“Morning, Curtis. What’s the kitty’s name?” “Gizmo. Our most recent adopted cat from the shelters of New York City.” “You can’t bring the pet inside.” “Wow.” “You got enough people to hand it to somebody.” “I understand, but you’re not very animal friendly here. Do you have rules that you can show me that?” “Sure, there are signs all over the place. There’s no pets in the building.” “Oh, I see it. I see it. OK. All right. I’m sorry, sir.”
Curtis Sliwa brought a special guest with him to vote on Tuesday: Gizmo, one of the 17 cats he lives with in a studio apartment.
But Gizmo was denied entry to the polling site, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and Mr. Sliwa, the Republican nominee for mayor, was irate.
More problems soon followed, and Mr. Sliwa openly quarreled with election officials, shouting: “Arrest me!” when they asked him to take off a red jacket with his name on it — an apparent violation of electioneering rules.
In a general election match-up against Eric Adams that has provided relatively little drama, Mr. Sliwa’s visit to the polls created quite a stir.
His ballot jammed in the scanning machine, and the machine had to be repaired. An election worker hurled an expletive at Mr. Sliwa while asking him to leave.
“They couldn’t have been more hostile,” Mr. Sliwa said as he left the polling site, at Frank McCourt High School, more than an hour later and was reunited with Gizmo, who was being watched by a staffer.
Mr. Sliwa has received perhaps the most attention for his army of rescue cats and his animal welfare platform, and he sought to take advantage of that during his trip to the polls.
Gizmo peeked out from under a red blanket as Mr. Sliwa described how he was almost euthanized after getting a fungus.
“Gizmo was on the kill list,” Mr. Sliwa said. “Thank God my wife was able to save Gizmo.”
Mr. Sliwa, who was hit by a taxi on Friday, wore a sling on his left arm. He said he was in pain from the accident, but that he was more concerned for city workers who were placed on unpaid leave this week for refusing to get vaccinated — an issue he has increasingly focused on during the final week of the campaign.
“If I’m fortunate enough to be elected mayor, on Jan. 2, I will roll back those mandates,” he said.
Topic: I <3 NY (Read 197629 times)