Ray Mcguire speaks with Mishpacha

okay a pleasure having you with us today it is a pleasure to be with you my friend it is a pleasure to be with you yeah let's uh let's let's let's hop right in okay okay we saw last night again the subject social justice you know it's a very painful one but what many people now associated with is with violent protests and looting just last year we've seen images i never thought i'd see my lifetime streets and manhattan burning major departments have looted and burned and this is where you come in please stand there by not intervening this was reportedly an order from the top regardless of feelings on the underlying subject can you ensure store owners that looting will never be tolerated not for whatever reason of course and not even for one hour or one night listen the the the answer is we need to keep we need to make our streets safe today they're not safe new yorkers don't feel safe in the streets we need to deal with the gun violence which has now gotten all too high you got 100 plus percent increase in gun violence murders are up we need to deal directly with that and we need to deal with what are increasingly big problems having to do with mental illness we need to deal with that and obviously we obviously need to make certain that we return respect and accountability and proportionality to the nypd between the community and then nypd but we have to get the streets safe all right you mentioned a couple of things over this let's unpack it you know number one about the crime right crime has been going up and typically the first to uh to be affected by a rising crime is the jewish community particularly visibly jewish people like the orthodox community um you know this has been a painful subject for us in 2019 in the early part of the beginning of 2020 they've been almost nearly daily assault and it's taken weeks until the mayor has woken up and they may decide you know really crack down on it where would you stand on that i understand very clear it won't take me it will not take me weeks we cannot stand for anti-semitism anti-asian anti-black anywhere we experience it we must denounce it from the outset i want to be bright clear and unequivocal here we need to denounce it we need to stand up visibly stand up against it the other side of the coin uh i wouldn't call this anti-semitism but there is a certain uh um feeling of discrimination that orthodox troops feel when they deal with bureaucracy whether it's jury during the family statement uh jury duty um or dealing with different city agencies will you commit to hire more students and your administration appoint them to positions of influence and authority i will commit to making sure that i have the best people on the team in leadership positions including members of the orthodox community i have a track record of making sure that i surround myself by the most capable talent with the with the right mindset with the right values and i would expect that a number of those leaders would be from the jewish community yeah well you obviously have a a tremendous pool of talent for where you're coming from yes i do i recognize that and i intend to access that pool of talent and to get the views and have the advice of and have them have a seat at the table in the room where it happens when you first announce your run for office i was like thinking i'm sure a lot of people are thinking you know where does this uh wall street banker get called audacity confidence to run for new york city mayor at the time that the city was you know the middle of a deep tilt leftwards the you know the biggest that i remember and i read your life story and you have a pretty interesting life story how you got to that position in wall street you want to tell us some of it well my yeah my story about how i got to wall street is you know i come from dayton ohio i was raised by my single mother who uh i didn't know my dad and my single mother along with my grandparents raised me and my two brothers along with half a dozen foster children at any one moment in time and my mother made the sacrifices she was a social worker my in fact my mother worked three jobs in order to make certain that she could pay the gas and light bill or go to the grocery store or put tides in offering in the church or pay the rent so my mother sacrificed for us to be able to have the necessities i know what it's like not to have and based on my mother's sacrifices there was a school to which the teacher in the fifth grade call up and says you know ray's got some talent here and they built the school in the north in the south of town and that's important geo-raffly because that's where the jewish community came from the north of town and the south of town was the protestant community and i lived in the west of town so the bus i had to walk three quarters of a mile to a mile to get to the bus to get to a corner where the bus picked me up and from 6th grade to 11th grade based on my mother's sacrifices i was able to go to a school called the miami valley school and i did well there at a 4.0 a average i was 28 points per game playing basketball and i was president of the school and there's a teacher there who have to be a jewish teacher robin melnick who says you know if you're as good as they say you're go test yourself against the big boys and girls in the east i said where are they and so i took a greyhound bus around new england by myself looking for schools and i landed at a school in lakeville connecticut called the hotchkiss school and i went there for a year my senior year which means i took the risk to take all the things that are being able to accomplish in dayton at what was a great school and test them against the big boys and girls in the east at hotchkiss i did okay and