OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A Republican New York City councilwoman was taken aback after being accosted by a stranger on the street during a live interview with CBS News.
During an interview in Brighton Beach on Thursday, Inna Vernikov, who is from Brooklyn and is representing the 48th district, was confronted by an individual who unexpectedly kissed her before walking off, smiling back at her.
“What the f—k?” she said after the kiss.
“Not the kind of love I expect from constituents!” she tweeted after the incident. “Very creepy moment.”
WATCH:
Not the kind of love I expect from constituents! Very creepy moment. Thanks to my colleagues for standing up for me! @mvelaznyc @Lynn4NYC @KamillahMHanks @CMMercedesCD46 @BobHoldenNYC @KeithPowersNYC @KalmanYeger @CMBrooksPowers @ebottcher https://t.co/1l4u47xEMu
— Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (@InnaVernikov) August 18, 2023
Vernikov thanked her council colleagues, Democrat and Republican, who sided with her following the incident.
“Thanks to my colleagues for standing up for me!” she said.
The negative reaction to the incident was bipartisan.
“This disgusting behavior is unfortunately all too common in the day to day lives of women,” councilwoman Marjorie Velázquez said. “We can not let sexual assault become a normalized part of our public interactions. I hope @NYPD can track this assailant down and bring swift justice.”
New York City Council Majority Leader Keith Powers, a Democrat, also condemned the attack.
“Very gross behavior. Hope my colleague @InnaVernikov is okay,” he said.
Councilman Erik Bottcher said, “This is totally unacceptable and the kind of thing that women have to deal with far too often, unfortunately. So sorry this happened.”
“This is abhorrent and disgusting. Hope the assailant is found. Sadly, this type of unacceptable behavior typically happens to women, even in 2023,” Councilwoman Lynn Schulman said.
Vernikov has been very outspoken about the influx of illegal aliens into the city, many of whom are being sent there by red-state governors who are fed up with President Joe Biden’s inaction on the border.
In July, she gave an interview to “Fox & Friends,” where she noted that the migrants were not only taking up valuable resources meant for New Yorkers but also jobs and other benefits she said serve as an incentive for them to break U.S. law and cross illegally into the country.
“What’s anti-American is to keep our border wide open and roll out the red carpet for illegal migrants, by incentivizing them with free food, housing and benefits,” she noted in a tweet featuring a clip of her interview.
What’s anti-American is to keep our border wide open and roll out the red carpet for illegal migrants, by incentivizing them with free food, housing and benefits. Watch my segment from @foxandfriends with @ainsleyearhardt. Thanks for having me on this morning! pic.twitter.com/pPYNaRAYVE
— Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (@InnaVernikov) July 13, 2023
According to a report by the New York Post:
Vernikov plans to introduce a bill this fall mandating the city create a public website to track taxpayer spending on migrants.
“The sanctity of taxpayer dollars cannot be overlooked,” she said.
Migrants now staying at Albany hotels have complained that DocGo workers promised better living conditions if they fled upstate, and that security guards hired by the company threatened them.
The migrant services contracts were pushed through under a state of emergency declared by the mayor in October and were not reviewed by City Comptroller Brad Lander’s office.
As of May 18,134 migrant-services contracts totaling $3.1 billion have been handed out, of which, only 47, or 19%, were reviewed by the comptroller, records show.
Far-left New York City Mayor Eric Adams took a rare potshot at Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat, in April that reverberated throughout the White House.
Adams has been forced to deal with his own ‘sanctuary city’ policies — turning a blind eye to illegal immigrants — for months now as the self-inflicted migrant crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border continues.
At an event hosted by the African American Mayors Association, Adams decried Biden’s policies which led to an immediate reversal of former President Donald Trump’s strict border enforcement regime.
“The city is being destroyed by the migrant crisis,” Adams charged.
Barely two years ago, the same Eric Adams proclaimed, “We should protect our immigrants. Period.”
This tweet is still up pic.twitter.com/11X1BRE0C7
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) April 21, 2023
