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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now, we continue our month of May round of interviews with the New York City Democratic primary candidates for mayor. Our theme for this round is Economic Recovery Meets Economic Justice. We know that any new mayor will have to guide the comeback from COVID after so many hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost. We also know the economic devastation was not spread evenly across the board in the city and we know that fighting economic inequality was how Mayor de Blasio got elected eight years ago, and yet that work already had many miles yet to go even before the pandemic.

Economic Recovery Meets Economic Justice. With us today on this candidate Scott stringer, the current New York City Comptroller. Comptroller Stringer, thanks for doing another round with us, and welcome back to WNYC. Do we have Comptroller Stringer? Can you hear me, Comptroller? I can't hear him.

Comptroller Scott Stringer: Good morning, Brian?

Brian: Unmute yourself. There you go. Go ahead.

Comptroller Stringer: I am un-muted and ready to go.

Brian: On this show, Mr. Comptroller, we're trying to focus our candidate interviews on policy, but with you right now, we can't ignore the elephant in the room of the sexual abuse and harassment allegation and your significant loss of endorsements since the accusation was made a week ago. The Working Families Party had endorsed you as their first choice and it's now rescinded that endorsement, also rescinding are Congressmen, Jamaal Bowman and Adriano Espaillat, State Senators Alessandra Biaggi, Julia Salazar, and Gustavo Rivera, Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou and Catalina Cruz, former Queen City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer and the environmentalist Sunrise Movement.

I'll ask a few questions about that, then we will go on to economic recovery meets economic justice. Jean Kim, age 30 at the time you were 40 if I have my math right, says she was an unpaid intern on your 2001 campaign for New York City Public Advocate and that you inappropriately and relentlessly, her word, propositioned her for sex and groped her and kissed her without permission and in several taxi rides, try to spread her legs apart.

You've denied all of that and said you had a consensual on and off relationship at the time and said she was not part of a campaign's formal internship program. Ms. Kim said on PIX11 of her volunteer work for that campaign, "There was a very internship aspect of working with him. Even if it wasn't a formal arrangement. He said, I'm going to teach you how to campaign." My first question is do you acknowledge there was an intern-like relationship between you in that way?

Comptroller Stringer: Brian, let me start out by saying, I've always believed that all people, especially women deserve the respect, the space and protection they need to come forward and they have to be able to share their stories. I still believe that even if it isn't convenient for me, but I've also been unequivocally clear that these allegations are false. I just encourage New Yorkers, especially my supporters to listen to all perspectives.

There's an Intercept story that raises serious accuracies and I welcome further objective reporting and scrutiny because I know that's going to uncover the truth that I did not do this.

Let me just start out because you raised the specter of internship atmosphere. Let me be clear. When I went to public admin 2001, we had an incredible internship program. Young people who were part of the campaign, young people in college and I was very proud of the work that they did to this day.

Jean Kim was never an intern. She was a 30-year-old adult who was a campaign contributor. Kids don't contribute to campaigns, adults do. Inaccuracy number one, not an intern and then it goes from there. We had a friendship with a little more and over time, she stayed part of a group of people that worked with us in our political club. In fact in 2013, she applied for a job during my campaign as a Comptroller.

Sent a resume, sent other emails saying that she wanted to help as we prepared for that campaign, and then finally, when she did not get that job, she went to work for my opponent, Elliot Spitzer. Let me again say, these allegations are 100% untrue.

Brian: I understand the denial and everything you've said, but to the specific question, do you acknowledge that the work you were doing with Jean Kim on the 2001 campaign and her position there was an intern-like relationship, her words, and that you said you're going to teach her how to campaign?

Scott: No. What I said to Jean Kim and all my friends at the time come help elect me to office and she did the volunteer work that hundreds of my personal friends did. That included giving out campaign literature, making phone calls, knocking on doors, trying to raise money to the campaign. Ms. Kim was a donor, not just in the 2001 race, but donated to me up until 2013.

If adults feel that they were acting as interns, no, that's not the situation. We had an interim program and then we had friends and volunteers, which is true in every campaign in New York City and around the country.

Brian: Now, according to the New York Times, a major factor in the Working Families Party decision to withdraw their endorsement of you was, "A sense that Mr. Stringer was too defensive in his response to the allegations," meaning over the last several days, "And did not acknowledge the power imbalance that he had with Ms. Kim." That's a quote from The Times story describing Working Families Party leadership. Do you acknowledge a power imbalance in your relationship at that time when you were the candidate and she was a volunteer, at least that?

