I interviewed Rep. Peter King of suburban Nassau County, New York, on the floor. He’s Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and, contrary to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (see earlier blogpost), says he has “a good working relationship” with DHS Secretary Janet Naplitano. He says she’s “done well by New York” and has worked well with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
But King, who grew up in working class Sunnyside, Queens, says he’s worried about who will be elected New York City’s next mayor in 2013. He says New York City was “on the verge of collapse” when Rudy Giuliani was elected mayor in 1993, but that Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg have turned tha around. “But if you get a mayor and police commissioner who cave into political correctness, the city could collapse very quickly.”