In another sign of how New York City’s election rules favor the left, the moderators of the televised debates overseen by the Campaign Finance Board have clearly skewed the discussion away from the issues that matter to most New Yorkers.
Casual viewers of the two Democratic mayoral debates couldn’t help but come away with the impression that “fighting President Trump” and “protecting illegal immigrants” are City Charter-mandated mayoral duties.
They’re not, of course — nor are they the top priority of most registered Democrats, who care a lot more about good public schools, safe streets and subways and the painful cost of living in this town.
You can perhaps blame the candidates for how the discussion of “affordability” devolved into shouting about city government controlling rents and replacing private developers as the prime source of new housing, but the moderators plainly drink the same progressive Kool-aid on those issues.
The Public Advocate debate also featured “scenarios” steeped in progressive framing, e.g.: “A family of four in The Bronx is behind on their rent and they’re facing eviction; there are not enough free lawyers to represent them in housing court.”
Another focused on “the mother of a young man who’s being held on Rikers Island says her son is wasting away” as “his mental health is deteriorating”; a third, on the needs of an undocumented-immigrant family.
These hot-button progressive concerns have no relation to the problems of most New Yorkers.
Missing: Voters’ anger over the deaths of children under the gaze of the city Administration for Children’s Services, fears over shootings involving gangbanging teens; anger over schools that don’t teach.
If future debates are to serve the needs of average New Yorkers, they need to adjust for the fact that most local media types share the prejudices and obsessions of the progressive elite.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
