Big Apple mayoral candidate Jim Walden, a former federal prosecutor and prominent lawyer, has vowed to fight the New York City Council from handcuffing the NYPD if he is elected.
“Politicians should generally stay out of the business of policing. The New York City Charter does not give the Council the power to micromanage police operations,” Walden, who is running as an independent, told The Post.
“As mayor, I will call a voter referendum to limit the City Council’s power to micromanage NYPD operations. Public safety should be managed by capable experts, not by political winds.”
However, to get the initiative on the ballot, Walden and supporters would have to collect roughly 50,000 voter signatures, which is only doable with vast resources.
The voter referendum envisioned by Walen would:
- Extend the time of mayoral review for any proposed legislation related to police operations
- Require the City Council to hold public hearings with policing experts, including those called by the mayor, to fairly evaluate the legislation and its specific effects on policing
- Give the mayor the option to declare the bill damaging to policing and require a two-thirds majority for passage
- Require a supermajority of three-fourths to override any mayoral veto
Over the years, the Council has passed bills over the mayor’s objections dictating operations at the NYPD — most recently the How Many Stops Act, which requires officers to file reports on even minor interactions with members of the public.
“I am in favor of smart policing. I am in favor of clamping down on discriminatory practices by NYPD officers or other public servants. But I am against politicians—pandering to special interests—using limited examples of alleged police misconduct to increase bureaucracy on cops, taking them away from the critical mission of policing,” Walden said.
“Or, worse, telling them how to police.”
Cosmetics billionaire Ronald Lauder successfully bankrolled a campaign in the 1990s to get voters to support a two-term limit for citywide officeholders and the Council.
Walden would have to collect two or three times the required number of voter signatures for a ballot initiative to survive a legal challenge.
“It would be a herculean task. You would need a lot of resources,” said an election lawyer who requested anonymity.
Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Adams recently announced that he will not run in a Democratic primary — and like Walden, will seek re-election in a long-shot bid under his own independent ballot line.
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