Lhota Calls de Blasio ‘Naive’ and ‘Reckless’

By ANNA SPIVAK & LAUREN KEATING

Republican mayoral candidate Joseph Lhota on Tuesday branded his Democratic opponent Bill de Blasio as ” naïve”and “reckless” for his responses to recent biker gang activity in the city.

Lhota, in a speech to the Association for a Better New York, was referring to de Blasio’s suggestion to news outlets of dispatching police officers to various motorcycle clubs in an effort to be more “proactive” and promote a “zero tolerance” attitude for dangerous behavior.

Lhota also attacked his rival’s less-than-supportive” attitude toward charter schools and said his job plan “leaves a lot to be desired.”

de Blasio, in a speech to the same crowd of business leaders on Friday— a year to the day after he proposed a tax plan to fund universal pre-kindergarten — labeled himself a “fiscal conservative.”

His “tale of two cities” campaign theme that arose from recent U.S. Census data revealing the city’s increasing poverty rate, was a key speaking point.

Lhota’s reaction to de Blasio’s claims of fiscal conservativeness, prompted the former MTA chairman to deem him “pandering Bill,” charging the Democrat would say anything to get elected.

Putting their differences aside later, both de Blasio and Lhota took the stage with Mayor Michael Bloomberg to speak at a Bloomberg philanthropic forum on urban ideas.

“We are all in this together,” said Bloomberg at the Citylab conference.

Bloomberg, who has decided not to endorse either candidate, shook hands and posed for pictures with both Lhota and de Blasio—two hopeful politicians who now praised the soon-to-be former Mayor, often the target of both their barbs.