Scott: I've had a lot of friends, girlfriends, over the time, personal friends work in the campaign as volunteers and we did not have a dynamic such as that because we were friends, we were both adults and I'd be very surprised if you looked at every campaign around the city, that you would see a whole set of those circumstances including in other campaigns, but I'm the one who has to address these issues, not them.

Again, I'm just going to say over and over again, Brian, that I respect the right of Jean to come forward and give her perspective on a set of events and I want her to have that space, but I also have to say to the people of the city who know me, who voted for me, that these allegations are 100% false. There's no gray area. None of this happened.

Brian: You'll say here, as well as elsewhere. Just to finish that point, the Working Families Party seems to believe based on that language and The Times that maybe even what might have been on the surface, a consensual relationship could have been in effect coercive or inappropriate in an equal power to saying no kind of way. What would you say to that implication?

Scott: I just said I disagree 100% and by the way, the allegation came out and then they dis-endorsed. No one ever took the time to ask me anything from my perspective. I respect that, I don't begrudge it, but just because somebody says something without looking, well, is there collaboration? Is there other evidence? Who was talking to the people who were around during this time period?

All I can do is say thank you to the Intercept for at least taking the time to go out and talk to people, to try to find that collaboration. Look, we live in a society where people have a right to deny allegations and have a thoughtful vetting. The reason I'm on your call, the reason I'll reporters, the reason I'll talk to just about anybody is to bring my perspective and my sense of the events and that is what's happening.

Look, it's unfortunate. My wife is a survivor. It's been very painful for her, for my family. I have a record of 30 years in public office that I'm very proud of fighting for the rights of women, fighting for the people of the city. We need a mayor who's going to be ready on day one to bring our city's greatest comeback and I'm the candidate most qualified to do that. There are these allegations, they're false. The voters are the people, not the Working Families Party, not elected officials, it's only the voters that hire and fire.

I have every confidence that I'm going to be the next mayor when all these facts are vetted. There's a lot of time left in this campaign and I'm here to take it because New York has got knocked down during this pandemic, really knocked down. People lost lives, families. I lost my own mother to COVID. The people in the most vulnerable communities got hit the hardest.

We've got to get back up because this city knows that it's not how you fall, it's how you get back up. We're all going to get back up and I'm going to lead this greatest comeback for a city that I love.

Brian: A couple of more questions about this, and then we're going to pivot to economic recovery and economic justice. On Friday you showed candidate petitions that Ms. Kim carried to voters in [unintelligible 00:10:51] for their signatures that had a slate of candidates, including Andrew Yang. She says it was a different candidate at the top of the petition that she was really working for, Esther Yang for district leader, no relation to Andrew, and that she hasn't made up her mind in the mayoral race.

My question is considering what Ms. Kim or any woman would have to endure after going public with an accusation like this, are you by releasing that petition, accusing her of making it all up just because she'd rather have Andrew Yang as mayor, even if she is supporting him?

Comptroller Stringer: Look in the back and forth of these allegations and dealing with this host of unsubstantiated allegations, I don't really care who she's supporting for President or for Mayor or for any office. Her political life is not my concern. We really haven't talked politics since she [crosstalk].

Brian: But there's an implication by releasing the petitions that this is why she's doing it, isn't there?

Comptroller Stringer: Look, I think there's a hope that by getting out to the public everything that should be out there, the public will make their own mind. I'm not implicating anybody. The only thing I've said Brian, in this whole thing as it plays out in the press is I didn't do it. These allegations are false. That's what I'm focused on. The second thing I'm focused on is talking about the issues that face our city.

I know in order to do that, I have to and should respond to every question and I will, but the bottom line here is there were serious allegations made that have no basis of support, no corroboration, and again if you look at the Intercept article that was published, I just ask people to take a look at that article and factor that in along with everything else that has been printed.

Brian: Are you accusing her of any particular motivation if she's making this up?

Comptroller Stringer: I'm not accusing her of anything. I'm not going to ever impede anyone, especially a woman to come forward and state what she wants to state. I do believe that there has to be a safe space for that and have gone through that my entire life, but I also believe in due process and justice. I know when people are grossly accused accused and what it's done to their lives.

