Even the Reds are seeing red.<\/p>\n
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has succeeded in at least one thing during his fresh-faced administration \u2014 infuriating everyone, including his typically ride-or-die lefty buds, over his bald-faced lie that the City Council\u2019s budget plan cuts services.<\/p>\n
Peeved City Council members roundly ripped Mamdani after he used one of his slick social-media videos Wednesday to call out Speaker Julie Menin by name and wrongly portray her budget proposal<\/a> \u2014 an alternative to his doomsday version \u2014 as slashing billions of dollars from city agencies.<\/p>\n Mayor Zohran Mamdani manages to miff even his lefty allies on the City Council with his response to their proposed budget. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n \u201cThis is deeply misleading and potentially harmful! I thought these four years were going to be different,\u201d Councilman Kevin Riley (D-Bronx) \u2014 an obviously disappointed Mamdani backer \u2014 posted on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n Councilwoman Virginia Maloney (D-Manhattan) also served up a blistering online rebuttal of Mamdani\u2019s assertions.<\/p>\n \u201cI know math is hard, but the @NYCCouncil finance team did the work\u2014digging into the details to find real solutions,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mayor\u2019s proposed City budget is a whopping $127 billion. The City\u2019s not broke, we\u2019re just badly managed. And we can balance this budget responsibly without putting our long-term fiscal health at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani publicly called out Council Speaker Julie Menin by name and wrongly accused her of pushing to cut city services. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n The furious backlash led the thin-skinned mayor to then fire off irked texts to a council member complaining about the critical social-media posts, sources said.<\/p>\n A source said Maloney\u2019s post appeared to prompt his texting spree, claiming, \u201cThat Virginia Maloney tweet really got under their skin.<\/p>\n \u201cEven the socialists aren\u2019t backing the mayor. He\u2019s clearly over his head,\u201d the source noted.<\/p>\n \u201cThe speaker\u2019s press conference [about the alternative budget] wasn\u2019t really attacking him, and then he instantly puts out a tweet and then drops a video of him sitting behind that desk like a dictator.\u201d<\/p>\n Socialist city Councilwoman Tiffany Cab\u00e1n pointedly didn\u2019t join Mamdani\u2019s attack on Menin. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n A council insider added of Mamdani, \u201cHe\u2019s lost the council. <\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s flailing. He even texted one member to complain about their tweets.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a lie, he\u2019s a liar,\u201d the insider said about Mamdani\u2019s head-scratching contention that the City Council plan would slash city services.<\/p>\n The brouhaha erupted as Menin and City Council members released their official response earlier Wednesday to Mamdani\u2019s $127 billion proposed 2027 budget.<\/p>\n Their alternate spending plan argued Mamdani\u2019s projected $5.4 billion budget shortfall could be bridged with a mix of re-estimated revenues, savings and creative funding sources \u2014 and without resorting Hizzoner\u2019s preferred method of taxing the rich.<\/p>\n Likewise, socialist Chi Oss\u00e9 defended the City Council\u2019s budget plan. REUTERS<\/p>\n Even before Menin released the alternative proposal, Mamdani\u2019s fellow travelers with the city\u2019s Democratic Socialists of America launched a coordinated attack against her. <\/p>\n