re talking about, is number four right now of the four that you mentioned, and quite significantly lacking. Why — lagging, rather. Why do you think, Christine, first, that crime seems to be a bigger, more potent issue for New Yorkers than social justice and progressive issues?

QUINN: Well, I think New Yorkers see crime and police-community relations together. So I think it’s not quite the choice that we’re talking about, even though I do see that as a potential. I think New Yorkers fear the — quote, unquote — “bad old days,” right, when the Bronx was burning, and crime was so high, it bears no resemblance to today. And some of the campaign rhetoric, in my opinion, has been fearmongering. And I think it puts those images back in people’s minds