I signed up for this journey, so I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me. It's not about me, but these allegations are false. I want my children someday when they go online and see the whole story of their dad, I want them to be able to say our dad was very clear. That to me, is more important than being mayor of New York City, which you know I hope that I have an opportunity to be considered for. It's about my children 20 years from now.

When they play this tape, I hope they hear it in my voice, the sympathy and the respect for [unintelligible 00:14:16] but that their daddy didn't do any of this.

Brian: That article that the Intercept released yesterday does say three long-time mutual friends of you and Ms. Kim, who all declined to speak on the record for fear of facing professional reprisal the article says, who said that the friendship--

Comptroller Stringer: You can't blame them for that.

Brian: Who said that the friendship between the two of you went back to the 1990s before the 2001 campaign, when both were part of two social and political clubs. Do you make that same assertion and can you elaborate with specific years?

Comptroller Stringer: I have a hard time figuring out what I did last year let alone 25, 30 years ago, but clearly it's their recollection. Maybe you can get them on the show and they can talk to you or talk to the reporter who wrote the story.

Brian: You don't know what year you and Ms. Kim struck up a social relationship?

Comptroller Stringer: You know something, it's funny that I can not tell you the exact year, but I would refer to people whose memories were cited in that article. I would go back and try to draw my brain if you have further questions.

Brian: One more, this is the Intercept reporting favorably to you. It cites another unnamed source who says Ms. Kim volunteered on your 2005 Manhattan Borough President campaign. That would be four years after the alleged incidents. Have you made that claim yourself?

Comptroller Stringer: I'm sure as a friend and again, I have thankfully a lot of good friends and I guess it's part of being my friend is joining my campaigns. It's kind of a relationship that you have to have with volunteers. I would not be surprised if there were people who remember her from that campaign, from campaigns beyond 2005. Remember, she was a donor, she--

Brian: Right, but do I hear from your answer right now that despite this friendship that you've talked about that lasted for years, you don't remember if she volunteered on your 2005 campaign.

Comptroller Stringer: No, I'm sure she did because just everybody did. I would probably be unsurprised if she didn't. The people who were in the 2005 campaign clearly know she was a presence in the campaign headquarters, but remember she was a donor and a supporter from 2001 up until 2013. Actually, in jarring my memory, her donations, I think started in 1999. Clearly there's substantial evidence. You have somebody who's been a supporter and a friend for 14, 15, 16 years or more.

Brian: Final question on this. The article on the Intercept does say, "None of this information on its own means that Kim's allegation is false. As the Harvey Weinstein case showed victims of abuse can later say positive things about them or seek their help advancing professionally." Do you acknowledge that to be the case?

Comptroller Stringer: I understand what that means. That's why I started out the conversation saying that people and especially women who have experienced this have a right to speak up and be heard. I'm not telling you that years later, she shouldn't be heard. In fact, I've said, come forward and say what you feel. All I'm asking for is the right to just simply deny the allegations. Again, answer any questions like you're answering today. Was she an intern? No. Did she work on all your campaigns? Yes. Did she donate money? Yes. Does this mean she should not step out and make allegations? I didn't say that. I said she should, but I also have to speak truth as well.

I do think we have to have due process investigation. One of my opponents, Maya Wiley who's a legal scholar, made a very strong case when the Biden Tara Reid accusation happened, that we should take a moment and listen and set up an opportunity to vet these allegations, look for corroboration and I hope that happens. I think people in New York City, the voters in New York City will give this a look, they will weigh the evidence and then make their decision. That's who ultimately decides the Mayor's elections.

Brian: All right. Listeners, investigations are ongoing and there will undoubtedly be more news about this and voters will decide for themselves over time what they think of it. Let's go on to a policy topic with Scott Stringer, economic recovery meets economic justice. Before COVID Mr. Comptroller, you were already considering a run for Mayor. What would have been at the heart of your economic justice platform originally and how much has the emphasis had to change to meet the changed conditions that the pandemic has forced upon us?

Comptroller Stringer: That's a good question because I've said many times and I'll say it again, I believe that our economy needed to change regardless of COVID. Pre-pandemic, our retail space vacancies were at an alarming high. I did a report that showed from 2007 to 2017, we had 10 million square feet of vacant office space. Post-COVID is at least 17 million square feet, meaning we have a small business crisis, but we had it before COVID.

