The race for mayor took a sharp turn Saturday as the front-runner Bill de Blasio accused his Republican opponent, Joe Lhota, of landing cheap and desperate attacks after Joe Lhota accused him of calling NYPD officers “lazy.”

“Appearing on the premier of Up Late with Alec Baldwin last night, mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio and host Alec Baldwin were in alarming agreement that cops who use the proactive policing tool of Stop, Question and Frisk were lazy,” Mr. Lhota’s campaign stated in a press release. “Mr. Lhota, outraged by the remarks, called on Mr. de Blasio to offer an immediate apology to the men and women of the NYPD.”

In the interview, Mr. Baldwin called the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy a “lazy” way of ensuring safety without also doing the hard work needed to protect constitutional rights. “It’s like, you know, these massive nets they go trawling for tuna with. And then they wind up catching all these other fish, and they say, ‘Tough, it’s collateral damage,’” Mr. Baldwin explained.

Mr. de Blasio agreed with Mr. Baldwin’s analysis, sparking Mr. Lhota’s furious reaction.

“Bill characterizing the NYPD as lazy is infuriating,” said Mr. Lhota. “On what planet is he living? We have victims of crime in this city every single day and he dares to call police who do their jobs lazy! Their proactive policing has saved countless lives by getting thousands of illegal guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals. It’s simply unfathomable and a seriously disturbed view of public safety. He needs to apologize immediately.”

Mr. Lhota continued, “Bill has spent his campaign viciously attacking Ray Kelly and the NYPD when he should be applauding them for making us the safest big city in America. This outrageous rhetoric combined with his policies that will prevent the police from doing their jobs are a recipe for disaster. He is not ready to be mayor and bear the responsibility of keeping 8.3 million New Yorkers safe.”

Talking to reporters after a Columbus Day parade in Brooklyn, Saturday, Mr. de Blasio dismissed the criticism and attacks by his opponent as distorting the truth.

“You look at the interview, we were talking about the difference between a policy–a policy that protects constitutional rights while keeping us safe–versus a policy that doesn’t protect constitutional rights and how the American experience–the American ideal–is based on doing something tougher than is done all around the world, of really protecting people’s individual liberties while keeping law and order,” Mr. de Blasio argued.

“I thought it was a very insightful, very historical analysis he was offering,” Mr. de Blasio added. “We have to strike this balance. So for my opponent to characterize it some other way, that’s just cheap and that’s just desperation.”

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)