New Yorkers woke up to the reality that Zohran Mamdani’s transition team reads more like a wishlist for radical activists than a practical staff for running the nation’s largest city. City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino warned on Newsmax that these early appointments signal a mayoralty that will be beholden to left-wing ideologues rather than to hardworking residents demanding safety and stability. The spectacle of these choices should alarm every parent, small-business owner, and taxpayer who cares about keeping New York a place where families can thrive.
The first major misstep came when Mamdani’s director of appointments, Catherine Almonte Da Costa, had to resign after resurfaced social-media posts showed antisemitic tropes from her past. That explosive discovery exposed a vetting process that was either laughably shallow or willfully blind, and Mamdani was forced to accept her resignation while promising tighter screening. Conservatives aren’t asking for purity tests — we’re demanding basic competence and respect for every New Yorker, including Jewish residents who have the right to feel safe.
Worse still, an Anti-Defamation League review found that roughly one in five members of Mamdani’s 400-person transition apparatus have histories of anti-Israel or anti-Zionist rhetoric, a fact that raises genuine concerns about bias in policymaking toward Jewish communities. This isn’t academic hair-splitting; this is about whether City Hall will take threats to synagogue safety seriously or excuse hateful rhetoric from its own advisers. When civic leaders fail to draw a clear line against antisemitism, they embolden the very forces that threaten our neighborhoods and civic peace.
On public-safety policy, Mamdani’s inclusion of outspoken police-reform radicals like Alex Vitale on his community-safety committee signals a dangerous flirtation with ideas that have historically made cities less safe. Vitale’s book and commentary advocating an end to traditional policing should be a red flag, not a credential for shaping New York’s safety strategy. New Yorkers deserve policies that protect them on the street and keep crime down, not academic experiments that prioritize ideology over commonsense law and order.
The fallout extends beyond symbolism: businesses and institutions watch appointments closely, and Paladino and other critics rightly warn that radical governance threatens to drive employers and taxpayers out of the city. Mamdani has already been scrambling to fill key operational roles, and that scramble feeds uncertainty at a moment when the city cannot afford it. If Wall Street, NASDAQ, and small businesses begin to look elsewhere, the very affordability crisis Mamdani claims to solve will only deepen under his watch.
Conservatives and sensible Democrats alike must demand accountability: announce clear vetting standards, remove any adviser with discriminatory histories, and commit publicly to policies that protect Jewish New Yorkers, support police who keep communities safe, and reassure businesses. Vickie Paladino’s warnings should be heeded — the first three to six months of any administration reveal its true priorities, and Mayor-elect Mamdani is already on notice. If he wants to prove he’s for the city and not for fringe activists, he will clean house, harden vetting, and put the safety and prosperity of ordinary New Yorkers first.
