If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime. Unless you are in New York, then don’t worry so much about it, even if you attempt to attack a candidate for governor.
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), the GOP candidate for governor, was nearly stabbed onstage during a campaign event. The would-be assailant walked up to Zeldin while wielding a spiked handheld tool that has been sold for self-defense. The man repeatedly told Zeldin, “You’re done,” and proceeded to swing the weapon at Zeldin’s neck. It is a stroke of luck that the man didn’t stab Zeldin before he was tackled to the ground.
For that attempted stabbing and the obvious threat the man leveled, he was arrested and charged with attempted assault in the second degree, which is a felony. And then he was released just hours later, free on his own recognizance, because New York law bars judges from setting bail for nonviolent felonies, even when that nonviolent felony can fairly be described as the threatened and attempted assassination of a member of Congress and candidate for governor.
While Zeldin’s attacker was free to go, New York’s other big crime story this month shows the opposite end of the spectrum. Jose Alba was attacked by a career criminal while working in a bodega. He stabbed the man in self-defense and was then thrown in prison at Rikers Island. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, at the forefront of the liberal criminal justice reform movement, demanded $500,000 bail. The charges against Alba were eventually dropped thanks to public outcry, but the damage was done, and the message was sent.
Under Democratic control, New York has taken a soft-on-crime approach with respect to career criminals and attempted killings, but people who defend themselves must be punished. And so Alba was put through the wringer, while Zeldin’s attacker was free to go.
This is what “reform” looks like to New York Democrats. The party has prioritized making sure criminals have to spend as little time in a prison cell as possible, no matter how dangerous they may be or how likely they are to reoffend. Not every victim of crime is as high-profile as Zeldin or even lucky enough to have the crime caught on video. They are the ones who have been left behind by the New York Democratic Party.
