An advocate for leading employers in the Big Apple said their recent meeting with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg over concerns about his progressive policies was productive — but ultimately, “the proof will be in the pudding.”
In a radio interview that aired Sunday, Kathryn Wylde, the head of lobbying group Partnership for New York City, was cautiously optimistic about Bragg, who met virtually with the city’s business elite.
“I have to say, the DA, Alvin Bragg, was extremely responsive, listened carefully, clarified some of the policies they had heard and read that they were most worried about,” she said on WABC 770’s “The Cats Roundtable” with host John Catsimatidis.
Wylde noted that the new DA clarified that he will prosecute armed robbery as a felony and that physical attacks on police “will not be tolerated.”
“He really responded very constructively to a lot of the concerns,” Wylde added. “So it was a good first-step meeting, the proof will be in the pudding, but it was a positive meeting.”
During the conversation, business leaders, including Deloitte USA and Blackstone, “expressed their concerns about the deterioration of safety in the city, in the subways,” Wylde told The Post.
Some participants grilled Bragg, and blamed his lenient policies for contributing to fears that New York City is unsafe.
The roughly hour-long 75-person discussion came as Bragg — elected in November as Manhattan’s first black district attorney — has faced pushback from several prominent officials about his “Day One” memo sent to staff earlier this month. The memo directs prosecutors to drop some misdemeanor cases, not seek bail or prison time for most defendants and to downgrade certain felonies to misdemeanors.
New NYPD Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell has expressed fears that Bragg’s policies put cops and New Yorkers at risk, while local Republicans have backed various bids to boot the top prosecutor from office. In Bragg’s first weeks in office, at least nine lawyers departed amid the drastic changes.
After Bragg admitted his first two weeks in office had been “challenging,” he turned to veteran New York public relations pro-Risa Heller and former Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara for help amid the backlash.
Despite the firestorm he caused, Bragg has held the line, declaring Thursday during a virtual appearance at New York University School of Law that the controversial memo is still “operative.”
Asked during the radio interview by ex-Gov. David Patterson if Bragg on Friday backtracked on his left-wing prosecutorial policies detailed in the memo, Wylde emphasized Bragg’s receptiveness to hearing out worried business executives.
“Well, he was just elected to public office, and so it’s a little hard to stand up and say the first thing I’m doing is changing my mind, but the important thing was he listened,” she said. “He clearly got it, he is a smart man.”
“DA Bragg did a very good job of reassuring people that he was taking these issues seriously, that he understands the importance of his collaboration with the police department,” Wylde added.
During the meeting, Bragg also acknowledged that his Jan. 3 memo caused concern, Wylde said.
“He responded in a way that made people feel that he’s recognizing that — at least the way he presented the policies, and certainly the implications of of his policies — were not balanced in a way that reassured people that he cared both about improving public safety, as well as about fairness and justice in the system,” she said.
Asked if she felt “much better” than before the discussion with the new DA, Wylde responded, “Yes, absolutely I do.”
“I really think that he listened,” she went on. “During the meeting, I think things were communicated to him that he hasn’t really thought about before the conversation or considered fully, and so when I see someone respond in a genuine, authentic way, that makes me feel good.
“And he’s clearly an effective and smart prosecutor which he’s been doing for a number of years.”