I think now, the issues are very much aligned with the last eight years, we need to center this recovery on the inequity we've seen in so many of our communities. When I became Comptroller, one of the first things I did was convene a red tape commission, made up of business leaders to try to make it easier to start and run a business in New York. We saw that without our small businesses, we do not have an economy.

What I want to do as Mayor is I want to take a billion dollars in stimulus money, I've proposed to New York City recovery now fund, put that stimulus money to work to give direct grants up to $100,000 to small businesses, non-profits and cultural organizations. Many small businesses need to restock, rehire, payback expenses. This is the way we jumpstart an economy, and this is what we need to do if we're going to come back.

Brian: What do you see is the hardest sector of the economy to bring back in general and what do you see is the next Mayor's role in that as opposed to letting the market for things like tourism and performing arts or whatever, simply recover on its own as the virus hopefully keeps receding?

Comptroller Stringer: I do think that the challenge will be to our small businesses, our immigrant businesses and how we can continue to grow that five-borough economy. Over the last 10 years, we added 970,000 jobs to the economy. We lost 900,000 of those jobs, literally within 30 days of COVID and when we shut down the economy. Here's the thing, we still 600,000 jobs down.

Step one, protect our small businesses. Step two, start thinking about what the economy is going to look like post-COVID. I do think we have an opportunity when it comes to the green economy, whether it's retrofitting in nature or in our luxury buildings, this is going to be a whole green industry. My goal is to have a solar panel on every roof and an electric battery in every basement, but to do that, we're going to need a whole trained workforce.

Young people, men and women who can look at this opportunity the same way the previous generation looked at the Industrial Revolution. This could be a $30 billion economy if we do it right. Part of my economic recovery plan is to go to CUNY and make two year CUNY College free and implement the most robust workforce development plan this city has ever seen. You don't even need to focus it on a degree, but simple micro-credentialing, getting people into the economy and get getting them into the school, getting them the credentials.

This is how we're going to bring people back. Wall Street made a lot of money during the pandemic. Some say it's as high as $50 billion. I'm worried about Main Street, I'm worried about making sure that we can get people back into the workforce. A lot of the jobs that we thought we had we're not going to have but look, we do have new opportunity post-pandemic.

Brian: This is WNYC-FM HD and AM New York, WNJT-FM 88.1 Trenton, WNJP 88.5 Sussex, WNJY 89.3 Netcong, and WNJO 90.3 Toms River. We are New York and New Jersey Public Radio. A few minutes left with Mayoral candidate Scott Stringer, the current New York City Comptroller in our May round of interviews on the theme of economic recovery meets economic justice. If you have a few more minutes Mr. Comptroller, we'll take a few phone calls.

I'm going to say as I look at the board and the calls that have come in, the ones that are about the allegations are either taking one side or the other, and I don't think they advance the conversation. I don't see them having questions. Listeners, I'm just being transparent about the way I'm seeing the callers right now. There are those of you who are calling about economic recovery and economic justice, I guess we'll keep the calls on the issue because those are the calls coming in that look to me like they're going to advance the story. Let me right now take Justice in Brooklyn. You're on Justin. chuckles] Justice would be a good name. Justin, however, is your name in Brooklyn. Hi, Justin. Thanks for calling in.

Justin: Good morning Brian. Good morning Mr. Stringer.

Comptroller Stringer: Hi Justin.

Justin: Yes, sir. I live in Brooklyn in Brownsville. I heard Mayor after Mayor when they're running, read the same script how are they going to make for people life better. I don't see anything change for poor people because there are some built-in systems that keep people poor, that don't change. I don't hear no Mayor and Governor talk about them, because it's going to affect the bigger industry.

For instance, the insurance companies who you pay your insurance to and you have an accident, and they still raise your rates. I talk about late fees at the bank, but rich people don't overdraft. Those things were put in place for poor people, the same people who owned the storage of them, who owned the apartments and all of that and all these things keep us poor. I just want to give you a quick story.

I stand in a Deli, one of my friend Deli in Brooklyn and there was all these receipts at the ATM machine that on the floor, they leave them there. I picked up 17 of those receipts and was looking at them and nobody who leave a receipt there have $300 balance in their account. That's the reality of the city and we come and we [unintelligible 00:26:25] how are going to make people's lives better.