i applied to colleges and i was fortunate to get into each one of those colleges and i went to harvard college and then i went on after year in europe on a fellowship which is a great year a formative year of my life having to do with the jewish community and i then went on to harvard law school and harvard business school and started my career in new york city almost four decades ago so my story is a story of having to fight for education having a fight to be where i am when i came to new york i had three things i had a great education i had a lot of debt and i had no money and so this city that today is in crisis has been great to me and i love this city so you have it from both ends you know you grew up poor and now uh you're from the one percent well i'm not sure it was the one percent i you know we are it is not just an expression nothing and i say that i say that we've been able to get here but you know i just didn't land in the city i we worked hard i fought hard which is what i intend to do for new york to continue the hard fight and you know what i fought hard and i won so aside from the mayor let what would you say to you know people grew up in your situation or what i say is that my i have been and will for all forever be about opportunity it should not be the case that our lives are determined our children's lives are determined by the zip code in which they grow up and for far too long that has been the case and we need to we need to present a different view of the world a different reality so my view is education opportunity jobs to make certain that our children have the appropriate the best quality education so they can get the best available jobs that's what this is all about if you've got no education you can't get a quality job unless we take the time which is also part of my view of the world to train to get access to education and have the have the training meet new yorkers where they are educationally until we can go in and repair what is clearly a failing education system for many of our children i'm sorry what yeah i said we cannot tolerate that i want to get into some of the issues related to trish but before we get to that just one last question on this you know once when that happened the next mayor will be the one who will be charged with pulling the city out of the economic slum kovid first of all do you have a plan for that and second of all what do you say about the plans that other people have been putting forward which is raising taxes on those earning above a certain percentage in order to in order to provide a greater uh benefit you know basket for the poor members so what i have said clearly about taxes given the responsiveness and the leadership by the biden administration especially vice president tomlin harris whom i introduced to new york city given the support that they've given to new york state and the support they've given to new york city and infrastructure being amongst the highest priorities that they've outlined that we do not need to raise taxes we have tremendous support and so my plan so that's my answer directly to your question it is not necessary and the thing that i want to do is i want to keep businesses and high-paying tax earners in new york city we need them i am pro-growth i'm pro-growth so whatever i can whatever resources we can access and leverage and bring into new york city i want those resources here so that we can give the opportunities now with respect to my plan i do have a plan i can't speak to other's plans but i know my plan is a thought through plan which i can afford it is not the plans that all those people who are running who had the opportunity to put in plans could have done but did not do all of a sudden three months campaign they all of a sudden showing up with with shiny new pin pennies that they can all of a sudden actually my plans are following what i call the greatest most inclusive economic comeback in the history of new york city greatest most inclusive economic comeback in the history of new york city the comeback plan has at its core the creation of 500 000 jobs go big go small go forward and let me just pause on the one that is probably the most critical and that's the small business go small where i intend to given that small businesses are responsible for 50 percent of jobs in new york city we need to we need to instead we need to give a lifeline to those small businesses and what i will do is i'll take 50 000 small businesses and subsidize half of their wages for one year help negotiate the retention of new york city sales tax receipts for one year go in and many of the fines they received during this covet i want to have a a tax holiday i mean a fica score credit score holiday beginning in february 2020 so they don't have to deal with the issues that were out of their control with respect to covet when it comes to the fines i want to reduce if not completely eliminate the fines i want to have a deputy mayor for small businesses who invite small businesses here cut through the bureaucracy including the red tape which means that illustratively if it takes 180 days to get all the bits in place if the city hadn't responded then we waived the fee and we make sure that 180 first day business goes into business and all the fines that they've received i want to reduce those if not completely eliminated and i want to get a i want to fund a comeback bank part of my comeback plan to give grants and perhaps even partner with in form of equity those existing small businesses and for the emerging small businesses i'll give grants i'll give low interest loans i'll give equity and we'll give mentorship so that we can invite small businesses in give them the opportunity to thrive jump start this economy comprehensive but you said