{"id":293378,"date":"2026-07-11T20:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T20:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/293378\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T20:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T20:04:11","slug":"blakeman-ill-use-ny-constitution-to-block-mamdanis-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/293378\/","title":{"rendered":"Blakeman: I’ll use NY Constitution to block Mamdani’s plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman aims to use a little-known clause in the state Constitution to try squashing NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s taxpayer-funded, $70 million city-owned grocery store <\/a>scheme.<\/p>\n

The \u201cGift and Loan Clause\u201d<\/a> prohibits municipalities from giving and lending public money or property to private entities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis unconstitutional subsidy poses a direct threat to long-standing, tax-paying businesses, risking widespread closures and job losses within the community,\u201d Blakeman told The Post. <\/p>\n

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman said he wants to use a little-known clause in the state Constitution to block NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s taxpayer-funded, $70 million city-owned grocery store plan. Stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n

The 150-year-old law \u2014 which was created to stop local governments from diverting public funds to private railroad companies and other favored individuals and entities \u2014 also mandates municipal funds be used for a public purpose or benefit.<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s plan to open a city-owned supermarket in each of the five boroughs, run by select private companies, violates the law because it undermines other private-market competitors by using public funds to keep prices down, the Nassau County executive contends.<\/p>\n

\u201cLocal independent supermarkets and bodegas, which operate on razor-thin margins, cannot compete with a government-backed entity that faces zero overhead costs,\u201d said Blakeman, who trails Gov. Kathy Hochul by 6 points<\/a> in the latest gubernatorial race polls<\/p>\n

Mamdani in April announced one of the locations will be at the city-owned La Marqueta marketplace site in East Harlem. WXY Studio<\/p>\n

Hochul, who endorsed Mamdani for mayor, has expressed indirect criticism of the HIzzoner\u2019s plan, telling business leaders at an August 2025 breakfast <\/a>in the Hamptons: \u201cI favor free enterprise.\u201d Since then, she has not made any public comments on the plan.<\/p>\n

Any legal challenge to Mamdani\u2019s Soviet-style supermarket plan<\/a> would likely end up in court, as it is not certain it meets the clause\u2019s public benefit standard.<\/p>\n

The mayor would likely contend that lowering grocery costs for New Yorkers qualifies, legal experts say. Blakeman argues the opposite \u2014 that publicly run stores would drive out competition, eliminate jobs and shrink consumer choices.<\/p>\n

James M. McGuire, a former state appellate judge and chief counsel to Republican ex-Gov. George Pataki, said Blakeman \u201cmay have a difficult time\u201d having his argument hold up to any legal challenges based on \u201cprecedents\u201d set by the state Court of Appeals. <\/p>\n

Gristedes supermarket CEO John Catsimatidis said he\u2019s unfamiliar with the Gift and Loan Clause, but he hopes \u201ccommon sense prevails\u201d and that Mamdani\u2019s supermarket plan is spiked \u2014 no matter who wins the gubernatorial race.<\/p>\n

Mamdani plans to open a city-owned supermarket in each of the five boroughs, operated by private operators, by 2029. MediaPunch \/ BACKGRID<\/p>\n

The billionaire WABC-AM radio owner also said that if Mamdani is serious about driving down grocery costs he should simply subsidize grocers<\/a> who buy milk, eggs and bread in bulk on the condition they pass the savings on to customers.<\/p>\n

The Mayor\u2019s Office didn\u2019t return messages.<\/p>\n

Blakeman called Mamdani\u2019s plan \u201can incredibly expensive socialist pipe dream that forces local mom-and-pop shops \u2014 who already pay astronomical state taxes \u2014 to compete against a government monopoly subsidized by those very same tax dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are literally forcing neighborhood grocers to fund their own demise,\u201d he continued. \u201cNew York runs on fiscal responsibility, free enterprise, and the grit of local entrepreneurs \u2014 not bottomless government spending on Soviet-style supermarkets.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman aims to use a little-known clause in the state Constitution to try squashing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1626,8305,426,57,9,11,10,49,51,50,13895,87,9936,107653,58,82],"class_list":["post-293378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-bruce-blakeman","tag-john-catsimatidis","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-ny-governor-election-2026","tag-politics","tag-supermarkets","tag-the-constitution","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}