Brian: Justin, I'm going to leave it there for time. I always appreciate your calls, keep calling us. Mr. Comptroller, what do you say to Justin?

Comptroller Stringer: Justin has a major point, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. We need a Mayor who's going to have the vision, the skills and the financial experience looking at the city budget, looking at city agencies to level the playing field. Brian, I think this starts with real affordable housing. We've built an unaffordable affordable housing in places like Brownsville and around the city where we've pushed out long-term residents who never have a shot when gentrifiers come in, the people who get pushed out of the people who struggle.

My affordable housing plan would access thousands of vacant lots in the city, that city owns. We'd give that land back to the people, back to community organizations, we'd have redirected subsidies that would build the low-income housing really, that's a justice issue. We need to build equity and fairness and equal resources in the public school system. I have two little kids in public school. I'm also failed remote learning teacher. I'm very proud of the teachers who've fought through this pandemic.

I want to make sure that we give resources to the next generation of children, the ones that were in homeless shelters, with no remote devices, the ones in public housing, with no internet access. I think what Justin is alluding to is the privilege that some have at the expense of others. There's nobody in this race, who understands that better as I get ready to close the campaign in the next six weeks.

If people look to our website and see our details to deliver, my plans are not talking points. Everybody knows that we put it all on paper, so then voters can make a smart analysis of who's best qualified to lead our greatest comeback.

Brian: One more and then I'll ask you a closing question on the issue. Fran in Manhattan, you're on WNYC with Comptroller and Mayoral candidate Scott Stringer. Hi, Fran.

Fran: Hi, and thanks for taking the call. I'm a retiree, a city retiree. Right now, the city is attempting to take all the retirees off of Medicare and instead put us onto Medicare Advantage, which from my point of view is the way in which what they are doing is essentially selling us to the big insurance corporations.

Brian: Fran, thank you very much. Mr. Comptroller, as Comptroller connected to the pension plans. What do you think about that?

Comptroller Stringer: Well Fran, I have the same concerns and I'm working with labor to weigh in and I will. I'm glad you're a retiree. My biggest responsibility as Comptroller was to manage the retirement security of 700,000 New Yorkers, 350,000 were retired and another 300,000 who someday will be and part of the job of Comptroller is to hit the actuarial target for investments for the future.

I'm proud to tell you that we are I think hovering a little bit under 9%. I'm very proud of the Comptroller's office, even in tough times through the work of our office and the people who are working with our pensioneers. This is the work that I've done and people don't ask me a lot about it, but I know for people who are on their pensions whether you're a teacher, a firefighter. I know how important this work is, I know what's at stake and Fran, I hear you.

Brian: Then Medicare advantage, are you against the incentives going pressure to go to Medicare advantage as opposed to traditional Medicare?

Comptroller Stringer: I have great questions about it and we are [unintelligible 00:30:21]. I'll be able to say something more soon.

Brian: Final question. In our previous two rounds of interviews and I appreciate you coming on each time. I carefully avoided asking any of you to compare yourselves to other candidates because I just wanted to let listeners get to know each of you as yourselves and not give too much press to anyone just because they were getting a lot of other publicity or led in the early polls.

Now it's getting close and the polls keep indicating a clear top two, Andrew Yang and Eric Adams. When it comes to economic recovery and economic justice why would you make a better mayor than Andrew Yang or Eric Adams in particular?

Comptroller Stringer: Let me just if I can comment on who's ahead and who's behind. There's no top two, there's eight candidates. These polls are very bunched up well within margin of error and what I would just say to you Brian and to every voter, take a look at all the candidates and look at their experience in government, look at their policies and look at their record of service over many many decades.

That is how I'm comporting the race giving my vision reminding people of my skills, the fact that I'm a former of semi members, so no one's going to steal my lunch money and Albany, the fact that I'm a Borough President I know about land use zoning and community-based planning. As Comptroller I've managed a $240 billion pension fund, but I also was the leader who divested from $4 billion from fossil fuel, divested from guns and divested from the private prison industrial complex at the same time I invested in the green economy.

These are real skills you need at City Hall that can be ready on day one. I think that my plans and my record of economic development economic recovery is the plan that I think is most needed for the city.

Brian: Mr. Comptroller, we always appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

Comptroller Stringer: Thanks Brian.

 

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