that you and you introduced uh vice president campbell harris new york city yes you have a relationship with her yes long standing as well as a long-standing relationship with the senators who have prevailed especially senator schumer long-standing relationship with the correct congressional leadership and a very constructive relationship with the governor uh we'll get to the governor in a minute let's let's talk a little bit about some of the issues um about the orthodox community right now the top issue of the orthodox electorate is integrity the dependence of yeshivas assuming scd the state education department poses some sort of mandate on achievements to extend the hours of secular studies in a way that youtubers say is unsustainable what can you tell parents of yeshiva students with regards to deceivers i believe we need to find a way to protect religious liberty and ensure all new yorkers needs are met education of all our people all face is key to developing our economy and keeping new york city a leader in the future and i believe there's a way to work together with the electeds and appointed leadership and the community importance to do both these things so i look forward to to the work to make this happen the 270 somehow 75 yeshivas and we need to make certain that they're included as we think about the the the educating of our children i you know i've been in borough park talking directly to the leadership of the yeshivas and i'd like to continue that conversation been there i've looked at the curriculum i've talked to the leadership i've seen the the uh the acidic baba uh group and uh and the orthodox voting block in borough park so i've been there and sat and talked and i would i would enjoy and look forward to making certain that they will be included in the conversation we don't have a voting question well no no okay i've talked to the leadership and and my expectations that they will continue to inform me and that will continue to partner and come up with the right solution yeah okay and i assume when you say that you have those conversations that they will continue if elected also the conversation will abide yes they will continue remember i i am inclusive in my view of the world i will take the ultimate decision but my expectation is yes the communications will continue listen these communications are not part of are just part of a campaign it's a it's a part of how we run this city so i by definition will need the impact input by definition i want and welcome the input yeah have you met with members of yafej i've met with members of listen i've met with a group of 20 rabbis and mixed reform conservative orthodox rabbis i held a round table with 75 jewish donors and supporters i've been very close to the community and this is not new this is not new for me i have a long-standing long-standing history with the jewish community it goes back now at least let's see at least 1980 20 at least 40 years 40 years okay at least when i surrendered from alaris to jerusalem in state of the united jewish theological seminary i prayed at the wall i've been in the middle of ben yehuda and king david they thought i was o.c perry he was the great maccabee basketball player so yes i have a long-standing history with the community and i intend to continue to support and have that relationship it's part of who i am it informs my values so this is not this is not something that i've just all of a sudden come into these are long-standing deep relationships and by the way by the way my word in my world are informed by the 1963 speech which i'm certain you're quite aware of that rabbi joshua abraham abraham joshua heschel gave in chicago illinois on race and religion it's that it's at that meeting that he met martin luther king jr and it's also two years after that where he and the rabbi and mother king junior marched together in selma uh segways into the next question about the israel question you said you've been there i have been there yes i have been there yeah if elected do you plan to do the job new york city mayors have traditionally done which is to be an advocate for israel and listen i listen israel is important startup nation is very important they're important to the economy of of new york city they're important to the ideas of new york city so the answer is i will i will be supportive have been supportive a long-standing supporter that's not going to change new york city mayors you know obviously besides for being supporters of israel they've also you know they they they have usually take like one issue that they make that uh you know they use the bully pulpit of the office to try to change national policy uh de blasio i think unsuccessfully he tried to you know to use it for progressive politics um you know bloomberg did it you know gun control climate uh giuliani did it you know for national security those you know differently what do you see as your issue close to your heart that you want to change a national debate on by using a bully pulpit of the new york city mayor's office well the issue that we need to address at a national level be education my goal is to make certain that a child's life should not be determined by her his zip code that we have high the highest quality education that exists anywhere it ought to be in this country and ought to be on this city are you willing to think beyond public school i'm you're willing to think of oh i'm looking for the best quality education that exists anywhere yeah okay i'm looking for the it's all about the children it is all about the children and making sure that our children have the highest quality education and that the city and this country can compete i'm about us competing and winning at the highest level regardless we spoke before by governor