Zahran Mamdani dodges questions after resuming ‘cocktail napkin’ criticism at New York City mayor debate

Zahran Mamdani dodged questions about his record on Thursday when he tried to turn the tables on his rivals at the mayor’s office – who… He gave him a pounding Because of his thin resume and lackluster legislative presentations.

“I spent 90 minutes on stage with Andrew Cuomo, and I can, like many here, tell you his criticisms of me, his criticisms of Curtis Sliwa, but I can’t tell you what he was really seeking to bring to this city,” Mamdani said, addressing Wednesday’s debate during an unrelated news conference in Murray Hill.

But the Queens state assemblyman sidestepped a Washington Post reporter’s questions, refusing to face hurtful attacks from independent candidate Cuomo and Republican candidate Sliwa over his paltry political credibility.

“This guy never proposed a bill on housing or education. Cuomo never proposed a bill,” Cuomo blasted the socialist front-runner at one point during the final debate of the mayoral election on Spectrum NY1.

“You have never accomplished anything. There is no reason to believe you have any merit or qualification for the lives of 8.5 million people,” Cuomo said. “You don’t know how to run a government. You don’t know how to handle an emergency…

“You had the worst attendance record in the association…shame on you!”

The three-term socialist state legislator has regularly taken a beating for getting just four bills through the Assembly during his half-decade in office.

Mamdani, 34, also took his paycheck and fled Albany after the state budget passed in April — and hasn’t returned since.

he He missed 50% of the votes The Post reported last June that Trump participated in the General Assembly this year while campaigning for mayor of New York City.

Mamdani responded during the debate, criticizing the decades-long political record of Democratic Gov. Cuomo, who was elected three times.

“We just had a former governor who, in his words, said the city had been destroyed by the state,” he said from the stage.

“Who was leading the country? It was you!” Cuomo, 67, was accused of causing loud laughter from supporters. “You’ve been leading the state for 10 years.”

A fiery exchange ensued, during which Saliwa attacked Mamdani, saying: “Your resume could fit on a cocktail napkin.”

Cuomo also criticized Mamdani after he complained that the state did not provide funding for programs aimed at helping juvenile offenders under the ATF. Controversial raising age law.

“If Zahran believed there was money being held in Albany, perhaps he should have gone to Albany and proposed a bill to release it,” Cuomo said.

Mamdani, who was first elected in 2020, Every single bill passed this year— and he wasn’t even in Albany when his measure came up for a vote, The Post previously reported.

That’s the same number of bills signed into law as 88-year-old Rep. David McDonough (R-Nassau), who was completely physically absent from Albany’s legislative session this year as he dealt with health issues.

Even State Assemblyman Chris Tagoe (R-Schoharie) — an unabashed critic of Gov. Kathy Hochul who has also clashed with fellow Democrats in the Legislature — managed to get nine bills, albeit on uncontroversial local issues, signed this year.

“I show up! I’m there every day doing my job,” Taj told The Post on Thursday.

He said of Mamdani: “I think he chose the wrong line of work. He should be an actor in Hollywood. Everything is theatrical and histrionic with him.”

The number of standalone bills passed or enacted is not always the most comprehensive measure of a legislator’s effectiveness, since much of the policy is crammed into the state’s sprawling budget.

But Mamdani has faced difficulties in influencing the huge spending package in the past as well during his three terms in office.

Although he was successful in getting a pilot program for his landmark free bus proposal included in the 2023 budget, the program was so-so. Killed behind the scenes By Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) the following year because Mamdani refused to vote for the spending plan.

Still Hasty, who Motamed Mamdani Shortly after Hochul last month rejected the idea that the Social Democratic Party of America was ineffective as an assembly member.

“When I tried to be speaker, you guys tried to do the same thing to me by saying I couldn’t pass as many bills as other people who were running,” Heastie told reporters earlier this summer.

Over the past week, Mamdani has been absent from legislative hearings in Albany on legal protections for renters and protecting taxpayers from rising electricity costs — two of his signature policy issues.

“Thank you for stopping by,” she wrote a note on the door of Mamdani’s closed office in Albany on Thursday, asking visitors to email a staff member to schedule an appointment.