Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo shredded Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) claim this week that the surge in crime around the city was due to people being “scared to pay their rent.”
Ocasio-Cortez said on Sunday:
So why is this uptick in crime happening? Well, let’s think about it. Do we think this has to do with the fact there’s record unemployment in the United States right now? The fact that people are at a level of economic desperation that we have not seen since the Great Recession? Maybe this has to do with the fact that people aren’t paying their rent and are scared to pay their rent, and so they go out and they need to feed their child and they don’t have money so you maybe have to, they’re put in a position where they feel like they either need to shoplift some bread or go hungry that night.
A reporter asked Cuomo during a press conference on Monday what he thought about Ocasio-Cortez’s comment.
“I don’t know what she said, so I have no comment on what she said, but people have theories,” Cuomo began. “An incorrect theory doesn’t wind up being correct because there’s a void.”
Melissa DeRosa, Secretary to Cuomo, jumped in, saying, “On the rent issue specifically, though, as I’m sure you all remember, the governor did an executive order back in March that said there couldn’t be any evictions on commercial or residential rent through June.”
“We then extended that for anyone who was COVID-hardship-related through the end of August,” DeRosa continued. “In the interim, the legislature passed legislation that said that you can’t be up for any rent evictions during this crisis, which is a bill that we signed, I think, a week-and-a-half ago. And so I’m not sure how it could square that it’s people that are not able to pay their rent when right now there are no evictions on the table legally.”
Cuomo then added, “Yeah, it is factually impossible that somebody committed a crime so they could pay their rent. If you can’t pay your rent, you cannot be evicted right now.”
Video and transcript below:
Cuomo refutes AOC: "It's factually impossible that somebody committed a crime so they could pay their rent." pic.twitter.com/0SKOYUe0NP
— The Hill (@thehill) July 14, 2020
REPORTER 1: Governor, I wonder if you could respond to AOC’s comments, I believe it was yesterday, regarding an uptick in violence in the city. She said it’s probably the result of people not having their rent canceled, people needing to steal for bread. I think that’s what she’s been saying. That’s not the case [inaudible]. I’m wondering, number one, your reaction to that and is that the kind of comment that ends up [inaudible]?
ANDREW CUOMO: Well, look, an incorrect… I don’t know what she said, so I have no comment on what she said, but people have theories. An incorrect theory doesn’t wind up being correct because there’s a void. And I think we have been talking about what’s going on. I don’t think there is one answer, but I think you raised a good point last week. I think there are a number of contributing factors, and you put all those factors together, and that’s what you’re seeing going on. There’s no one factor, and that’s why it’s a little more complicated. In politics, they want to be able to say, “It’s just this.” It’s not just this. There are a number of factors. But I don’t think you have violent crime, which is murder, et cetera. More than robbery, I think that the violent crimes have been more drug-related, et cetera, on the facts. Yeah.
MELISSA DEROSA: On the rent issue specifically though, as I’m sure you all remember, the Governor did an executive order back in March that said there couldn’t be any evictions on commercial or residential rent through June. We then extended that for anyone who was COVID-hardship-related through the end of August. In the interim, the legislature passed legislation that said that you can’t be up for any rent evictions during this crisis, which is a bill that we signed, I think, a week and a half ago. And so I’m not sure how it could square that it’s people that are not able to pay their rent when right now there are no evictions on the table legally.
CUOMO: Yeah, it is factually impossible that somebody committed a crime so they could pay their rent. If you can’t pay your rent, you cannot be evicted right now.