cuomo um i don't know if he'll be in office uh more than a year after the next mayor takes office or you know he might win re-election and then he'll be at least another five years um i mean four years after that election you said you have a relationship with him with governor cuomo yeah de blasio de blasio when he came to office one of his selling points was he has a relationship with governor cuomo going back many years that obviously uh did not turn out you know that the relationship obviously you know was to a detriment not to a a benefit of the city um how would you deal with the next governor who has so much control over new york city whether it's a government cuomo who sort of is like uh you know winning is uh is a zero-sum game or maybe you'll have a different governor that would be more gracious and allow new york city more of its own independence how what is your strategy my strategy is to partner with the governor but my strategy to be very clear i'm there on behalf of new york so i will do whatever it is necessary to go and fight for new york i'm not interested in skirmishes i'm not interested in any ad hominem attacks i'm interested in making sure that i represent all that is important to new york city in every way and every geography i can as a leader of this city when i go to albany and have a conversation clearly want it to be constructive but my agenda is going to be clear i will not waver from that agenda yeah how do you think de blasio could have handled the situation better you know i don't know the intricacies of those personalities but you know we need to have leadership that's got conviction leadership that's got courage and leadership that's got a vision and has a track record of executing um there's so many issues in the city that uh that you have different neighborhoods have their own unique character that which is a great thing you know like boy park bird park in certain ways is unique in the city um yet the city treats all neighborhoods from india a coca-cola uh strategy in other words just to take for example like traffic patterns right you know bird park is uh you know you go sunday afternoons empire park is a is a mad house you come on saturday on shabbos and there's no traffic and yet you know the city still treats traffic patterns parking violations the same friday afternoon on the winter after one afternoon at four o'clock on the streets i'm deserted and you still get those tickets but for parking how would you how would you consider sort of like a more uh uh um i would say not central more like a focused uh focused administration of the city's different neighborhoods rather than just saying that you know this is a policy across the board you know you have to you have to unpack that a little bit which means that there are some issues that will lend themselves to a city-wide approach uh where we need to make certain that we that we lead equitably housing as an example and how we zone for housing across the spectrum of housing from deeply affordable completing the spectrum and uh there's some issues there's some uh circumstances where we have to be a bit more tailored so when it comes to the recognition of sabbath as an example we should be sensitive to that and work with the communities to make sure that we are uh that we're sensitive to aware of and respectful of okay you want to make a final picture to the voters you know uh ali leadership listen any moment in time when this city is in the midst of a crisis the crisis of cobalt it's a crisis of the economy the crisis of religious and racial hatred the crisis of the climate this city needs leadership that is uninfluenced that that it is is in nobody's pocket i'm not in anybody's pocket i didn't get termed out i'm not looking for a promotion i've not been part of any administration and i look at the lineup and people have had their chance the others who are here had their chance to make a difference and we've gone backwards at a moment in time when the city needs leadership to beat the moment i have a proven track record of doing just that of executing i've actually gotten things done and the thing that you should know about me is that my truth doesn't change i don't have to remember tomorrow what i told you today because my truth doesn't change i have a proven track record of giving people opportunity giving them jobs getting them promoted and getting them compensated i have a proven track record of creating wealth i've created more jobs and created more wealth than all of the other candidates combined and being and and be very careful here we're at a really dangerous moment in this city's history and we need to come together if there's anyone who based in my lived experiences what i've been able to accomplish professionally and the relationships i've been able to develop i can bring this city together i'm culturally aware culturally informed and will make certain that this community is going to be at the table with me giving me input giving me advice representing there is no calvary if we don't get it done today i'm not certain that it's ever going to get done and this city may drift into being a second tier city the moment in time is now history is being made and we have the opportunity i have the opportunity with your help i cannot get there without you with your help to make certain that the best days of our city are in front of us and not behind it go to rayfordmayor.com and look at the policies and at ray premier when it comes to social media i need you the city needs you so thank you for your support thank you for the long-standing friendships and relationships that i have and have enjoyed and continue to enjoy with the jewish community we're in this together thank you for having me okay thank you for joining us