Ex-NY Gov. Pataki slams Cuomo, de Blasio's 'juvenile' leadership

New York needs ‘adult leadership’ right now, he said

Former New York Gov. George Pataki (R) joined FOX Business' "Varney and Co." and criticized current Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for their leadership during a time when the state needs it most. 

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GEORGE PATAKI: I hope [New York will fully reopen this summer] but I have my doubts. This was announced unilaterally by Mayor de Blasio. Then Governor Cuomo comes out and responds in a whining voice -- ‘I'd like to open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday’ -- mocking the mayor. And then the mayor responds by saying he's not going to react to something from a serial sexual assaulter. So what we have are two juveniles leading the city and the state at a time that desperately cries out for adult leadership. So whether or not it's going to reopen -- I hope it does -- it's going to be in spite of, not because of any of the leadership. 

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It is a tragic situation. New York, as we both know, is one of the world's greatest places, but it has probably two of the world's worst leaders at a time when leadership matters. You go in your office on Sixth Avenue, I’m four blocks north of you in an historic high rise. There's nobody there. I go in, no one else does. And we need to have people not just read that the city might be reopened, they need to feel that it's OK to be there, that it's fun to be there, that it's exciting to be there. That excitement, that feeling is not there yet. Hopefully it will come, but it's going to come in spite of the political leaders.

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We now have, I think, enough Democratic voters who look at their leaders and say, ‘I've got to look beyond my party. This is not working.’ It doesn't matter if they're Republican or Democrat. We need effective adult leadership. We don't have it in the city. We don't have it in the state. And that, to me, is what you need to open up the opportunity for Republicans to win.

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