Bill de Blasio, Not Surprisingly, Doesn’t Think City Voters Are Lazy

Mayor Bill de Blasio said a Republican assemblyman calling city voters "lazy" would only fire them up to vote in higher numbers Tuesday.

Mayor Bill de Blasio with Gov. Andrew Cuomo. (Photo: Bryan Thomas/Getty Images)
Mayor Bill de Blasio with Gov. Andrew Cuomo. (Photo: Bryan Thomas/Getty Images) Bryan Thomas/Getty Images

Don’t call his electorate lazy.

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Mayor Bill de Blasio struck back against a Rob Astorino surrogate for calling New York City voters “lazy” at a campaign event Sunday, claiming the upstate assemblyman would only motivate New Yorkers come out in higher numbers on Election Day tomorrow.

“It’s an insult to the people of this city for Rob Astorino and Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin to call our people lazy,” Mr. de Blasio said at a campaign event for Gov. Andrew Cuomo today. “This is the hardest working city anywhere in the world. The people care deeply about the future.”

“They’re gonna come out to vote, New Yorkers are gonna come out to vote,” he continued. “And I think, you know, what Astorino and McLaughlin just did was they gave people a little more motivation to vote by insulting their integrity and insulting their commitment as citizens. It’s gonna backfire.”

Mr. McLaughlin, a Capital Region Republican, angered Democrats when he said “New York City, as lazy as they are, they’re not going to show up to vote” at a rally for Mr. Astorino, Mr. Cuomo’s long-shot GOP opponent. At a fiery campaign rally in Times Square today, Mr. Cuomo repeatedly denounced the remark.

Mr. Astorino also found himself in hot water with his fellow Republicans. Several city Republican supporting his gubernatorial bid disagreed with Mr. McLaughlin’s comment, which Mr. Astorino refused to disavow.

“New York City residents are clearly not lazy people, they’re very hard-working people,” said Jerry Kassar, the chair of the Brooklyn Conservative Party. “I disagree with Assemblyman McLaughlin, I disagree with him. I think he needs to spend a little more time with us in Brooklyn, and that he would see that the lives we live and how hard we work.”

Bill de Blasio, Not Surprisingly, Doesn’t Think City Voters Are Lazy